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.

: [Alaska travel, Healy, Valdez, Gulkana, Ski Boot Hill, travel outside 3]; This film is made up of several smaller reels labeled "Valdez 1973, To Whittier, Col Glacier," "Valdez 1973, O.B., John and Ruth, Party in Garage, Duck Camp 1973," "Healy Lake and Summit River, To Valdez," "Gulkana, Salcha," "Gulkana, Dawn and Vic [?]," "Gulkana," and "1969 Gulkana." The film contains views of the Columbia Glacier, a family traveling in Alaska to Valdez, people gathering and sitting at tables, people fishing and cleaning fish, boating on a river, a man and a dog sleeping, the interior of a cabin, a man washing and cooking inside a cabin, a baseball game, a woman and a boat, family and river scenes, a family fishing, and camping scenes.

: [Chuck Gray film collection]; This film includes footage of Seward, aerial views of Seward, and Anchorage following the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake. Additional footage includes Alaska Dog Mushers dogsled races at the Fairbanks track on Farmers Loop Road, dogsled races with Le Mans style start, dogsled slalom race, a snowshoe softball game, the 1966 Golden Days Parade including Charlie Creamer driving a car and George Clayton with his old truck. Final images feature people on rides at the Golden Days Midway.

: [David and Mike Doxey Film collection 6]; Footage includes a river break-up, Richardson Highway travel, children playing, sled dog races, downtown Fairbanks, a panorama, Dawson City, waterskiing at Harding Lake, a Golden Days Parade in Fairbanks, a Sheep Creek dredge being moved in 1958, children in Easter clothes, Open North American Sled Dog Races and the Fairbanks Winter Carnival parade. Footage from 1960 through 1966 includes a family at Harding Lake, the 1961 Winter Carnival parade, Harding Lake, travel outside of Alaska, the 1963 North American Championship Sled Dog Race, snowshoe baseball, a scramble race, the 1963 Yukon Marathon, Eskimo Olympics, the 1964 Golden Days parade, dog races, Tanana River break-up in Nenana in 1965 and snowmachines at the 1966 North American. Additional footage includes Harding Lake in 1966, snowmachines in March of 1967, waterskiing at Harding Lake in 1967, fireworks, the 1967 Chena River flood in Fairbanks, boat travel on the Salcha River, waterskiing in 1968, and Jason in 1978.

: [Ed Orbeck collection - sports and parades]; This film contains footage of Alaska sporting activities during the 1950s and a 1957 parade in Fairbanks in support of statehood. The original notes from film canisters are as follows: Ladd CLC Baseball 1956, Midnight Sun Baseball 1956, 49ers Bears Football Chicago [note that game is played at Wrigley Field in Chicago], Summit Lodge, Anchorage Baseball Trip 1957; Harding Lake 1957, Oldtimers Dad, Juneau Oldtimers – Franich & Stepovich, John Lawn Mower Expert 1958, Dad Fairbanks Huskies Football 1958, Pre Statehood Parade 1957, Arctic Park Sunday parade; John Beginner Ski Hill 1957, McKinley Park Baseball Picnic 1957, Sharon Playing Softball 1957, High School Bands 1957, Juneau Fishing and Baseball 1957, Moyer Fishing Juneau 1957, Start of House Project 1957, Ketchikan Convention 1957, Totem Poles Ketchikan, Home Arctic Park 1956, Lathrop School, Dog Mushers Races 1956, Dog Mushers Weight Pulls 1956, U of Alaska, Chena Ice Pole, Phillips Field, Snow Shoe Softball 1957, Blanket Toss, John Now an Expert Ski Shots 1958, Sharon Ski Beginner and End 1958, John Hockey 1958, John Skiing 1961.

: [Fairbanks sled dog races and baseball, 1969 North Slope exploration and Haul Road construction- part 1]; This film contains scenes of sled dog races (possibly near Anchorage) as well as Fairbanks area sled dog races and amateur baseball.

: [George Steck collection 01]; This footage includes downhill ski races at Skiland on the Steese Highway, views from Cleary Summit during summer, a Ski Patrol competition at Skiland, a Goldpanner baseball game at Growden Park, people skydiving and testing a parachute on the ground, and a black bear hide. Footage at Murphy Dome includes antennae and dishes covered with hoar frost, an Aktiv Fischer Snow Trac operating, a snowman, buildings, Caterpillar tractors, and husky dogs playing.

: [George Steck collection 15]; Footage includes views of First Avenue in Fairbanks, Immaculate Conception Church and St. Joseph Hospital, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner building, a parade on Cushman Street, a baseball team (the Goldpanners) at the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce building on First Avenue, people along the banks of the Chena River watching the start of the Yukon 800 Marathon boat race, Goldpanners baseball practice, and construction at Growden Park.

: [KFAR television news footage 4]; Footage from around Fairbanks includes an Alaska State Trooper conducting a traffic stop, concrete being poured at a building construction site at UAF (?), a Boy Scout Camporee or Jamboree at Alaskaland, several cargo jets at Fairbanks International Airport, a drug education center called the Island, boys playing a baseball game, busses at Joy School, Fairbanks Curling Club matches, an Interior Airways Twin Otter airplane at a remote camp in the arctic, motorcycles on Chena Ridge, a Yamaha motorcycle dealership, construction at the Tanana Valley State Fair grounds, a Lathrop Malemute men's basketball game, the Wood Center at UAF opening, residents leaving Steel's Hotel and moving to the Polaris Hotel, voting precincts, beauticians, snow removal, moose in yards, a swearing in ceremony at the City Council (?), a dinner event at Alaskaland Community Center, Mayor Red Boucher receiving a trophy from Mayor Julian Rice, Red and Heidi Boucher dancing, an African American art and fashion show, a switching gear at the Municipal Utilities System (MUS) building, city garbage pick-up, a front end loader dumping snow on a burning cabin, an ambulance at an auto accident, a damaged Cessna airplane in a snowbank, Alaska Railroad passenger cars, an ambulance, people in St. Joseph hospital, the city dump, an elephant and a hippopotamus at Alaskaland, boating, children practicing archery, voting precincts, the Youth Conservation Corp working on Cripple Creek Campground, the Kaktovik Post Office building being loaded into a C-130 Hercules airplane, a small parade, the ceremonial opening of a picnic site (?), rides at the Fairground, Aurora Animal Clinic, parking meters around town, stock car racing at Mitchell or the North Pole Speedway, the city dump, and a heavy equipment loader that ran off the University of Alaska bridge being pulled from the Chena River.

: [KTVF news stories, cross country skiing, snowmachines, baseball, airplanes]; Some segments of film contain audio, and others are silent. Note that this transfer is from a film negative. Specific dates and other information noted on the original film are given here in parentheses. Footage includes a cross country ski race in Fairbanks, a 20-kilometer Skiathon patch (silent) (undated), spectators watching a snowmachine race (silent) (segment titled "Midnight Sun 600") (undated, but possibly 1970 race start at Kulis Air National Guard Base in Anchorage), a Glacier Pilots baseball game, views of the crowd (silent) (undated), aircraft, and an official being interviewed about the search efforts for a missing aircraft that disappeared shortly after departing Anchorage (silent and sound) (segment titled "Begich, Boggs, Stocker") (October 18, 1972).

: [Lewis Gibson films 5]; AAF-13921 was filmed between 1964 and 1967 and is labeled, “6.” Gibson filmed scenes during his time spent training to be a policeman in Alaska, including scenes at the rifle range around 1964. Scenes from the Washington DC area, including national football and baseball games, were filmed when Gibson attended the FBI Academy in 1964. Scenes from the 1967 flood and aftermath in downtown Fairbanks include high water underneath the Cushman Street Bridge, a boat passing flooded cars and the Union 76 Station on Barnette Street (likely viewed from the window of the fire department on Seventh Avenue), flooded neighborhoods, the Texaco Station, damaged railroad tracks, looking southward along a muddy Cushman Street, sandbags in the lawn of the Immaculate Conception Church, the Samson Hardware building, and Safeway. The film also contains scenes of the George Thiele family at Christmas. Some scenes in the film are double-exposed.

: [Lou and Ruth McCoy collection 1]; Footage includes scenes from the Fairbanks 1947 Ice Carnival (Winter Carnival) parade, sled dog races, the 1947 Chena River break-up and flooding (possibly 1948), snowshoe baseball, and Jeff Studdert with a 37-dog team in 1957.

Alaska Film Archives

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