Alaska Film Archives
- This is a 1968 campaign film about the background and political vision of Mike Gravel prior to his election to the U.S. Senate. Bob Bartlett, Hubert Humphrey, and Ted Kennedy are briefly seen. The film covers the topics of campaign stresses, the development of oil fields in Alaska, and the need to create jobs in Alaska. The film reviews Gravel's childhood in Springfield, Massachusetts, his years in the military, and his family life in Anchorage and Washington D.C. Scenes in Alaska include Alaska Railroad travel, statehood activity in Anchorage and Juneau, a trailer park or mobile home park, building construction, Juneau, Nome ?, union halls, Sitka, and other unidentified scenes.
- The original narrated DVD is labeled “John Baker - A Story of Fur.” The original silent film is labeled “No. 1 Winter Trapline.” The narrated version is played back at a different frame rate and is slower and longer than the silent version. This is the narrated version. The film contains footage of the B&K Trading Company building and the Roadhouse in Talkeetna; Carol and Verna Close baking bread; a dog named Queenie with John Baker checking a trapline during winter; Queenie wearing a dog pack; John Baker hiking in snowshoes and checking a beaver trap; John Baker and trapping partner Gene Lanzaro building a small log cabin from start to finish, including peeling logs, scribing and notching logs, and sawing boards from logs; setting a wolverine trap; a pilot and mailman Cliff Hudson delivering mail via small airplane; John Baker nailing a roof on a cabin, cutting out a window on a cabin, installing a chimney through a cabin roof, looking at Mount McKinley (Denali) through cabin windows, demonstrating window shutters, and showing bear protection around windows; Gene Lanzaro cutting fireweed and the dog Queenie pulling a sled with logs; cooking meat and pancakes inside cabin; John Baker with a lynx that he trapped; a captive marten kept as a pet; a moose; John Baker demonstrating hiking in snowshoes versus without snowshoes in deep snow; John Baker showing a marten he has trapped and field dressing a spruce grouse; a new snowmachine; Queenie barking at a trapped wolverine; scenes of setting and checking a beaver trap, including fresh beaver signs in spring, a beaver snare, a beaver lodge with steam emerging, skinning a beaver, and Queenie pulling a sled; John Baker starting up and flying a small airplane on skis, aerial views of snowy landscapes, and groups of moose; landing an airplane on skis; a moose walking through deep snow; John Baker butchering a moose and loading it onto an airplane; aerial views of mountains and moose; a ptarmigan in white plumage; a snowmachine pulling a sled; showing off a trapline catch at Summit log cabin; Queenie running behind a snowmachine and riding on a sled; an airplane in a windstorm and John Baker digging out the airplane after the storm passes; Lake Hood airplanes and a hangar damaged by a windstorm near Anchorage; John Baker with a roll of furs and a pickup truck at Lake Hood airstrip; Anchorage Fur Rendezvous scenes, including Fourth Avenue in Anchorage, brief glimpses of George Attla and Jimmy Malemute, Roland Lombard mushing along a trail, a helicopter flying over the trail, Jonas Brothers Taxidermy shop in Anchorage, and a fur auction; Myers Furs shop in Michigan, a furrier at work, and John Baker’s father posing in a beaver coat and hat.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- In this episode of Alaska On Line, Red Boucher interviews experts about various Alaskan issues. In part 1, Red Boucher interviews Gene Bjornstad, general manager of Chugach Electric, about deregulation and the role of electric energy in Alaska's economy. In part 2, Red Boucher interviews Colonel Randy Crawford, director of Alaska State Troopers, about law enforcement in Alaska. In part 3, Red Boucher interviews Wes Carson, president of Alaska Communications System, about the role of telecommunications in developing Alaska's economy. In part 4, Red Boucher interviews Robert Poe, executive director of AIDEA, about the Alaska Industrial Development Authority's role in developing Alaska's economy. In part 5, Red Boucher interviews Alaska State Senator Dave Donley about the goals and objectives of the 2001 legislative session. These programs were recorded on January 13, 2001.
- Alaska Review examines major changes taking place within Alaska's judicial system, such as the elimination of plea bargaining, the discovery of sentencing disparity, revisions in the criminal code, the establishment of an appellate court, and the development of a master plan for correctional institutions in the State of Alaska. Those interviewed include: Art Snowden, administrative director of the Alaska Court System; Mike Rubenstein, former executive director of the Alaska Judicial Council; Nick Maroules, research director for the Alaska Judicial Council; Mary Alice Miller, former 4th Judicial District judge; Barry Stern, assistant attorney general; Larry Weeks, district attorney for Anchorage; Roger Endell of the Criminal Justice Center at the University of Alaska; Charles Campbell, director of the Division of Corrections; Brian Porter, chief of the Anchorage Police Department; Colonel Tom Anderson, director of the Alaska State Troopers; and Avrum Gross, former attorney general of the State of Alaska. The program contains brief views of graduation ceremonies for state troopers, an officer making an arrest, and corrections facilities. The program also contains Public Service Announcements (PSAs) about Alaskan peoples and members of the Protectors of the Land for the Campaign for Human Development and the importance of preserving nature for future scientific discoveries.
- Proposed petrochemical development in Alaska is explored in this program. Alaskans examine the Dow Shell Chemical group's proposal for six possible development sites in Alaska, including Fairbanks, Point Mackenzie, Kenai, Seward, Valdez, and Fire Island. Those interviewed include: Pete Lehman, project director for Dow Chemical; Fred Ali of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation; Ellen Widess of San Francisco, an attorney with California's OSHA Administration; Raphael Moure, a Denver industrial hygienist; Jerry White of Alaska's North Slope Borough; John Carlson, mayor of the Alaska's North Star Borough and member of a citizens advisory board to examine petrochemical development in Alaska; Eric Myers, member of citizens advisory board; Steve Hendrixson, environmental engineer with Shell Chemical Company; Tanya Gularte, member of citizens advisory board; Sharon Macklin, member of citizens advisory board; unidentified petrochemical industry executives; Terry Miller, lieutenant governor of Alaska; Millet Keller, member of citizens advisory board; Ernest Mueller, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation; and Jack Jones, Dow Chemical Community and Government Relations officer. The program includes views of a San Francisco and a Louisiana petrochemical facility as well as excerpts from Dow television commercials. The program also contains Public Service Announcements (PSAs) about alcoholism and chainsaw safety.