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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 4 of 4 Objects
[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.
[Fairbanks, family scenes]
[Fairbanks, family scenes]
This film contains footage of men fishing in a river, a large garden in summer, cabins in the snow, trucks driving on a snowy road, Chena River during breakup with large ice flows, a gravel pit with dragline pulling up gravel and depositing to dump truck (dredging river?), farmland with cows, a snowy road, Fairbanks homes and a flower garden, Creamers Dairy and fields, traffic driving on 2nd Avenue in downtown Fairbanks, a woman opening gifts at what appears to be a baby shower, a newborn baby, various scenes of a very young baby in a crib, a baby getting a bath, a man holding baby in a baptismal gown, additional scenes of a baby getting older, laying on floor, rolling over, sitting up, playing with toys, scenes of Christmas, a Christmas tree, a baby in a baby seat next to a Christmas tree, and a group of people celebrating Christmas.
[Family activities, Circle Hot Springs]
[Family activities, Circle Hot Springs]
This film contains footage of a little girl walking with help from woman, a woman holding a baby in her lap, a man holding a baby in his lap, a small child walking, a small child in a chair playing with toys, a small girl in a winter coat walking indoors, a small child playing with toys and a table, a 1st Birthday party, a child in a rocking chair, an airplane taking off over water, a scenic view of mountains, a group of people outside (possibly a picnic), children walking on a lawn, the Santa Claus House in North Pole, people lighting a wooden structure on fire and then driving through it with cars and bikes (possibly a stunt show?), an airplane (Boeing B-47 Stratojet) flying overhead, a woman with a very small baby, a horse-drawn wagon, Circle Hot Springs Hotel and gardens, a bridge with driftwood caught against it, mining operations, a dragline and conveyor at work in mining operations, two well dressed women walking outside, two children opening presents, two children playing with toys, a Christmas tree, views of the inside of a house decorated for Christmas with Christmas cards on the wall, a soft water company's storefront, a large group of elementary age children digging in dirt or sand, a large group of elementary age kids playing on a playground and sliding down a slide, children riding ponies, children on a spinning amusement park ride (airplanes suspended by cables), boats moving fast on the water, people at a formal sit-down dinner, a group of people posing for a group photograph, a woman walking around outside with a baby, a parade outside Alaska in the summer that includes a marching band and small cars and parade floats, a child's 2nd birthday party with lots of small children in attendance, a child opening presents, a birthday cake with two candles, children reading books while sitting together on a couch, children playing with each other indoors, and a little girl spinning around for the camera.
[Family scenes, Alaska Highway travel, winter carnival]
[Family scenes, Alaska Highway travel, winter carnival]
Film contains images of cars driving down a street, an aproximately 1-year-old girl outside of a red house climbing stairs and playing, the same girl indoors, sheep in a field, a group of people standing in the field, a group of people dressed up at an outdoor gathering, people sitting in a group in chairs outdoors in a social gathering, the exterior of a red house, children swimming in what appears to be a lake, a child aproximately 1-year-old walking, views of a beach and a sign that says "Indian Village" on it, scenic Alaska wilderness with a rainbow, children running through a sprinkler and playing with a hose on the lawn in front of a red house, a family standing in front of cars, children playing with a cat, children playing outside in the snow in the winter, adults and children standing for a group photograph, outdoor winter scenery, the Watson Lake Signpost Forest along the Alaska Highway in Yukon Territory of Canada, mountain scenery, a moose in winter in a field of snow, children being pulled on a sled, caribou pulling a dog sled, a Fairbanks Winter Carnival parade with parade floats, kids on a snowy beach throwing rocks into the water near a glacier, a parade in summer with a man riding in the parade and women marching in the parade, flowers in a garden, a barn in winter, well dressed people standing outside in winter with a bunch of cars in front of a church outside of Alaska, people pushing wagon wheels in the snow, a little girl opening presents next to a Christmas tree, a woman holding a baby, a Christmas tree, presents under a tree, a man with children on his lap, children sitting on a couch, children opening Christmas presents, children playing with toys, and children roughhousing and tumbling.