Alaska Film Archives

[1949 Fairbanks flood, mining activities]
[1949 Fairbanks flood, mining activities]
Film contains footage of the Ladd Field Post Cafeteria sign, a man and a woman walking together, a man welding, large machinery, boats on the Chena River, flooded areas in downtown Fairbanks, 1st Avenue Dress Shoppe, swimming pool, Wells Alaska Motors, flooding in a neighborhood, flooding around houses, flooding in the woods, men in a boat, men walking through flood waters, boating in flood waters, Northern Commercial Company power plant with a sternwheeler riverboat parked along bank, Samson Hardware and Mining Machinery, a sunrise in the woods, large pieces of mining equipment, a dredge, men working with hydraulic giants, men working a sluicebox, people around a campfire, people in the woods camping, large mining machinery, farmland (potatoes?), a large dredge bucket, a dragline, two men in a little yellow raft on the water, men walking on the Davidson Ditch pipe, Discovery Claim Felix Pedro sign, people gold panning, a group shot of people showing off goldpans with gold and gold nuggets in them, the landscape surrounding the mining area, KFAR building and tower, the Rapids Meals and Rooms building, Rapids Hunting Lodge (Black Rapids Roadhouse), a group of men on and around a truck, and a large building on fire.
[1967 Fairbanks flood]
[1967 Fairbanks flood]
This film features what are likely relief efforts during the 1967 Fairbanks flood. A handwritten label on the film box says "Dan[?] airport, Kul[?], Church of God, Westgate, A67, Mom[?], Henry and High school, [?] Day, [?], Flood."
[1971 Midnight Sun 600]
[1971 Midnight Sun 600]
Footage includes mechanics (likely in Fairbanks) preparing snowmachines for Midnight Sun 600 racing, Brian Willner cleaning a snowmachine, motorhomes and support vehicles with snowmachine trailers (likely leaving Fairbanks for Anchorage), the distribution of race bibs in an auditorium in Anchorage, racers at the start line in Anchorage, Bob Hamme in a red helmet, crews picking up broken-down machines along the highway, a wrecked truck in a ditch, mechanics welding skis and rebuilding snowmachines in a shop (and possibly doing overnight repairs in Glennallen or Tok), snowmachines and racers at the start line for second-day start (possibly in Glennallen or Tok), individual racers heading out, racers on the highway, and racers returning to the finish area.
[1974 Chena flood dam construction]
[1974 Chena flood dam construction]
This film features earth-moving equipment at work on dam construction as well as culverts filling with water.
[1974 North American Sled Dog Championships]
[1974 North American Sled Dog Championships]
The film can is labeled “29th Annual North American 1974,” and the film contains footage of sled dog racing.
[1982 Valdez Winter Carnival and winter activities]
[1982 Valdez Winter Carnival and winter activities]
Footage includes 1982 Valdez Winter Carnival scenes including families on a sled hill, snowmachines, Valdez scenes, a man and woman being interviewed (silent), church, and more snowmachines. Valdez winter activities include scenes of people playing baseball on snowshoes, totem pole sculptures, the Valdez harbor, and people in costumes jumping off a boat and swimming.
[1988 ivory carver; BIMA dredge at Nome]
[1988 ivory carver; BIMA dredge at Nome]
The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has film AAF-20,005 numbered as Bacon 1-01 and titled "Eskimo carver with old bold [bow] drill: WP [workprint]-100 feet." AAF-20,005 has not yet been digitized - it is the workprint for AAF-20,006, which the filmmaker's original labeling scheme has numbered as Bacon 1-02 and titled, "1988 ivory carver with drill in mouth: ECN [Eastman Color Negative]-100 feet." Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about these films is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: "Box 1 - 3 Small Reels, 1 Large Reel - Kotzebue, Nome, Original reels and Work Prints. BIMA is a floating dredge. Huge dredge was digging up gold bearing sand off Nome. Also other shots of Nome on same reel, ivory carver Pat, close up of head shots of dogs, dog team packed with dogs, tourists panning for gold and riding dog sleds, breakwater, tug and barge coming into channel, Front Street of Nome, ivory shop cut in to ivory carver, downtown Nome, the Nugget Inn on Front Street of Nome, Dredge 5 working." [Note that this description does not entirely match actual footage on reels - it is likely that portions of this description were meant for AAF-20,084].
[1988 ivory carver; BIMA dredge at Nome]
[1988 ivory carver; BIMA dredge at Nome]
The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has film AAF-20,008 numbered as Bacon 1-04 and titled "BIMA dredge: ECN,ECL-1,200 feet." Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about these films is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: "Box 1 - 3 Small Reels, 1 Large Reel - Kotzebue, Nome, Original reels and Work Prints. BIMA is a floating dredge. Huge dredge was digging up gold bearing sand off Nome. Also other shots of Nome on same reel, ivory carver Pat, close up of head shots of dogs, dog team packed with dogs, tourists panning for gold and riding dog sleds, breakwater, tug and barge coming into channel, Front Street of Nome, ivory shop cut in to ivory carver, downtown Nome, the Nugget Inn on Front Street of Nome, Dredge 5 working." [Note that this description does not entirely match actual footage on reels - it is likely that portions of this description were meant for AAF-20,084].
[Aerial view of pipeline construction]
[Aerial view of pipeline construction]
Footage includes aerial views of Fairbanks, the pipeyard, pipeline construction, sections of pipeline arranged along the roadside, trucking on the Haul Road, and North Star terminals.
[Air shots of Kotzebue 1981]
[Air shots of Kotzebue 1981]
The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20047 numbered as Bacon 11-01 and titled “Air Shots of Kotzebue 1981.” Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about the group of films that includes this film is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: “Chilkat dancers, carving on the largest totem pole - The Japanese were having a World’s Fair and they wanted to have the largest totem pole so they went to Haines to have it carved; it was huge - Inuit Circumpolar Conference meeting in Nuke, Greenland in 1980, beluga hunting in Kotzebue - In the evening when the hunters bring in the whales they cut them up and hang them to dry - Nome inside shots of Omiak - When he went to Egg Island, big Omiak Eskimos climbed up the cliffs and got the bird eggs, puffin and seagull eggs - They get up there and drop the eggs down to a guy that catches them, and then he gives them to a guy in a boat where he has a basket with grass in it and they fill up the baskets - Bill got up the hill and it was so slippery from bird droppings that he kept slipping so he could not get down - They had to go around and climb up to the top and drop a rope down to him and pull him up - Says it was really embarrassing.” Notes on the film box are as follows: “Barrow Nulakatuk, ICC Meeting Inuvik NWT Canada 1960, ICC meeting Nuuk Greenland July 1, 1980, Eskimos going to ECC Island out from Nome 1950, Kotzebue beluga hunters return at night 1950” and “Reel 1: Original, Air shots of Kotzebue Oct. 31 1981.”
[Alaska 1925, Kenai River, Skilak Lake, bear hunt]
[Alaska 1925, Kenai River, Skilak Lake, bear hunt]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1925,” “Alaska 25 - Kenai R. - Skilak Lake – Hunt,” and “Alaska Hunting II.” The film contains scenes of three men in a motor boat towing another boat, men rowing an open boat down a swift river, scenes from within the open boat as a man rows, faces of men in a boat, scenery along the shoreline, men standing by a log cabin, men hiking with packs, a porcupine running into the bushes, men setting up a canvas tent, men joking around in camp, men crossing a small stream, a man playing a flute, a hillside and inlet, and a man skinning a dead bear.
[Alaska 1926 odds and ends, glaciers and boats]
[Alaska 1926 odds and ends, glaciers and boats]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1926” and “Alaska 26 Odds and Ends #4.” The film contains miscellaneous scenes of glaciers, a man with a rifle aboard a boat, a coastal community waterfront, activities aboard a ship, men climbing a snowy mountain, icy waters and glaciers, and various boats.
[Alaska 1931]
[Alaska 1931]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1931” and “Scenes taken for footage for Milford - Alaska 1931.” The footage contains scenic shots of various snowy mountains, glaciers, a small boat in icy waters, a man aboard a boat cranking a film camera, icy waters, a man with a camera, and more glaciers and snowy mountains.
[Alaska 1931 reel 4, glaciers and ships]
[Alaska 1931 reel 4, glaciers and ships]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1931 Reel 4.” The film contains scenic shots of glaciers and mountains, a small boat moving in front of a glacier face, a calving glacier, icebergs, a small boat moving through icy waters, ice near a shoreline, a larger steamship moving through icy waters near a glacier face, and seals resting on icebergs in the distance.
[Alaska 1935, Blackstone Bay, College Fiord, odds and ends]
[Alaska 1935, Blackstone Bay, College Fiord, odds and ends]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1935” and “Blackstone Bay, College Fiord, Odds and Ends, Goats etc., Fish.” The film contains scenes of two men rowing a boat and anchoring it near a waterfall, a man holding a film camera, a man watching salmon swim upstream, numerous salmon in a shallow stream, two men paddling a boat in the distance as seen from a rock opening, a herd of mountain goats on a hillside near a shoreline, a calving glacier and icy waters, and birds flying near a waterfall.
[Alaska '35]
[Alaska '35]
This film contains footage of Alaska Railroad cars, horses pulling a wagon on a bridge, mountains and glaciers, mountain goats on a hillside, men with a boat on a beach, a street and buildings in Seward, a steam engine and train arriving at Palmer or Matanuska Junction, Matanuska Valley Colony and colonists, farm buildings and farm workers, a hog with piglets, men with pitchforks scooping hay, people in a truck moving furniture, a man and child at a water pump, a hay wagon, barns and silos, people building frame houses, a blacksmith or machinist at work, men moving building supplies with trucks and bulldozers, a family posing next to a finished house, workers and machinery threshing grain or chopping hay, a farmstead with a log home, a Caterpillar crossing railroad tracks, men unloading bags from a truck, people offloading supplies from a train, a bulldozer pulling a load of construction material, several Caterpillars clearing land and grading soil, a train and steam engine, trucks near tents, people with horses, a blacksmith, children in a wagon, the trading post and cooperative store, a family and home, a girl on a ladder, workers finishing house construction, people moving items into a house, a man chopping a tree, a man and boy at a water pump, men pitching hay, a frame home, a log home, a barn and silo, a horse and wagon, a threshing machine, a farm in the distance, and a car on the road.
Alaska 49th state : [part 1]
Alaska 49th state : [part 1]
This film was used for lectures by the Machetanzes when they travelled outside of Alaska. Footage includes the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner headline "Alaska 49th State," George Sundborg checking teletype and noting the passage of statehood legislation on June 30 1958, statehood headlines from the Anchorage Daily Times and Anchorage Daily News, men launching a large star suspended by helium balloons from the Polaris building's roof in Fairbanks, a line of people signing a giant telegram in Fairbanks, a statehood parade down Second Avenue in Fairbanks, Ernest Gruening shaking hands in Anchorage, and graphics showing routes to Alaska. Additional images include passengers embarking on the Riverboat Discovery near Fairbanks, Jim Binkley piloting the boat and talking on a microphone, Mary Binkley with a microphone and an unidentified assistant showing fur to passengers, Alaska Natives at Tanana River fish camp, Alaska Native men building a fishwheel, men retrieving salmon from a fishwheel and processing it for drying, an Alaska Native woman making a birch bark basket, Sara Machetanz looking at a birch bark baby carrier, and Sara with baby Traeger Machetanz. Additional images include children bottle feeding a moose calf, people harvesting grain and vegetables in the Matanuska Valley, an aerial view of an oil drill rig, Healy coal mine, men operating a hydraulic giant and driving thaw points near Fairbanks, a dredge operating near Fairbanks, men using Caterpillars and a dragline to operate a large sluice box, sluice box clean-up, and a man smelting gold into an ingot. Additional images include the Machetanzes Hi Ridge cabin near Palmer during winter, Fred using a dog team and chainsaw to obtain firewood, a moose at a cabin, Fred and Sara travelnig to Palmer during winter, a snow plow and rotary snowblower on the road, and Jan Koslosky with a rifle showing a large Polar Bear hide. Images at the Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage include a fur auction, a weight-pull contest, a blanket toss, a merry-go-round, the start line of World Champion Dog Sled Races, and Northern Alaska Native dancers performing the Wolf Dance.
Alaska 49th state : [part 2]
Alaska 49th state : [part 2]
This film was used for lectures by the Machetanzes when they travelled outside Alaska. Footage includes Open North American dog sled races in Fairbanks and Dr. Roland Lombard wearing bib number one. Additional images include travel on the Alaska Railroad during winter, a man with a reindeer in Fairbanks, downtown Fairbanks, a party at the Atwood home in Anchorage, international travelers arriving at the Anchorage International Airport and Bob Reeve at the airport, a musical conductor and choral group, KTVA television studios and Norma Goodman, and shoppers in a grocery store. Southeast Alaska images include glaciers and travel by ship, amphibious aircraft taking off in Juneau, loggers cutting and hauling trees, Ketchikan Pulp Mill, salmon in a stream, purse seiner and cannery. Additional images include two men going upstream in a canoe and fishing for grayling, and campus buildings at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.
[Alaska Air Guard earthquake film]
[Alaska Air Guard earthquake film]
This film contains scenes of earthquake damage in Anchorage, Kodiak, Seward, and Valdez following the March 27, 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake. Title screens indicate the footage was shot by an Alaska Air National Guard Air Transport Squadron.
[Alaska Airlines Lockheed Starliner aircraft]
[Alaska Airlines Lockheed Starliner aircraft]
The donor’s original number and title for AAF-20723 are: “RM 16. Alaska Airlines, Connie OTZ, Cooper Ldg, Sheep.” This film features an Alaska Airlines Lockheed Starliner with "Fly Alaska" on its side (N7316C) landing and taxiing on a snowy runway at Kotzebue in northwest Alaska, an Alaska Airlines ramp agent directing the aircraft on the ground, passengers walking toward and boarding the airplane, and views of sheep on a hill. Note that the Starliner developed out of the Lockheed Super Constellation with the Starliner having a redesigned wing and more powerful engines.
The Alaska Coast, Seattle to Columbia Glacier
The Alaska Coast, Seattle to Columbia Glacier
Footage features Alaska Steamship Lines ship "Yukon" cruising from Seattle to Columbia Glacier through the Inside Passage. It stops at Ketchikan, Juneau, and an unidentified town.
Alaska Division: Great Falls to Fairbanks
Alaska Division: Great Falls to Fairbanks
This is an Army Air Corps training film for crews ferrying aircraft from Great Falls, Montana to Fairbanks, Alaska, where Soviet pilots then took possession of the airplanes. The aircraft were part of the Lend-Lease program in which the United States sent war supplies to the Soviet Union during World War II. Footage includes graphics showing the route, aerial views of runways along the route, views of runways during landings, and graphics advising pilots of procedures for aborting flights. During the life of the Lend-Lease project, nearly 8,000 planes flew along this route, also known as the Alaska-Siberia (ALSIB) route, from Montana to Alaska then on to Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. The film was made by the U.S. Army Air Forces Air Transport Command Overseas Technical Unit.
[Alaska Environmental Center collection films and videos 1]
[Alaska Environmental Center collection films and videos 1]
The original Betamax videotape is labeled, “Larry Sutton, Northern Alaska Environmental Center; Alpha Video Betacam 3-26-87; Ulrich Ganz, Wilbur Mills.” The video contains silent footage of mountains and rivers in Alaska, kayakers in a variety of settings, people hiking, birds and nests, Dall sheep, bears, caribou, and tundra flowers.
[Alaska flying in winter and summer]
[Alaska flying in winter and summer]
The original film is labeled “Winter storm, wind storm with Champion, have on video.” The film contains scenes of driving along a snowy road in winter, caribou along the roadside, John Baker gassing up an Aeronca Champion airplane on skis, an airplane taking off, an airplane at a remote location, a man removing wing covers and hand propping the airplane, Queenie the dog going into the airplane, an airplane on skis taking off from a remote strip, a truck crossing a narrow bridge across a river, caribou, aerial views of the landscape, Queenie with a pack, John Baker brushing away a horde of mosquitoes, a bulldozer digging a trench, many airplanes around a lake, construction crews, aerial views of Anchorage, men hunting, and a small tracked vehicle.
[Alaska glaciers 1931 reel 3]
[Alaska glaciers 1931 reel 3]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1931 Reel 3.” The footage contains scenes of glaciers calving into water, scenic shots of glaciers, a panoramic shot across the face of a glacier, snowy mountains, and ice fields.
[Alaska Native celebrations]
[Alaska Native celebrations]
This film contains scenes of different groups of Alaska Native peoples drumming and dancing in Southeast and Northern Alaska, people sharing and eating muktuk (whale) at a celebration in Northern Alaska, and a blanket toss in Northern Alaska (possibly Barrow).
Alaska Review 03
Alaska Review 03
Hosts Ed Bennett and Eric Eckholm introduce the program. The first segment deals with small airplane safety issues in Alaska. Issues include the increased number of airplane crashes, safety concerns, pilot training, weather conditions and preparedness, and FAA regulations. Those interviewed include: pilot Jerry Olson; head of the Alaska office of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Frank Malone; owner of Webber Air Service in Ketchikan Jack Swaim (misidentified in title screen); pilot Wes Lynch in Kivalina; air service owner Paul Haggland of Fairbanks; Alaska Governor and pilot Jay Hammond of Naknek and Juneau; Alaska Regional Director of the FAA Lyle Brown; and the unidentified witness of a small plane crash. The second segment examines oil tanker safety in Alaskan waters, including Prince William Sound. Footage includes the breakup and sinking of the oil tanker Argo Merchant in 1976, the Port of Long Beach in California, N.A.S.C.O shipyards in San Diego, Puget Sound in Washington, and the Port of Valdez and Valdez Narrows in Alaska. Issues discussed include oil tanker construction, navigation challenges at the Port of Valdez, and ways to minimize oil spill risks. Those interviewed include: Chuck Champion, Alaska's Pipeline Coordinator; Walt Parker, leader of the Alaska Governor's task force on tankers; Captain Roletti of the oil tanker Sea Tiger; Admiral Hayes, head of the Alaska Command of the U.S. Coast Guard; Dave Stevens, State of Washington tanker expert; Alaska State Senator Chancy Croft; Ernst Mueller, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation; A.B. Mookhoek, head of Exxon's Marine Oceans Operations and chairman of the Marine Subcommittee of Alyeska; Bill Morrice, Valdez Port Director; Captain Bill Fiskin, in charge of vessel loading; and Dr. Betty Willard of the President's Council on Environmental Quality. The third segment, reported by Janet Archibald, covers the struggle to keep the Anchorage Daily News in business. Those interviewed include: Kay Fanning, publisher of the Anchorage Daily News; Hugh Fleisher, co-chairman of the Committee for Two Newspapers; Robert Atwood, publisher of the Anchorage Daily Times; and Lee Jordan, publisher of the Chugiak-Eagle River Star. Program includes public service announcements (PSAs) about the Council on Aging, child abuse, and human development.
[Alaska sheep and bear]
[Alaska sheep and bear]
This footage shows Dall sheep in the hills (focus is soft) and a bear near a river.
[Alaska statehood celebrations and scenery]
[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 summer and fall]
[Alaska summer and fall]
The original film is labeled “Fall and summer.” The film contains scenes of small airplanes around a float pond, John Baker fishing, Alaska wildflowers, canvas-sided cabins, Queenie the dog, a sternwheeler pushing a barge on a river with a fishwheel in the foreground, flowers, a ptarmigan, a barge on a river, a floatplane taxiing on water with railroad cars in the background, travel along a gravel road, road construction possibly in Mt. McKinley/Denali National Park, a glacier, a red squirrel on a picnic table, a magpie, Dall sheep, caribou, a close view of a grizzly bear feeding, blueberries, autumn colors across the tundra, trees, a ptarmigan, a moose, an arctic ground squirrel, a moose, airplanes on skis taking off and landing, John Baker with an airplane, John Baker hunting goose, a beaver in a pond, and a dog chasing after fish.