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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 5 of 5 Objects
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 1]
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 1]
This notes on this film say “Anne leaving for Norway, trip on Livengood Road high water, bear hunting, Manley hot springs, Christmas at home, Oslo slab[?], Moss Pery[?], Akers Lees, Snirre.” The film contains footage of a family with a red car, an overview of an Alaska placer mine in a river valley, a summer celebration in downtown Fairbanks with couples dancing in the street as a replica steam train drives by and a KFAR-TV cameraman films the action, an Alaska Airlines airplane landing and taking off again, interior Alaska hillsides in summer and fall, a sluice box and mining operation, high water on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks, a hunter with a dead bear, Manley Lodge, scenic Alaska landscapes and skies, winter in Fairbanks, a Fairbanks home and trees covered in frost, snowy hillsides, an aerial view of the Alaska Range mountains, passenger airplanes at an airport, and sites in northern Europe.
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 3]
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 3]
Notes with this film say “1943 – 1944, Anne Larsen film of Jergen and family, gold dredge hydraulic moving camp, Snoqualmie ski lodge, ski jumping, Oregon coast, cliff house coast calif?, GJOA expedition, SFO Jergen and Arne, Jerhen’s family? in Calif?” Writing inside the film can says “Chatnika, Kirkland[?], Vasapark[?], Billings, Dahls and Seattle and some snow” and “During the war and some from Alaska.” The film contains footage of small log cabins, a dredge in a dredge pond, mining camp buildings being moved, Snoqualmie Ski Lodge in Washington State, the Cliff House in San Francisco, a plaque in San Francisco commemorating Roald Amundsen’s 1903-1906 Gjoa expedition, the Roald Amundsen monument in San Francisco, and family gatherings and activities outside of Alaska.
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 4]
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 4]
Notes with this film say “1946 DC3 PAA FAI-Norway at Weeks Field Oct, Winter in Fairbanks lots snow, Emil and Jergen, Canada? dam, PAA plane DC3, gold dredge, Fairbanks winter carnival parade, reindeer Ingrid and Norman, Norway ski jump Holmekolen, Seattle – New York Farm.” Writing inside the film can says “Lee Family going to old country, Fairbanks winter time, Vancouver Island, back to Fairbanks, Dredge No. 3 1946, Fairbanks Creek Dredge 2, Winter Carnival, Skibowel [Skibowl?] Seattle, Graham, Palsbo." The film contains footage of a Pan American World Airways Clipper DC-3 airplane, frost-covered trees and snow-covered homes in Fairbanks, a mammoth tusk leaning against a utility pole, scenes outside Alaska, a Pan American airplane, a dredge in operation, a downtown Fairbanks Winter Carnival parade, a Pioneers of Alaska float, a Fraternal Order of Eagles float, other parade marchers and floats, a captive reindeer, and ski-jumping and other scenes outside Alaska.
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 9]
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 9]
This video is composed of footage from four film reels. AAF-16334 is from a film likely shot by Lee family friend Fred Torsak. It is labeled “1936?, Weeks Field airplanes, Cushman Street Bridge, Dad, dog team, polar bear.” (a post office date stamp on the film box says July 26, 1937). The film contains footage of airplanes at Weeks Field in Fairbanks, a Pacific Alaska Airways hangar, Cushman Street in Fairbanks, the Samson’s hardware store building, Cushman Street bridge over the Chena River, a polar bear in a cage, and people riding in a dog sled. AAF-16335 is from a film likely shot by Lee family friend Fred Torsak. It is labeled, “Fairbanks Alaska, Gold Dredge mining.” (The post office date stamp on the film box is April 2, 1938). The film contains footage of a large placer mining site, hydraulic giants at work, a man with a camera filming the mining operations, an overburden being blasted or falling in large chunks, a mining camp, a man walking along the pipeline (Davidson ditch or siphon?), a dredge at work, and tailings piles. AAF-16336 is from a film likely shot by Lee family friend Fred Torsak. It is labeled “Gold mining with great cleanup gold.” (The post office date stamp on the film box is February 13, 1939). The film contains color footage of hydraulic giants and a bulldozer at work, a man in a large sluice box, a man holding a large pan full of gold, people working a smaller sluice box, and Main School in Fairbanks. AAF-16337 is from a film likely shot by Lee family friend Fred Torsak. It is labeled “Weeks Field, dog team, Main School.” (The post office date stamp on the film box is also February 13, 1939). The film contains color footage of a dog team next to an airplane, a woman taking photos of a dog team, an airplane flying overhead, Main school in Fairbanks, and the wooden Fairbanks Airplane Corporation hangar on Rickert's field situated across from Weeks Field on Cushman Street in Fairbanks.
[Lee family films 2]
[Lee family films 2]
AAF-16345 is from a film containing the following note: “August 15, 1967, Fairbanks flood; Mary Nov-Dec 1969, 9 month old; boating at Lakeview Trailer et., Janet, Jean and boys 1970?; 1939 mom and Jean, this part has bump in film toward end.” The film contains scenes of downtown Fairbanks during the 1967 flood, floodwaters in the streets and around houses, a helicopter flying overhead, motorboats moving up and down streets, a large motorboat crowded with people, the Fairbanks power plant, Samson Hardware, Immaculate Conception Church, First Avenue buildings including the Cowles Library, and A-67 (also known as Alaskaland or Pioneer Park) during the flood. The film continues with scenes of a baby, people water skiing and swimming, a roadhouse, a Willow Lake Rest Area sign, a woman and girl walking across the Noyes Slough foot bridge, Leonhard Seppala’s cabin at Chatanika, F.E. Gold Camp structures, and a Billy Root’s Stages bus.