Alaska Film Archives

[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.
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 traveling I circa 1926, railroad, ships, coastal communities]
[Alaska traveling I circa 1926, railroad, ships, coastal communities]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1925,” “Alaska 1925 - I think – travelling,” and “Alaska 1926 I.” The footage contains scenes of people traveling in an open train car, a conductor talking to people aboard a train, railroad travel, travel by ship, coastal communities, military ships in a harbor (possibly Seattle), automobiles and people in a town with a mountainous backdrop, a totem pole, a town with muddy streets, a sign for a Valdez dock, a ship at a dock, a boy with a fish, men unloading boxes on a dock, an Emel Packing Company sign, a cannery, an Alaska Steamship Company sign on a vessel, further scenes of shipboard and dock activities in Valdez, and ship passengers enjoying the scenery.
[Alaska traveling II circa 1926, Fairbanks and Cordova]
[Alaska traveling II circa 1926, Fairbanks and Cordova]
This film is labeled, “Alaska 1925 or 1927” and “Alaska Travelling II 1926.” Footage contains scenes of people aboard a large ship, the S.S. Alaska, viewing a glacier. It also features a train crossing a tall railroad trestle and winding through mountainous terrain, the train going under a trestle and through a tunnel, scenes of the railroad bridge in Nenana, First Avenue in Fairbanks, the sternwheeler Alice and another vessel, the Cowles Street library building and a nearby home in downtown Fairbanks, men and women at the University of Alaska farm in Fairbanks, a child with a haltered cow, a goat, other livestock, a man panning for gold, mining activities including a sluice box and windlass, men and women pushing an automobile, people on a street (likely in Fairbanks), a train in Cordova, men unloading sacks onto a dock, and people aboard a ship viewing the surrounding water and mountains.
[Church collection glacier and yacht]
[Church collection glacier and yacht]
Film contains views of a glacier in south or southeastern Alaska, the yacht "Westward," and barges.
Fairbanks Yesterday Today Tomorrow
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.
[Glaciers, Wonder Lake, Merrill and airplane]
[Glaciers, Wonder Lake, Merrill and airplane]
This film contains images of men sorting supplies for a field expedition (likely including Roscoe Bonsal, Ben Wood, Percy Pond, Andrew M. “Andy” Taylor, and Paul Kegal), a man unloading supplies from a small boat onto shore, men with packs hiking across an uneven glacier surface, a rock slide in the distance, canvas tents on a glacier, men hiking and posing for the camera, men hiking alongside crevasses, men roped together while hiking, men looking out across an icefield, snow covered mountain peaks, a glacier calving into water, mountain peaks as viewed from a boat, men on a boat, men posing with mountain goats they’ve hunted, a boat moving through icy waters, men with animal hides on a dock, a man (possibly skipper Paul Kegal) repairing the boat M/V Eurus, Paula and John Anderson’s fox farm and roadhouse (Polly’s roadhouse) at the north end of Wonder Lake in what is today Denali National Park, dogs pulling a sled in summer with one man driving and another riding in the sled, men at a cabin near the lake, a man and woman (possibly Paula and John Anderson) at a cabin, dogs, railroad tracks as viewed from a moving train, a train going through a tunnel, a south or southeastern coastal Alaska town, the Anchorage No. 1 Travel Air biplane taking off and climbing steeply, men in a rowboat towing the Anchorage No. 1 on floats, pilot Russel Merrill fueling an airplane, a man cranking and hand propping the Anchorage No. 1 airplane, aerial views of landscapes and shorelines from an airplane, a totem pole, Ketchikan, the Ketchikan Spruce Mill, a fish trap tender boat named the "Eureka of Seattle" with a fish scow alongside it named "APEX No. 3" (or possibly No. 8 or No. 9). The poles sticking out of the water are part of a fish trap known as a standing trap or pile trap. Identifications were made by comparing the film to photos in “With a Camera in My Hands: William O. Field, Pioneer Glaciologist: a Life History as Told to C. Suzanne Brown,” edited by C. Suzanne Brown and published by University of Alaska Press, 2004. According to Ketchikan author and retired Alaska Marine Highway System Captain William M. Hopkins in 2016, the end of the film contains views of Ketchikan, including the old Spruce Mill at the mouth of Ketchikan Creek. The waterway scenes are of the Eastern Channel of the southern end of Tongass Narrows between Mountain Point and the Coast Guard base and the Spruce Mill. If the entire clip was filmed in the same general area, the fish trap is possibly located somewhere along the southern Tongass Narrows or along nearby Annette Island.
[Miscellaneous Alaska scenes]
[Miscellaneous Alaska scenes]
The donor’s original number and title for AAF-20844 are: “RW 109. Travel Scenes, St. Moritz, Skiing.” This film features scenes outside Alaska, which include a road trip in the United States and skiers at St. Moritz in Switzerland. Scenes in Alaska include the Russian Orthodox Church and Spirit Houses at Eklutna, Skagway street scenes, Skagway Inn, Kirmses Curios shop, White Pass & Yukon Railroad train trip, men at a fancy dinner, aerial views of mountains, a boat trip to a glacier, competitive downhill skiing, people eating and huddling around newspapers, men being served an extravagant meal including wine and caviar on an airplane, a series of historic black and white photographs, a group of Alaska Native children eating, William Egan meeting with people, entertainer Burl Ives at Alaskaland, cabins and carnival rides and games at Alaskaland (also known as A-67 or Alaska 67 Centennial Exposition), and Alaska Native people dancing with masks. This is followed by scenes of a lighted sign for Alaska Airlines Golden Nugget Jets followed by "Golden Samovar Service" aboard a Boeing 727 Golden Nugget Jet. Passengers are served an extravagant meal that includes hors d’oeurves, wine, caviar, soup and a main course. Alaska Airlines introduced “Golden Nugget Service” in the early 1960s as a tribute to the 1890s gold rush era. Passenger planes were decorated in red and gold wallpaper and plush red seats. In the early 1970s, Alaska Airlines added the extravagant samovar service to highlight the fact that it had recently begun offering charters to the Soviet Union. This is followed by black-and-white scenes (striations indicate this may be Kodacolor film) of an Alaska town (possibly Rampart?) and flowers, well-dressed people at a conference or meeting, soldiers fighting in Vietnam, William Egan and Henry "Red" Boucher talking to men and women at a dinner, “Egan for Governor” sign, a map of the Bay of Bengal, a moose, the Santa Claus House in North Pole, people on go karts on a track in downtown Fairbanks, Woolworths Building in the background of the track, a log cabin visitors center in Fairbanks, an airplane taking off in Fairbanks and landing at Umiat, a Wien airplane, and a small totem pole.
[Seppala family film 1]
[Seppala family film 1]
Footage includes Leonhard with a dog team, Olympic activities at Lake Placid in 1932, Leonhard with dogs in Maine, Nome street scenes and lighter, small rail cars on Seward Peninsula Kougarok Railroad, a gold dredge and mining operations near Nome, passengers on the tug Dayton, aerial views of Nome, Sigrid and Mrs. Seppala in Skagway and on a ship, ship travel in the Southeast, a tour bus in Skagway, Gorst Air Transport Loening Air Yacht seaplane on a beach, scenery from a train, mining camp scenes, a Davidson Ditch siphon, gold dredge operation, a Caterpillar tractor, a Davidson Ditch crew building a dam at a washout, Scenery along the Richardson Highway, a lone gold miner (Harry Lind?) with a rocker box near Nome, Davidson Ditch Dam on the Chatanika River, a Davidson Ditch crew repairing a washout, a Davidson Ditch dam and siphon in a valley, hydraulic giants, men driving thaw points, a gold dredge, a man sampling dredge diggings, internal dredge operations, King Islanders arriving in Nome by umiak, 4th of July Native games in Nome, kayak races, a man demonstrating an Eskimo roll in a Kayak, Leonhard mushing and making ice cream with Eskimo girls, the pupmobile on Kougarok railroad, sled dogs pulling a wagon and small rail cars in Nome. Additional scenes include a Paramount News Reel of Leonhard Seppala mushing dogs in New York during a diphtheria serum drive and contestants in the Ottawa International Dog Derby in 1930.
[Seppala family film 2]
[Seppala family film 2]
Footage includes Leonhard Seppala mushing dogs outside of Alaska, log dam repairing washout on Davidson Ditch, slow-motion of Leonhard mushing in Ottawa Dog Derby in 1930, and Fairbanks Winter Carnival dog races on the Chena River. Additional footage includes Seppala's cabin and Leonhard mushing dogs at Chatanika, a small car ferry, the sternwheeler Casca traveling on the Yukon, Seppala's cabin with flowers in summer and Leonhard and Constance with puppies and dogs, Seppala's cabin at Chatanika in the fall, Leonhard working on the Davidson Ditch, sternwheeler travel, road travel, another small car ferry, Leonhard in Dawson City, the Fairbanks Winter Carnival, Leonhard mushing dogs and with dogs in a dogyard, flowers, Nome streets, lightering people to a ship in Nome, a Wien Detroiter airplane in Nome, a reindeer herd, hides hanging by a cabin, and people along streets in Fairbanks during the winter carnival.
[Southeast Alaska travel, Yakutat, Nome fire aftermath and villages 1]
[Southeast Alaska travel, Yakutat, Nome fire aftermath and villages 1]
Filmed by George and Lona Morelander during a portion of their teaching careers in Alaska. Summary: Part 1 (AAF-2930) footage includes Wrangell street scenes, an unidentified location, a group of Alaska Natives aboard a steamship, travel in Southeast Alaska, unloading salmon at a cannery, a man with gun on a beach, fishing boats, men arriving at a floatplane and the float plane taking off, and a small child. Part 2 (AAF-2931) footage includes travel in Southeast Alaska, glaciers, people with rifles on a beach, unloading salmon, people on a ship, and a man climbing rigging. Additional footage includes people at a picnic, a child doing cartwheels on a beach, houses on beach railroad tracks, and children sledding. Images at Yakutat (?) include buildings and people, games and races on a large dock, and boys and men boxing.
[Southeast Alaska travel, Yakutat, Nome fire aftermath and villages 2]
[Southeast Alaska travel, Yakutat, Nome fire aftermath and villages 2]
Part 3 (AAF-2932) footage features scenes from Yakutat with title frames, Salvation Army activity, Alaska Native children wearing sailor hats, unidentified elders, Mr. & Mrs. Jack Ellis, Frank Italio, a man pulling a sled, Mrs. M.B. Refsland Supervisor of Elementery Education in Southeast Alaska, the Alaska Steamship vessel Alaska backing away from a dock, children on a dock, unidentified people, an elderly blind man with cane, unidentified people posing for the camera, a man sharpening a saw, town scenes, Mt. St Elias, students leaving school, and children on swings. Part 4 (AAF-2933) footage includes Nome following the fire of 1934, King Island residents in boats meeting a ship, Nunivak Island, Jim Cassidy and Misha Ivanoff, Unalaska village scenes and residents, the Silver Fox Farm in Teller, Teller streets, Kigugluk and Akviyuk in Seward during 1934, Herman Sandwick, a Native cemetery in Teller, St. Lawrence Island village scenes, and a village on Diomede (?).
Through Alaska with A.A. Humfrey and Red Can- part 1
Through Alaska with A.A. Humfrey and Red Can- part 1
This film has title screens and shows highlights from a five-month tour of Alaska. It includes footage of Juneau, the Hills Brothers Coffee shop, Territorial Governor George Parks, Dr. W. W. Council, the Mendenhall Glacier, Lynn Canal and Skagway, Chilkoot Barracks Army Post, White Pass and Yukon Railway travel, Whitehorse, the White Pass Hotel, the steamship "Yukon," Larry Higgins at Miles Canyon, Whitehorse Rapids on the Yukon River, the steamship "Keno" pushing a barge, the sternwheeler "Casca," passage through Five Fingers Rapids, loading of cord wood or firewood onto a steamship, travel downriver with brief stops for wooding up and at Dawson City, and the towns of Eagle, Circle, Fort Yukon, Rampart, and St. Michael. Travel continues across the Bering Sea to Unalakleet and Nome with several views of the town. Footage in Nome includes Noel Wien fueling and hand-propping the Hisso Standard J1 biplane "Fairbanks.” This is followed by travel from Nome to Seattle on the steamer "Victoria” with a stop at Akutan whaling station in the Aleutian Islands. Travel resumes from Seattle to Ketchikan with several views of the fishing town. Enroute to Wrangell, the ship passes a tug towing a salvaged ship. There are views of Wrangell. Travel continues to Juneau, Skagway, Sitka , through the Gulf of Alaska in bad weather with high seas, then on to Cordova. From Cordova, travel continues on the Copper River and Northwestern Railway with scenes of the two million dollar bridge, Miles and Childs Glaciers, Abercrombie Rapids on the Copper River, Koskulina [Kotsina?] Canyon bridge, Chitina River, Railroad Superintendent Fred A. Hansen, purchasing agent W. B. Sprague, the town of Chitina, Long Lake, a farm near McCarthy, Kennecott Mine, Valdez, Seward, Seldovia, the steamer "Admiral Evans," Captain Gilje, pilot Obert, purser "Jiggs" Rowland, Alitak Cannery on Kodiak Island, Kodiak, Seward Railroad Depot, Kenai Lake, the loop section and tunnels on the railway, Spencer Glacier, Turnagain Arm, and Cook Inlet. Views of Anchorage include buildings and streets, customer A.A. Shonbeck, and Alaska Railroad employees Joe Elmes and Tod Cunningham. Travel on the Alaska Railroad includes Wasilla, an overnight stay at the Curry Hotel, Hurricane Gulch, Broad Pass, Cantwell, McKinley Park, Healy, and Nenana, where Tom DeVane is preparing to leave for Ruby with his launch "Dorothy.” Travel continues to Fairbanks with views of the college, the Elmes Mining Company at Ester, travel on a railroad "gas car" and travel on the Tanana Valley Railroad narrow gauge portion of the ARR to Fox Gulch and Chatanika. Travel continues from Fairbanks on the Alaska Railroad using a "speeder.” Travel continues from Juneau on the launch "Ventura" with a final brief view of Sitka.
Through Alaska with A.A. Humfrey and Red Can- part 2
Through Alaska with A.A. Humfrey and Red Can- part 2
This film has title screens and shows highlights from a five-month tour of Alaska. It includes footage of Juneau, the Hills Brothers Coffee shop, Territorial Governor George Parks, Dr. W. W. Council, the Mendenhall Glacier, Lynn Canal and Skagway, Chilkoot Barracks Army Post, White Pass and Yukon Railway travel, Whitehorse, the White Pass Hotel, the steamship "Yukon," Larry Higgins at Miles Canyon, Whitehorse Rapids on the Yukon River, the steamship "Keno" pushing a barge, the sternwheeler "Casca," passage through Five Fingers Rapids, loading of cord wood or firewood onto a steamship, travel downriver with brief stops for wooding up and at Dawson City, and the towns of Eagle, Circle, Fort Yukon, Rampart, and St. Michael. Travel continues across the Bering Sea to Unalakleet and Nome with several views of the town. Footage in Nome includes Noel Wien fueling and hand-propping the Hisso Standard J1 biplane "Fairbanks.” This is followed by travel from Nome to Seattle on the steamer "Victoria” with a stop at Akutan whaling station in the Aleutian Islands. Travel resumes from Seattle to Ketchikan with several views of the fishing town. Enroute to Wrangell, the ship passes a tug towing a salvaged ship. There are views of Wrangell. Travel continues to Juneau, Skagway, Sitka , through the Gulf of Alaska in bad weather with high seas, then on to Cordova. From Cordova, travel continues on the Copper River and Northwestern Railway with scenes of the two million dollar bridge, Miles and Childs Glaciers, Abercrombie Rapids on the Copper River, Koskulina [Kotsina?] Canyon bridge, Chitina River, Railroad Superintendent Fred A. Hansen, purchasing agent W. B. Sprague, the town of Chitina, Long Lake, a farm near McCarthy, Kennecott Mine, Valdez, Seward, Seldovia, the steamer "Admiral Evans," Captain Gilje, pilot Obert, purser "Jiggs" Rowland, Alitak Cannery on Kodiak Island, Kodiak, Seward Railroad Depot, Kenai Lake, the loop section and tunnels on the railway, Spencer Glacier, Turnagain Arm, and Cook Inlet. Views of Anchorage include buildings and streets, customer A.A. Shonbeck, and Alaska Railroad employees Joe Elmes and Tod Cunningham. Travel on the Alaska Railroad includes Wasilla, an overnight stay at the Curry Hotel, Hurricane Gulch, Broad Pass, Cantwell, McKinley Park, Healy, and Nenana, where Tom DeVane is preparing to leave for Ruby with his launch "Dorothy.” Travel continues to Fairbanks with views of the college, the Elmes Mining Company at Ester, travel on a railroad "gas car" and travel on the Tanana Valley Railroad narrow gauge portion of the ARR to Fox Gulch and Chatanika. Travel continues from Fairbanks on the Alaska Railroad using a "speeder.” Travel continues from Juneau on the launch "Ventura" with a final brief view of Sitka.
[Wilkins expeditions, wonders in motion etc. 3]
[Wilkins expeditions, wonders in motion etc. 3]
This footage features mining clean-up and a sluice box in operation, stacking tailings using a bucket, Stinson biplanes, Harding Lake recreation, Wilkins snow-motors seen from the air in 1926, grayling fishing, the paddlewheeler "Pioneer", dog races, and musher Joe Stickman being presented with a trophy (Endicott trophy?).
[Wilkins expeditions, wonders in motion etc. 5]
[Wilkins expeditions, wonders in motion etc. 5]
This footage includes cutting hay with a team of horses, Charlie Creamer (?) in a field with shocks of hay, a large commercial garden and greenhouses, a picnic and political rally, a sluice box operating, a truck pulling Hubert Wilkins' Fokker fuselage through Fairbanks, a crashed Fokker with a broken wing, the wing being removed by men, a crashed Fokker with collapsed landing gear during winter, and snow-motors clearing a runway.