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.

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: [Alaska Highway travel, winter carnival, mining]; This film contains footage of scenic outdoor views (possibly along the Alcan Highway), dog mushing, St. Joseph's Hospital and the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in downtown Fairbanks, The Cushman Street Bridge, buildings along the shore including the Pioneer Hotel and Northern Commercial Company power plant, scenes from a Fairbanks winter carnival including a blanket toss, people ice skating and playing hockey in outdoor rink, vehicles, a parade and crowds of people, footage of mining operations with a heavy piece of machinery, a man unloading wood near downtown Fairbanks, men standing in a field, airplanes parked on the ground, two men and a dog standing in snow, a small airplane taxiing in the snow, cars in front of a hardware store, a man standing in front of a house, a man and woman standing on a stone bridge (not in Alaska), mountain views (likely not Alaska), a man in a field with grapes, a woman tending a rose bush, a car in front of a house, scenic landscape views, a sunset through snowy woods, the Northward Building in downtown Fairbanks, a cabin in snowy woods, and a group of people at an indoor gathering.

: [Alaska statehood celebrations and scenery]; Footage contains images of a sign that says, "Deposit Wood for Statehood Bonfire Here!"; a sign that says, "This Property Guarded by Post 728 Explorer Scouts - Central Lutheran Church;" a view of the bonfire pile in downtown Anchorage; a boy holding a newspaper with the headline "Final Vote Hours Away;" crowds gathering near a large American flag hung on a building along Fourth Avenue in Anchorage; men, including Alaska Constitutional Convention delegates Victor Fischer and Marvin R. "Muktuk" Marston hold a small "49th state" banner; parade floats; neon signs along Fourth Avenue; crowds gathered around the statehood bonfire woodpile; the woodpile being set ablaze as horses run around the fire; people waving and celebrating; Alaska railroad travel in autumn; snowy mountains; aerial views of Anchorage, the Alaska Range, and a coastal town; Dall sheep; and people at an event with retriever dogs. Notes from the nephew of Wally Wellenstein in 2015: “Please remember that Uncle Wally put together several small spools of film to make the reels. We think that Wally was trying to tell a story for his family back in Minnesota, rather than relate in chronological order his adventures. Some of the scenes are out of order, date wise. The bulk of his movies were of his adventures in Alaska. He also spent time recording the life of his sister Joan’s family. [AAF-11870 includes scenes of] Statehood celebration at Federal Building, 4th Avenue, Anchorage; Statehood bonfire on park strip; various scenes along Seward Highway; flightseeing, Susitna Valley; flightseeing, Anchorage; flightseeing, viewing Mt. McKinley; flightseeing, Kodiak; Sheep at Windy Corner; and dog trials at Sand Lake."

: [Alaska travel]; This film contains scenes of mountains, the AJ Mine in Juneau, the state capitol building in Juneau, boat travel along the Inside Passage, a large steamship with three smokestacks or funnels, aerial views of glaciers and mountains, the Mendenhall Glacier, signs for White Pass and the Trail of ’98, Miles Canyon on the Yukon River near Whitehorse in Canada, Robert Service Camp, a brief glimpse of the sternwheeler S.S. Tutshi, men waving in front of a Lockheed Electric airplane (NC14906), aerial views of landscapes, aerial views of Fairbanks and landing at Weeks Field, the Old Main building at the University of Alaska campus in Fairbanks, a car driving on railroad tracks, a sign for the golden spike along the Alaska Railroad near Nenana, Alaska Railroad Engine No. 1 on display, a White Pass and Yukon Route train, the entrance to Mt. McKinley National Park, a red tour bus in the park, black and white scenes of Alaska wildlife, a large placer mining operation with a dredge, a log cabin, men at work using hydraulic giants and steam points, a gold mining operation near the ocean, totem poles at Stanley Park in Vancouver in Canada, Alaska Native people and homes in Nome, fishermen unloading halibut from a boat (possibly at Prince Rupert in Canada according to Stevens's notes - he adds that the halibut heads were cut off and used for fertilizer), adults and children playing shuffleboard on a ship deck, a man playing accordion aboard the ship, and aerial views of landscapes including rivers and mountains.

: [Anchorage, Seward, Hooper Bay, glaciers and skiing]; AAF-11873 is made up of ten smaller reels that have been combined. Reel 1 is labeled “Turnagain School” and contains exterior views of the Turnagain School building (during the mid-1950s or 1970s?). Reel 2 is labeled “1954 Downtown NCG and Lib and [GA?] Hill School etc., airplane in [inlet?].” It contains views of Anchorage area buildings and an airplane in the water. Reel 3 is labeled “Misc. Anchorage signs” and contains views of signs (circa 1970s?). Reel 4 is labeled “Train to Seward thru loop” and contains views of a train and from a train (circa 1950s?). Reel 5 is labeled “Hooper Bay” and contains exterior views of a building and people exiting the building (circa mid 1970s?). Reel 6 is labeled “Columbia Glacier by Air 50s” and contains scenes of glaciers (circa 1950s?). Reel 7 is labeled “Flying” and contains aerial views of water (circa?). Reel 8 is labeled “Flying looks like King Salmon?” and contains aerial scenes of water (circa late 1950 or 1970s?). Reel 9 is labeled “[Global?] cup at Alyeska” and contains scenes of skiers in a competition (circa late 1950s or 1970s?). Reel 10 is labeled “Nat’l Ski Racer” and contains views of skiers with bib numbers – original film was processed in April 1963. Notes from the nephew of Wally Wellenstein in 2015: “Please remember that Uncle Wally put together several small spools of film to make the reels. We think that Wally was trying to tell a story for his family back in Minnesota, rather than relate in chronological order his adventures. Some of the scenes are out of order, date wise. The bulk of his movies were of his adventures in Alaska. He also spent time recording the life of his sister Joan’s family."

: [Annabeth Hanlon collection 2]; Footage includes people panning for gold, a B-17 flying overhead, men cutting firewood with a truck-mounted saw in downtown Fairbanks, downtown buildings, Wien Alaska Airlines operations at Weeks Field, an airplane taking off, Jim Dodson's airplane, hangars on the field, fire, children ice skating, dog sled races on the Chena Rive, men launching a small barge, travel in an outboard motor-powered riverboat, the tug M.S. Otter of Fairbanks pushing a barge, a grouse on the road, men working on a cabin, a small boat being launched in a lake, men cutting ice for drinking water with a hand saw, a car pulling a sled with blocks of ice, a fire in a Fairbanks Laundry building, and a formation of military airplanes. Notes accompanying the film say: view of McKinley, Deadwood and Dr. Schiable, around Fairbanks, sawing wood, around 2nd Ave., Wien Airways & Jim in planes, old Pan Am, Dorothy's house, skating in Main School yard, my 8th, dog team races at end of 2nd, K9 team won, youngster falling down, Albas trip, grouse, McKinley, ducks, Hanlon, building at lake, kids, lake boat, Albert Martin, Bob Harwood, geese, cutting ice, Bud Shaw, (?), fire at laundry, Russian DC-3, P-63 to Russia led by B-25.

: [Annabeth Hanlon collection 3]; Footage includes people working on an Aeronca light airplane, people mugging for the camera, people unloading mail from train, McKinley Park Hotel, Horseshoe Lake, puppies, a cache on stilts, a log cache, Mt. McKinley and scenery, feeding ground squirrels, a tent camp for tourists, a fox, Fanny Quigley at a cabin with a dog, Open North American Sled Dog Races in Fairbanks, an early Arctic Cat snowmachine, Dr. Roland Lombard loading sled dogs into a truck, and curling matches at the Fairbanks Curling Club. Notes accompanying the original film can and box say "McKinley, Fannie Quigley, 1964 dog races, curling."

: [Annabeth Hanlon collection 4]; This footage shows a Wien Stinson airplane landing on ice in Anaktuvuk[?], Eskimo men ice fishing, and a Wien airplane departing. Footage featuring Eskimo life in Barrow includes school children in a Barrow classroom, elders weaving baleen baskets, a dog sled, an early tracked vehicle made from a truck, a Wien airplane arriving, hunters pulling umiaks across the ice using sled dogs, a whaling festival, a woman demonstrating how she carries a baby on her back under a parka, a dog sled hauling freight, a sod house on the tundra, people trading fur and baleen baskets for goods in a store, village scenes, a woman making dolls, women setting nets along the shore and pulling in a catch of small fish, young boys with puppies, and hunters in umiaks taking seal and walrus. Notes on the original film and can say "Barrow 1 and 2."

: [Antarctic studies part 1 roll1]; The original film is labeled, “Antarctic B&W Part 1 Roll 1.” The film contains aerial shots of vast ice fields, various tracked vehicles driving across the snow, a field camp, a man patting a penguin on the head, a person skiing, a U.S. Navy airplane, and scientists using various instruments to take measurements.

: [Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 5]; Notes with the film say “1949-50, Trapping, Copper River, Moving FE Dredge, Taken by Arne Larsen.” Writing inside the film can says “Moose Lake trapping, Hanegela[?] Valley, Living Seattle, Moving Dredge No. 2, Fairbanks Creek 1950” and “Trapping, Dredge No. 2 moving 1949-1950.” The film contains footage of snow-covered mountains, a red building with a “Strelna” sign, a small log cabin or cabins, a dog with puppies, beaver pelts stretched to dry, a man snow-shoeing as dogs follow, dogs pulling a sled up a steep hill as a man pushes, Pan American Airways and United Air Lines airplanes, bulldozers moving a dredge in winter, and a Goldstream mining office and buildings.

: [Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 8]; Notes with this film say “1949 Charlotte Ames and Bob, Don, Mrs. Wiener, and Lee Family at Airport, Pan Am DC4; 1949 Norman and Ingrid at Badger Road cabin, 1962 Boat Races, Chena River in Fairbanks, Christmas 1961 Arne Jergen; 1962 Boat Races in Chena Rover; 1962 Norman’s second car 1956 Pontiac; 1962 Hydraulic mining Ester Alaska; 1962 Cleanup at Hassel’s Mine; 1962 Golden Days Fairbanks and Ingrid home in 1972; 1962 Arne and Arnold Nordale, Ferry at Nenana.” The film contains footage of a Pan American World Airways airplane, children playing, children hoisting one another with a rope and pulley system, children skiing, a Christmas tree in a home, a family meal in a home, the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks, power boats on the river, crowds gathered along the riverbank to watch boats, a Fairbanks home, hydraulic giants and a mining operation, men cleaning up a sluice box, dancing in downtown Fairbanks, Monty’s Department Store and Lacey Street Theater signs, views from aboard the Sternwheeler Yutana, the Nenana bridge, a fishwheel, highway travel, and Fielding Lake.

: [Chuck Gray film collection addition 2]; The original reel and can notes for AAF-10076 are: "Dune Lake 1 and 2 - 1970, Beaver Creek 1956, and Old John 1 and 2 - 1970." The writing on film leader is "Dune Lk. 1989." The footage features building supplies being offloaded at a remote site in winter, a large vehicle with a trailer, a cabin being constructed, an airplane on floats, men clearing an ATV trail, a man on a snowmachine setting traps, ice fishing, an airplane on skis, men in snowshoes fishing in open water, fishing and boating, men and a campfire, cooking and eating in a camp, and loading supplies into an airplane.

: [Chuck Gray film collection further addition 6]; Footage features scenes of flying supplies in to establish a hunting camp in the Brooks Range. Airplanes include a Pilatus Porter, Cessna 170 (?) and Piper Super Cub. Additional footage includes moving supplies with an Argo off-road vehicle and a ground squirrel.

: [Dawson Cooper collection]; This footage features the Ice Carnival puppy parade and regular parade in Fairbanks, people at a wedding in a private home, people hauling boxes on a dog cart, a fishwheel, interior river scenes, a town on a riverfront, Ft. Yukon scenes, river scenes, flower gardens, people in a house, sled dog races on Chena River, teams passing under a foot bridge on Noyes Slough, downhill skiing on Birch Hill, a parade in the summer, hockey at Griffin Park ice rink, the Ice Carnival throne, an unidentified woman, a stack of logs, a walking dragline, conveyor and mine scenes in Ester, columns of smoke from a forest fire, the KFAR transmitter building, people on a picnic, the midnight sun, a car on a narrow road, mining equipment, car travel filmed from inside the car, airplanes, placer gold mine operations, sluice box clean-up, a box with gold amalgam, a dredge operating, a flower garden, and tomato plants.

: [Fairbanks International Airport construction]; This film contains scenes of the construction of the Fairbanks International Airport runway and paved surfaces, starting after the trees have been cleared and ending with the first airplane landing. Footage includes construction crews with Caterpillar tractors, scrapers, dump-trucks and draglines moving earth and leveling ground, construction buildings and housing, a man demonstrating an unstable patch of ground which turns to jelly as he jumps on it, a drainage system and lighting system being installed, an asphalt plant in operation and paving crews finishing construction. The film ends with a Consolidated LB-30 Liberator owned by Morrison-Knudsen Construction Company making a landing on the completed runway.

: Fairbanks Yesterday Today Tomorrow; This program presents the history of Fairbanks from its geological formation through 1974. Credits are as follows: host, Dave Geesin; pre-history, Florence Weber; miner, Tim Ames; mining discussion, Dr. Earl Beistline and Bruce Thomas; readings, Mark Bergeson, Pamela Buckway and Tom Duncan; narration, Charles Creamer, Tom Duncan, Don Hering, Clara Rust and Marion Wood; director, Frank Herriott; Hering segment director, Myron Tisdel; producer, Patrick Moore; production assistant, Frank Henry; research, Kit Jensen; cinematography, Mark Badger; graphics, Nancy Van Veenen; audio, Tom Saxton; video, Dave Walstad and John Reisinger; production, Carolyn Dowling, Pat Fitzgerald, John Ryan, Jim Schneider and Pat Thrasher; photos provided by Mrs. V.K. Brickley, CamerAlaska, Fabian Carey, William Cashen, Florence Collins, Roger Cotting, Mary Hansen, Nelson’s Studio, University of Alaska, and United States Air Force; furnishings provided by Nerlands; parka provided by Martin Victor Furs; produced through the facilities of KUAC-TV and the Division of Media Services at University of Alaska.

: [Family activities, scenes inside and outside Alaska]; This film contains footage of two women standing outside of an Aeronca Sedan airplane in the snow, women washing a car, a wildfire, two women standing in front of a house with a small dog, a group of boys putting on heavy backpacks being handed to them out of the back of a truck, airplanes on floats on a lake, people water skiing on a lake, children playing next to a lake, a Christmas tree and Christmas presents, people opening Christmas presents, Spooks' Nook at Chitina, a waterfall, views of the mountains, children playing in the snow, a family gathering with a baby in a long (baptismal?) gown, children playing on a swings, a small child looking at a baby in a woman's arms, a Christmas tree, people opening Christmas presents, a child playing with a toy horse, a baby looking at toys, a parade outside Alaska with large floats, horse drawn carriages, motorcycles, old cars, a marching band, a person driving a tractor in a film superimposed over footage of a baby walking, footage of a family gathering, people posing for photographs superimposed over footage of a child walking on grass, men on horses herding cattle (likely not in Alaska), women standing in front of a car with a dog, children playing outdoors, people sitting on the grass, the sternwheeler Riverboat Nenana in Fairbanks, men in a boat on the water, and men next to a river and swimming in the river, a small child playing in the snow, and a family picnic outdoors.

: [Family, Alaska, travel outside]; This film reel is made up of 14 smaller reels. Reel 1 is labeled "Military unit, 1936 Carnival, family skiing," and it contains footage of ROTC formation marching and ice. Reel 2 is labeled "Children skiing, 1938 Carnival, First Air Mail," and it contains footage of skiing, the Winter Carnival, the Chena River, skiing, dog sleds, and an airplane. Reel 3 is labeled "Trip to Paxons July 1940, Kay catching salmon, Xmas scenes, Thelma in grass skirt, Thelma and I in blue uniform," and it contains footage as described in addition to children skating and skiing as well as hockey on the Chena River. Reel 4 contains footage of people dancing. Reel 5 contains footage of people outside with a camera. Reel 6 is labeled "My Last Days at Home, May and June 1942," and it contains footage of family scenes, boys in Boy Scout uniforms, boys tumbling, boys on bicycles, boys playing a ball game, a boy with a pack, more family scenes, and a man in a military uniform. Reel 7 is labeled "Matanuska Farm, Dawson's Film," and it contains footage of cows, sheep, family, an airplane, a lake, and mountains. Reel 8 is labeled "Ski meet Birch Hill, College, Russ, June 15, 1942, disposing of dynamite pwd, ski towing car, College Hill," "Thelma and I kissing," and "Skiing 1941." It contains footage of skiing, hockey, and a couple kissing. Reel 9 is labeled "Fishing, geese, Naknek, 1943," and it contains footage of fishing, people posing with fish, and river scenes. Reel 10 is labeled "Xmas 1946 at Vinton, Iowa," and it contains family scenes. Reel 11 is labeled "California, ferry Staten Island, ski trip Vermont, around Washington, 1947?," and it contains views of a ferry, people with skis, and Washington D.C. scenes. Reel 12 is labeled "Tok trip, Mary, buffalo, skiing, Cleary Summit," and it contains footage of a bison on the road and people skiing. Reel 13 is labeled "September 1949 to March 1950, Donn in football, skiing, hockey, 1950 Carnival, dogs and sled being parachuted, Toni, auto races," and it contains footage as described as well as a ski jump and blanket toss in Fairbanks. Reel 14 is labeled "Air Trip to States July 1953," and it contains footage of a station wagon and trailer, a "to Alaska" sign, aerial views of mountains, family scenes, and bears.

: [Family scenes, Alaska Highway travel]; Film contains footage of a little girl (aproximately 1 year old) at a birthday party with a cake and presents, a little girl playing with toys, a little boy's 3rd birthday party with children, cake, the child opening presents, a truck on a snowy road, scenic views of mountains and winter snowscape, a little girl about 2 years old, a man, woman, and child standing outside on the side of a road in winter, snowscapes viewed from a moving vehicle, snowy roadway viewed from a moving vehicle, winter landscapes, tall cabin at Whitehorse in Canada, sternwheeler riverboats on a shore at Whitehorse, cars racing around a snow track in the winter on the Chena River in Fairbanks, ice skaters performing for a crowd outside in winter on the Chena River in Fairbanks, views of Fairbanks businesses along river, views of the outside of a building, a man standing with a dog, scenic views of the landscape, ships on the water, a church with a Nativity scene in front, a bridge (not in Alaska), a woman and man standing outside of a brick home (not in Alaska), Pan American airplane at an airport, the mountains filmed from an airplane in flight, a man and a boy standing in snow in front of a truck, military vehicles along a snowy road, views from a truck driving down the Alaska Highway, and a truck at Whitehorse in Canada with sternwheeler riverboats on the shore in the background.

: [Fur Rendezvous, polar bear, Kotzebue, Nome, Unalakleet, kayak races]; Footage features an Alaska Native dance demonstration in front of a crowd on an Anchorage baseball field, a blanket toss, and dog mushers racing across a flat area; polar bears on ice in Northern Alaska; the Kotzebue waterfront, fish drying on racks, children, the post office, the trading post, the Wien Arctic Hotel, a whalebone, and Alaska Native women and a man with closeup views of their faces; Native dancing in Nome with King Island Chief Aulaġana (John Olarana or Olaranna) and others, a blanket toss, and fish drying on racks; the Unalakleet waterfront with kayaks and an airplane on floats, kayak races, and a demonstration of a kayak roll by a man wearing a gutskin parka. The film is made from three shorter reels of film spliced together. The original boxes are labeled as follows: 1) Fur Rendezvous – 100’ $30.00 - #60013. 2) #54 Polar Bear - $15.00. 3) #28 Kotzebue, Unalakleet, Nome, Kayak Races.

: [Gold mining, Alaska travel and activities 1]; Footage features a bulldozer caught in ice on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks, a large Service Motor Company fire in downtown Fairbanks, mining activities, a man holding a large gold nugget, a bulldozer and dragline in operation at a large placer mine operation, men walking toward camp, a sluice, tailings piles, a bulldozer stuck in the Chena River after breaking through ice, people in parkas ice skating, a man photographing people on skates as well as a man ice fishing with a net, people weighing fish with a scale, Chena River and Cushman Street bridge, the railroad depot in Fairbanks, chained black bear cubs being fed, river views, people in a small boat and a man with a duck, a cow and pig, St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox church and graves in Eklutna, women feeding a baby moose with a milk bottle, a man in a small boat, a tent and campsite, a family at a camp or picnic, men and women posing by a Birch Lake sign, a woman outside of a log post office, placer mining operations, aerial views of a mine area, a man operating a dragline, and people posing near an airplane. Handwritten notes on the film boxes are as follows: “Service Motor.” “Tractor and Gold Mine.” “Alaska, trip to Palmer, grave house, baby moose, skating, Birch L. “Bert P[?].” “Trip to Ophir, [?] Barrow trip.”

: [Gold mining, Alaska travel and activities 2]; Footage features people aboard a boat outside of Alaska, dog mushing, a tractor pulling a load of timber or logs with the Cushman Street Bridge visible in the distance, small girls at a birthday party, a girl with a dog, a bridge and road, people posing for the camera, a Farmall tractor pulling a boat out of the river at Cushman Street Bridge, hay piles, mountain scenes, Savage Rock at Denali or McKinley National Park, a large coal chute near Healy, a truck loaded with coal, mining operations, men and women in a boat, a waterfall, mountains and a sunset, aerial views of a river and mountains, airplanes and a camp on a rocky beach in northern Alaska, men posing by an airplane, aerial views of wildfires and mountains, men with cameras posing along with children in a northern Alaska coastal village (Barrow?), children in parkas posing, village homes, a woman chopping wood, a caribou, children in parkas with a small dogsled in Fairbanks, a brief glimpse of Leonhard Seppala with a dog team in Fairbanks with the Samson Hardware Building in the background, winter carnival scenes in Fairbanks, women in parkas posing near a Pacific Alaska Airlines airplane, a brief aerial view of the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, people disembarking from a DC-3 airplane, women and a man posing, people re-boarding the airplane, winter carnival lights, people shoveling deep snow at a cabin, men and women posing with a dog team, a man placing dogs in harnesses (black & white section of film with the first man identified as Jeff Studdert by local historian George Lounsbury in 2014), dogs running under the Noyes Slough swinging bridge and out onto the Chena River in Fairbanks, and another man driving a dog sled as a woman rides in the sled. Handwritten notes on film boxes are as follows, though the order does not seem to correspond with the order of scenes above: “Boat trip, Bowler[?].” “Dog team and tractor.” “Trip to Delta – loop.” “Fire scenes at Mc Park, coal mine at Healy.” “Lake Chelan boat trip sunset.” “Trip to Barrow, caribou, carnival and dog sled ride.”

: [Gold mining in Alaska]; The donor’s original number and title for AAF-20641 are: “M 7. Gold Mining in Alaska.” This film contains scenes of a bulldozer clearing land and knocking down an old log cabin, a pilot with an airplane on floats, a large placer mining operation, draglines and hydraulic giants, a man and women cleaning a large sluice box, the Sternwheeler Nenana pushing a barge, many people on the porch of a Northern Commercial Company building as barrels are loaded onto the barge, a sternwheeler paddling away, hydraulic giants removing overburden at a mining operation, a sign for N.C. Co. Air Field, metal-sided buildings, a Gullwing Stinson airplane being fueled, an International tractor wrecked in the ice, and sled dogs.

: [Goodnews Bay Mining Company and Platinum area scenes 1]; AAF-16390 is a super-8mm film labeled, “Start flight into camp, end with [illegible] and fox.” The film contains aerial views of snowy mountains as seen from a small airplane, coming in for a landing over a spruce forest onto a snowy runway, aerial scenes of a small settlement [possibly Good News Bay?], coming in for another landing on a snowy runway [possibly the Platinum airport?], a grab dredger moving what looks like chunks of ice, a dog team in the distance, a snowshoe hare running, and four men working with what appears to be a clamshell bucket while a smaller grab dredge removes ice from a slushy pond in the background. Additional scenes include a dredge that appears to have a huge chunk of ice stuck on its bucket, a snowy landscape, a helicopter, a group of people shoveling [possibly digging clams] in a tidal area, snowy mountains in the background, a mining camp and surrounding areas, a smaller dredge, a general overview of area, a fox, and a grab dredge with another large piece of machinery.

: [Hetherington films, reel 2]; This film contains scenes of a large military parade in downtown Fairbanks, a sign for "US Navy Petroleum Exploration NPR4," military equipment on display near the Lacey Street Theatre area in downtown Fairbanks, a Cat train, military aircraft and pilots, sailors near an Interior dredge in operation, people standing around a burned airplane (with all the fabric burnt off), a blanket toss in Barrow, large equipment including barges and backhoes at work along the beach (construction of NARL?), Navy ships along the coast, Quonset huts, and another blanket toss in Barrow.

: [Howard C. Robinson's Alaska film]; AAF-11895 begins with the title screens: "Howard C. Robinson presents Alaska" and "Produced by Robinson Studios." Program includes scenes of the Inside Passage, Ketchikan, commercial fishing activities, Wrangell, Petersburg, Taku Glacier, Sitka, Skagway, White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, Valdez, the Gulf of Alaska, Prince William Sound, Resurrection Bay, Seward, Resurrection River, Iron Mountain, a map of Alaska, the Alaska Highway, White Horse, Fairbanks, gold mining and dredge activities, Anchorage, a bear pulling cart with small girl in cart, Worthington Glacier, Keystone Canyon, Matanuska Glacier, Matanuska Valley, Palmer, Juneau, the Governor's mansion, Mendenhall Glacier, Malaspina Glacier, Cordova, Columbia Glacier, Whittier, Anchorage, Lake Spenard, Cook Inlet, the Alaska Railroad, scenery between Seward and Anchorage, the Whittier tunnel, Hurricane Gulch, Talkeetna, Mt. McKinley Park and park hotel, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Nome, placer mining, pilot Gren Collins and an airplane on skiis, Alaska Native activities such as seal hunting and jigging for tomcod, a Russian Orthodox Church, Kodiak, Dutch Harbor, Umnak, Adak harbor, Massacre Bay at Attu, captured World War II-era Japanese equipment on Kiska, an Aleutian storm, and Aleutian volcanoes.

: [Hunting and Alaska scenes]; This film reel made up of 15 smaller reels. Reel 1 contains scenes of musk oxen, men feeding musk oxen, a man and sheep, and a bridge (very overexposed). Reel 2 is labeled "Military class, children, trip up the Chena, University reindeer, crane," and it contains views of children playing, children riding in a car, children pulling a wagon, a child in snowshoes, reindeer, cars on a road, a small boat with outboard motor on a river, and a man fly fishing. Reel 3 is labeled "Airplane hunting trip" and "February 12, 1933." It contains aerial views during winter, an airplane on skis, landscapes, a cache, mountains, cabins, dog teams and passing by a Northern Air Transport ski plane, a family walking on a road with a child pulling a sled, and cabins. Reel 4 is labeled "Circle trip, caribou, children, hunting, September 1933," and it contains footage of a family fishing, siphons and pipes on Davidson Ditch, a man with a pack and a gun, a man with a sheep's head, a man dragging a dead caribou, a caribou strapped to a car, and people posing near small game tacked to a shed. Reel 5 is labeled "Huffman's - Dog Derby March 1933," and it contains scenes of dog races and dog teams on the Chena River, downtown Fairbanks, Cushman Street bridge, the Samson's Machinery building, NC buildings, people on the river and bridge, and the church and hospital. Reel 6 contains scenes of people, cabins, a placer gold mining operation, and children playing on a cable spool. Reel 7 is labeled "Carnival, skiing, children, July 4, 1937," and it contains views of a ski jump, children with a dog, 4th of July children's races on Second Avenue, children swimming, and a dog pulling a child on a wagon. Reel 8 contains views of a child, a canoe, a baby in a crib, people boating on a lake, and a dog sled (very overexposed). Reel 9 is labeled "1950 Carnival Parade and ski jumps," and it contains views of the Ice Carnival parade on Cushman and Second Avenue, the carnival, and a ski jump. Reel 10 is labeled "March 1951 Donn skiing," and it contains views of crowds watching cross-country skiers at the Alaska Agricultural College & School of Mines (University of Alaska Fairbanks), and a downhill ski race. Reel 11 is labeled "Donn's wedding, June 195 [1?]," and it contains views of the Huber wedding. Reel 12 is labeled "Wendy and Chena and pups," and it contains footage of a woman as well as a child and puppies. Reel 13 is labeled "Waterskiing July 1955, Chena's pups," and it contains views of a family, people waterskiing on a lake, and puppies. Reel 14 is labeled "Super-XX Nov. 11, 1955," and it contains footage of a car, a family, a camper, travel, and sternwheelers in Whitehorse. Reel 15 is labeled "Children skiing winter 1934-1935," and contains footage of people skiing.

: [Jeanie of Alaska – original reel 1]; This film includes scenes of Bud and Connie Helmericks traveling with their young daughter, Jeanie, throughout northern Alaska. The date of 1952 was confirmed by Jean (Jeanie Helmericks) Aspen in 2015. Detailed summary information was provided by the filmmakers. According to these notes, the films include scenes of Bud, Connie, and their daughter Jeanie (just turned two years old) walking toward their airplane; an airport in Montana; the family en route to Alaska; scenes from Takahula Lake, including the Helmericks’ log cabin home in the Brooks Range (Jeanie had never seen it before); Connie lifting Jeanie out of an airplane; Jeanie’s first view of the Arctic following a five-day flight from the U.S.; Jeanie wearing a factory-made brown alpaca parka with a hood; the next day, Jean on her tiny snowshoes watching her daddy cut a hole through the four-foot ice of the lake; Ice-fishing; Connie in rubber boots carrying Jean through water to get out on the lake ice in May; Bud gassing up the airplane; ice on Takahula Lake getting slushy and treacherous, and so they must go north because the airplane’s landing field on the frozen lake is disappearing; arriving at the still-frozen Arctic Ocean, 300 miles directly north of the cabin; Bud setting up an Explorers Club flag on a staff; pitching a tent and making a polar camp; Jean watching from a gas can seat dressed in a new caribou fur parka; a dog team driven by a friend arriving from the shore by arrangement; Jean walking on her snowshoes; hunting seals; Jean helping her mother fetch a bucket of snow for melting; on sunny days, camp gear and bedding hung out over the airplane to dry out the dampness of living on the salt ice; Connie hanging child’s diapers to dry on the airplane prop; Bud stalking and killing a polar bear; Jean and her toy seal; ice getting dangerous; on shore again after two months; Oliktok Point, on the north coast of Alaska, changing the landing gear for summer flight; inside a tent – Nannie, Martha, and George; a summer evening on the Koyukuk River and an aerial view; a trading post at Hughes for mail and supplies; over the Brooks Range; a sunset rainbow over Takahula Lake in summertime; building a dock and steps to the cabin; planting a garden; Bud hanging moose antlers up on a gable; Connie and Jeanie paddling through the waters of Takahula Lake in a seven-foot homemade kayak, which was very tippy; on the Arctic coast in summer - the Helmericks family camping with a tent; mosquitos on Bud’s back; Point Barrow - a tractor pushing off a boat; two views of the polar ice pack as it looks in summer; a walrus hunt; a bull walrus charging the boat; and a walrus being harpooned and butchered.

: [Jeanie of Alaska – original reel 2]; This film features an airplane in flight from underneath, showing the floats; the word HELP written on the ground at remote Anaktuvuk Pass in the Brooks Range; Chandler Lake people, dressed in summer parkas, are worried about a very sick baby (Bud flies the baby to the nearest hospital at Point Barrow - not shown); a view of landing on Takahula Lake; the family examines a new electric generator weighing 800 pounds which was flown in 100 miles from the trading post; painting the big yellow canoe; Jeanie crawling over an ancient mastodon tusk on the lake shore; Bud motoring up the Alatna River in the big yellow canoe; caribou and sheep; Bud felling a giant spruce tree; Bud hoisting an enormous eight foot log on his shoulders and carrying it; Bud filling a 20 gallon water tank inside the house; Connie at her twin aluminum sinks inside the cabin with piped water; Jeanie sampling the pie dough; Bud cutting moose steak from a moose Connie shot in the fall; Connie, author of books on the northern wilderness, at her typewriter inside the cabin; the cabin at treeline is used as a base for northern explorations as much as for a home; Jean sleeping in her little sleeping bag; outside, the first snow of winter begins to fall; barricading the cabin and lying a plank with spikes in front of the door to ward off bears; Bud and an unidentified man at Hughes, the trading post, pulling a plane from the Koyukuk River by tractor; ice cakes running in the Koyukuk; flying through Anaktuvuk Pass over the Brooks Range once more to the Arctic Ocean to meet with commercial fishing partners and friends, George and Nannie; landing on sand beach of the Colville River delta and waiting for the Arctic Ocean to freeze for ice fishing; friends looking at the power generator brought for them; their old house and a view of their new frame house (lumber was ocean-freighted from Point Barrow, 240 miles to the west); Connie pulling 12-year-old Lydia and Jeanie on a sled across the new ice of the Colville River channels; Apiak, the oldest son, pulling another sled; George, the father, using an ice chisel to work at a fishing hole; sculpins, or “Irish Lords,” inhabit all the oceans and are a great nuisance to fishermen - they are worthless, covered with spines, and it takes valuable time to disentangle them from nets; tossing fish into the sled lined with a caribou skin to hold them; skinloads of fish are upset onto the ice, making piles of frozen fish all over the river delta to be picked up at will; Jean with George and Nannie, her “Eskimo grandparents,” inside the new frame house - looking at the Sears catalog is a popular pastime; Nannie and her sewing machine; grace, taught by Presbyterian missionaries at Point Barrow, is said before a meal with all participants seated on the floor; Bud draining the oil out of the “Arctic Tern” when the temperature turns 30 below zero; Jean and Lydia in their warm caribou parkas playing house in the discarded airplane cowling as Bud works; Bud’s tool kit - he must do all work on the airplane and make all checks himself without the benefit of a CAA inspector, for the nearest repairs or authorities are 520 air miles away in Fairbanks; Jean scrambling about in her double parkas - the outside parka she wears over caribou is of fancy grey rabbit – she also wears caribou pants, caribou stockings, and caribou booties; the instrument panel upon which the lonely pilot depends; the airfield at Barrow is marked by two lines of empty oil drums on the snow; scenes at Point Barrow: a tractor is used to haul Arctic Ocean ice (fresh) for drinking water for the village - lakes can’t be used because they are too distant and are tainted with salt from the ocean - but ocean ice “turns” fresh when it is over one year old; a sign for Barrow Theater - there are three motion picture houses in Barrow at this time, all owned and operated by an Eskimo businesswoman - the theaters run 24 hours a day, and fresh films are flown in daily from the U.S.; a panorama of Barrow shows a city without sidewalks or streetlights - garbage and sewage disposal is by truck and sled, carrying the city’s refuse out on the Arctic ice to be carried away - permanently frozen sub-soil makes a flush system impossible; Barrow Post Office and children getting mail; polar bear cubs in Barrow await shipment to some zoo; Ice blocks are stacked for the year’s water supply beside the school; a panorama shot of Barrow village, ending with the white framed Presbyterian church whose diocese covers an area the size of England and the British Isles; an Eskimo businessman who owns much stock in the cooperative Native Store enterprise; an American flag; Connie, Jean, and Bud walking through the snow in full winter dress consisting of two parkas; and The End (written in the snow).

: [Julius & Opal Fowler Harkey Collection]; Black and white footage from Kotzebue (?) includes sled dogs, buildings, boardwalks, children leaving school and playing, and a baseball game. Color footage from Shishmaref (?) includes people travelling in a skin boat, outdoor games including running and walking on stilts and rolling fuel drums, and men pulling an umiak across ice with sled dogs. Additional footage includes men hunting seals and walruses, people processing meat, a Norseman airplane landing on a beach, people unloading mail, and an airplane departing.

: [Lazy Mountain Children's Home activities, etc.]; Footage includes aerial scenes from a Kodiak to Karluk flight, a crashed plane, Mr. Stickwood in a boat, a Russian church, a plane leaving a lagoon, a trip to the States, and Lazy Mountain children's Home activities. 1964 Good Friday Earthquake scenes include a cracked highway, aerial views of Anchorage, Fire Island, Kachemak Bay, Homer Spit, and earthquake damage at Ouzinkie and Afognak.

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