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Alaska Film Archives

About the Collection

Over the past half century, the University of Alaska Fairbanks has built the largest collection of archival films in and about Alaska. The collection combines hundreds of donations of film and videos to UAF by individuals, organizations and institutions. Materials range from professional productions to amateur home-movies, made in and about Alaska from the earliest days of filmmaking through today. Since 1993 these materials have been held by the Alaska Film Archives, a unit of Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives in the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library. Films and videos selected for this portal project are a sampling of the thousands available for checkout on DVD through the Rasmuson Library. Unless otherwise noted, items are presented here in their entirety, unedited and uncut. Short, popular clips from the collection can be viewed on our YouTube channel. Read more about the Alaska Film Archives.

1 to 30 of 867 Objects
Legends of the Tanana
Legends of the Tanana
This video shows the traditional passing of legends from one generation to the next. Two Athabascan chiefs, Henry from Huslia and Andrew Isaac from Dot Lake, tell stories to members of their villages. The film discusses legends not as history but as a cultural heritage showing values and customs. These exemplify closeness to nature and the land.
[Fort Yukon, Hudson Stuck Hospital]
[Fort Yukon, Hudson Stuck Hospital]
This film contains footage taken while flying over a town in an airplane. This is followed by footage of a large wooden building with a flag pole in front, which appears to be the Hudson Stuck Memorial Hospital; a sign for the Hudson Stuck Memorial Hospital; nurses in white uniforms and children standing in front of the hospital; nurses walking past a farm and speaking with men working on the farm; a man driving a red tractor; people and nurses talking to the man on the red tractor; a group of nurses conversing; nurses talking to a uniformed officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; a small boy and a hound dog; and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer talking with a well dressed man and woman in front of the hospital.
North Slope: Sen. Vic Fischer interview
North Slope: Sen. Vic Fischer interview
This footage contains a continuation of the Fischer interview on the NSB. The original videotape is labeled, "Sen. Vic Fischer 2, North Slope Borough 37."
North Slope: Brower interview #1
North Slope: Brower interview #1
This footage features an interview with Eugene Brower, mayor of the North Slope Borough, on the history and leaders of the NSB, Americanization of the Arctic, community development needs, self-determination, relations with the federal government, and other topics.
North Slope: Brower interview #4 [# 2]
North Slope: Brower interview #4 [# 2]
This footage features an interview with Eugene Brower, mayor of the North Slope Borough.
North Slope: Brower interview #4; Barrow [Utqiagvik] students
North Slope: Brower interview #4; Barrow [Utqiagvik] students
This footage features an interview with Eugene Brower, mayor of the North Slope Borough. Scenes from the Barrow school include a girl reading, a mural, young students, a woman teaching the children, a woman teaching a high school math class, students with calculators, high school students sitting in class, high school students at their lockers, a busy school hallway, the school cafeteria during lunch, and the faces of students in line to get food.
North Slope: Brower interview #3
North Slope: Brower interview #3
This footage features an interview with Eugene Brower, mayor of the North Slope Borough.
North Slope: Eskimo dancing in Barrow [Utqiagvik] high school
North Slope: Eskimo dancing in Barrow [Utqiagvik] high school
This footage features Inupiat dancing in the Eben Hobson High School gymnasium. Scenes include Alaska Natives drumming, a conductor, the audience, a line of young girls dancing, young boys dancing, a woman with a child on her lap, faces in the audience, Inupiat audience members, and singers.
St. Paul: Larry Merculieff interview #2
St. Paul: Larry Merculieff interview #2
This footage contains a continuation of the interview with Larry Merculief, president of Tanadgusix Corporation.
St. Paul: Gabe Stepetin interview
St. Paul: Gabe Stepetin interview
This footage features an interview with Gabe Stepetin of St. Paul.
St. Paul: Ted Stevens interview
St. Paul: Ted Stevens interview
This footage features an interview with U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. Scenes also feature a painting.
St. Paul: Reeve plane
St. Paul: Reeve plane
This footage includes part of an interview with Gabe Stepetin of St. Paul, a Reeve airplane landing and taxing, and airplane passengers. Scenes also features a boat being loaded onto a truck and a plane taking off.
St. Paul: Father Michael Lestenkof and Gabe Stepetin interview
St. Paul: Father Michael Lestenkof and Gabe Stepetin interview
This footage features interviews with Gabe Stepetin, resident of St. Paul Island, and Father Michael Lestenkof, a priest on St. Paul Island.
St. Paul: Larry Merculieff interview #1
St. Paul: Larry Merculieff interview #1
This footage features an interview with Larry Merculief, president of the Tanadgusix Corporation.
Subsistence: Thecla Hootch interview
Subsistence: Thecla Hootch interview
This footage features an interview with Thecla Hootch.
Subsistence: Thecla Hootch interview
Subsistence: Thecla Hootch interview
This footage features an interview with Thecla Hootch.
Subsistence: Walter Charley Interview #4
Subsistence: Walter Charley Interview #4
This footage includes an interview with Walter Charley of the Copper River/Lake Louise area. Scenes include Walter looking for caribou, walking through brush, and looking through binoculars.
Subsistence: Walter Charley interview #3
Subsistence: Walter Charley interview #3
This footage includes an interview with Walter Charley of the Copper River/Lake Louise area around a campfire. Scenes include a shoreline with ducks; a radio; boats and ducks; chimney smoke; and Walter standing in the forest, walking through brush, eating berries, sighting his rifle, cleaning his rifle scope, and looking through his binoculars. Scenes also feature a young man.
Subsistence: Walter Charley Interview #2
Subsistence: Walter Charley Interview #2
This footage includes an interview with Walter Charley of the Copper River/Lake Louise area around a campfire. Scenes include Walter looking through binoculars, a float plane, a rainbow, a small boat in the water, ducks, and a campfire.
Rural education: Hoonah: computer terminal
Rural education: Hoonah: computer terminal
This footage was recorded in Hoonah. Scenes include aerial views, the Hoonah School office and computer, a teacher, and a teenager working at the computer terminal.
Rural education: Hoonah elders
Rural education: Hoonah elders
This footage includes an interview with Hoonah women elders about child rearing and education.
Outer Continental Shelf: elders 2 ; Barrow [Utqiagvik] visuals
Outer Continental Shelf: elders 2 ; Barrow [Utqiagvik] visuals
This footage includes an interview with elders. Footage also includes views of Utqiagvik, a NSB building, an ASRC building, houses, Inupiat women, boats, and a laundry line.
Outer Continental Shelf : Hopson, tape 2 ; Elders, tape 1
Outer Continental Shelf : Hopson, tape 2 ; Elders, tape 1
This footage includes an interview with Eben Hopson of Barrow, mayor of the North Slope Borough. He mentions Ted Stevens.
Outer Continental Shelf : Eben Hopson, tape 1
Outer Continental Shelf : Eben Hopson, tape 1
This footage features an interview with Eben Hopson of Barrow, mayor of the North Slope Borough.
Outer Continental Shelf : Archie Brower
Outer Continental Shelf : Archie Brower
This footage features an interview with Archie Brower of Barrow, who was president of the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation, on the impact of oil spills on sea mammals and sea birds.
[Alaska joint federal-state land use planning commission at Tok - part 1]
[Alaska joint federal-state land use planning commission at Tok - part 1]
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) (d-2) public hearings of the Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission recorded in Tok on June 18, 1973. Part 1: Commissioner Harry Carter introduces commission staff member Lucy Carlo, Resource Team member Richard Stemhart?, U.S. Forest Service representative Vern Clapp, Bureau of Land Management representatives Jerry Timmons? and Elliot Lowe?, State Division of Lands representative Bill Arpino, Tok area Superintendent of Schools Dave Lanagan?, Wall Street Journal representative Dick Emil?, Doyon Director Sam Kito, and cameraman Greg Imig. Testimony is heard from: William E. Simons, an engineer equipment operator with the U.S. Army; Chief Andrew Isaac, representing the people of Tanacross and Dot Lake; and an unidentified man seated in the audience.
[Alaska joint federal-state land use planning commission at Tok - part 2]
[Alaska joint federal-state land use planning commission at Tok - part 2]
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) (d-2) public hearings of the Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission recorded in Tok on June 18, 1973. Part 2: Sam Kito speaks from the audience. Testimony is then heard from Ms. Morgan of Tok, who has been a homesteader, schoolteacher, and storeowner in the area. Bill Arpino testifies about the relationship between Native Alaskans and white Alaskans.
[Campaign footage from 1962]
[Campaign footage from 1962]
This is a series of film clips used for a 1962 campaign film for U.S. Senator Ernest Gruening. According to notes accompanying the film clips, scenes include Senator Gruening at a Democratic meeting in Tok, speaking with tourists from Colorado at the Alaska Tourist Center in Tok, at the Cathedral Bluff Lodge, at the Dot Lake Lodge and Indian Village, helping to dig a well at the Dot Lake Native Village, looking at wildflower beds at the George Lake Lodge, and with children at the library in Delta.
[Aleut Elders Conference 1978, Part 1]
[Aleut Elders Conference 1978, Part 1]
Man plays guitar and sings several songs including "Springtime in Alaska," and then several elders are interviewed at the 1978 Aleut Elders Conference. (See also Tapes 1-5, AAF-402 -- AAF-406, which were recorded during the same conference and contain additional information on traditional activities). Names of participants in the Aleut Elders Conference, speaking in English or Aleut, include the following (note that spelling of names has not been verified): Dushkin; Sergei and Agnes Sovoroff; Dorofay? and Elsie Chercasin; Nick McGlashin; Tcheripanoff; Iliodor Philemonof; Slepston?; Nehus; Larry Maffay? or Maffey?; Paraskovia Wright?; Harry Tiponaise? or Tipponaise?; Charlie Franz; Ed Anderson; William and Moses Dirks; Jenny Golley; John Nazaroff? or Nevzoroff?; Dan Krukoff; Polly Nelson; Alice Petrivelli; Sherry Spitler?; and Lily McGarvey?.
[Tape 5 - Fish and seafood preparation]
[Tape 5 - Fish and seafood preparation]
Sergei Sovoroff talks about the kinds of salmon that go up the Nikolski River, when they make their runs, and how they are prepared after they are caught, in Eastern Aleut with English translation. Dan Krukoff talks about fish preparation, in Aleut with English translation. Rusty Chercasin talks about salt water fish, octopus and clams, in Eastern Aleut with English translation. See also Aleut Elders Conference 1978 Part 1, AAF-415.