Alaska Film Archives

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.
[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.
[Lee family films 1]
[Lee family films 1]
AAF-16344 is from a film containing the following two notes: “Early film 1938 [??] Jean, Ingrid and Norman” and “Jean’s birthday 1947 party, 1948, 1949; Ingrid and Norm’s birthday; skiing with Guri, John, Arne and Margaret, Chena Slough; Enid[?] and Arne at Lost Lake.” The film contains scenes of the Lee family, the Richardson Monument, a family having a picnic, a woman wearing traditional Scandinavian clothing in Alaska, a girl sitting on an ice carnival throne, a girl riding a tricycle a sidewalk in Fairbanks, women with skis, people around a campfire in winter, dog mushers on the Chena River in Fairbanks, Cushman Street Bridge, the winter carnival throne, people downhill skiing and some falling, people cross country skiing, men walking through woods and at cabin, men filling a car with gas using a gas can, Fairbanks homes in winter and in ice fog, dog mushing, a family around a dinner table in a home, a family celebrating Christmas and opening presents, children racing on ice skates around an outdoor rink in Fairbanks, children figure skating, Cushman Street Bridge with United States and Canada flags, and a view down Second Avenue in Fairbanks during winter.
[Lee family films 4]
[Lee family films 4]
AAF-16347 is labeled “Lee,” and it contains the following note written by Norm Lee in about 2017: “Electric dragline, bucket is big enough to drive car into 1936, mom with Jean 1937, mom at Sixth Avenue house, Birch Lake, dredge at Ester, dad and mom and Jean, Sixth Avenue Fairbanks, dad with Jean, Weeks Field 1937, dad skiing Chena River, Leonhard Seppala, Griffin Park hockey, clown in front of Griffin’s store on Cushman Street, Arcade 1938?, Pacific Alaska Airway float, Jean, mom with Jean, dad with Jean, friend of mom and dad’s, Jean growing up, dad’s wolf, dredge, old bridge over Chena River, Jean 1938, Harding Lake mom and Nancy Brealy[?], Chena River, looking at downtown Fairbanks, NC Company etc., early bomber to Weeks Field 1939?, Jean with neighbor, hydaulicking, big electric dragline at Ester (one of the biggest at the time), Eagle Summit, caribou, raining on the road to Circle Hot Springs, miner’s cabin, Seward - Alaska Steamship, mother aunt uncle and cousins with Jean, Bridal Falls near Valdez, Uncle Harold and mom, Gulkana Roadhouse, cool way to supply water, Cushman Street bridge, picnic time mom and Jean, our ’36 Ford Coupe, Birch Lake, Jean on Sixth Avenue, Arne Larson and Gurry skiing, Weeks Field 1939, Fairbanks Winter Carnival Parade 1942?, Cousin Marian waving, Jean 1942 or 1943, Harding Lake, mom and Jean 1943, mom and Gurry (from Norway), neighbors, twins Norman and Ingrid 1943, black and white 1944, color, Jean and Karen Jorgenson, sled on Sixth and Cowles, fire on Second Avenue and Cushman, dog racing on downtown Chena, mom with kids on the way to Norway 1946 (Weeks Field), Pan Am DC-3 to Seattle - first leg visiting relatives in California and New York on way to Norway, darker film is in Norway (stayed for one year), May 17th Independence Day parade in Norway, Grandpa and Grandma Lee with us kids and dad’s beautiful home, mom’s mother and dad and uncles and aunt, relatives, Jean and her friend Turrie skiing (Norway), ski jump (Holmenkollen), Norwegian flag, boarding the ocean liner (Stavangerfjord) to return home.” Scenes are as described in Norm Lee’s note.
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 4]
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 4]
This footage shows a Wien Stinson airplane landing on ice in Anaktuvuk[?], Eskimo men ice fishing, and a Wien airplane departing. Footage featuring Eskimo life in Barrow includes school children in a Barrow classroom, elders weaving baleen baskets, a dog sled, an early tracked vehicle made from a truck, a Wien airplane arriving, hunters pulling umiaks across the ice using sled dogs, a whaling festival, a woman demonstrating how she carries a baby on her back under a parka, a dog sled hauling freight, a sod house on the tundra, people trading fur and baleen baskets for goods in a store, village scenes, a woman making dolls, women setting nets along the shore and pulling in a catch of small fish, young boys with puppies, and hunters in umiaks taking seal and walrus. Notes on the original film and can say "Barrow 1 and 2."
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 2]
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 2]
Footage includes people panning for gold, a B-17 flying overhead, men cutting firewood with a truck-mounted saw in downtown Fairbanks, downtown buildings, Wien Alaska Airlines operations at Weeks Field, an airplane taking off, Jim Dodson's airplane, hangars on the field, fire, children ice skating, dog sled races on the Chena Rive, men launching a small barge, travel in an outboard motor-powered riverboat, the tug M.S. Otter of Fairbanks pushing a barge, a grouse on the road, men working on a cabin, a small boat being launched in a lake, men cutting ice for drinking water with a hand saw, a car pulling a sled with blocks of ice, a fire in a Fairbanks Laundry building, and a formation of military airplanes. Notes accompanying the film say: view of McKinley, Deadwood and Dr. Schiable, around Fairbanks, sawing wood, around 2nd Ave., Wien Airways & Jim in planes, old Pan Am, Dorothy's house, skating in Main School yard, my 8th, dog team races at end of 2nd, K9 team won, youngster falling down, Albas trip, grouse, McKinley, ducks, Hanlon, building at lake, kids, lake boat, Albert Martin, Bob Harwood, geese, cutting ice, Bud Shaw, (?), fire at laundry, Russian DC-3, P-63 to Russia led by B-25.
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 3]
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 3]
Footage includes people working on an Aeronca light airplane, people mugging for the camera, people unloading mail from train, McKinley Park Hotel, Horseshoe Lake, puppies, a cache on stilts, a log cache, Mt. McKinley and scenery, feeding ground squirrels, a tent camp for tourists, a fox, Fanny Quigley at a cabin with a dog, Open North American Sled Dog Races in Fairbanks, an early Arctic Cat snowmachine, Dr. Roland Lombard loading sled dogs into a truck, and curling matches at the Fairbanks Curling Club. Notes accompanying the original film can and box say "McKinley, Fannie Quigley, 1964 dog races, curling."
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 1]
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 1]
Footage includes a walking dragline and gold dredge in Ester, travel to Circle City, Indians in Circle showing parkas and furs, the sternwheeler Yukon arriving and passengers disembarking, buildings and scenes around Circle Hot Springs Resort, Eagle Summit, a brief view of the Miller House owners, children clearing snow from a skating rink, and various skating activities including racing and figure skating. Notes accompanying the original film can and box say "mining at Ester, Cripple Creek dragline, dredge, Dorothy Erin (?) go to Circle, Circle Indians, boat at Yukon, birds on road, Indian cemetery, Circle Springs, Miller House, Eagle Summit, Ada Williams, 1937 - Megan Florence and I go to Circle, school festival 1944"
[Lounsbury film collection 4]
[Lounsbury film collection 4]
AAF-10856 includes aerial views of Nome, the Nome waterfront, aerial views of the Seward peninsula, a mining operation, a truck pulling a long length of pipe, Mirow Air Service Loening flying boat airplane, a dredge operating on the Seward peninsula, a Pacific Alaska Airways Lockheed Electra, a Caterpillar and power shovel working at a placer gold mining operation, men cleaning up gold in a sluice box, various views of placer mining operations, a small riverboat, brief views of Palmer, a hard rock mining operation in Hatcher Pass, an aerial tramway operating, an Alaska Railroad bus on rails, aerial views of Copper Center (?), aerial views of Fairbanks, a Northern Commercial Caterpillar shop on Second Avenue in Fairbanks, the interior of an office, railroad travel and family scenes, Ice Carnival Parades in Fairbanks, Ice Carnival dog races and activities on the Chena River (during 1940, 1946, and 1950), a barge trip with the riverboats Idler and Mudhen taking barges with Caterpillars and other equipment, and a Cat train during winter hauling freight through a wooded area and cross country to Wiseman. Additional film has suffered water damage. Footage includes Lounsbury boys, a village along the ocean, family and farm scenes taken outside of Alaska, winter scenes in Fairbanks, boys shoveling off a roof and playing in snow, and a family posing for photos. According to George Lounsbury, approximately the first 30 minutes are Dan Lhamon and Rod Wolff films ending with the parade sequence. The next approximately 15 minutes are Johnny Repo (sp?) and Walter Rasmussen (sp?) films beginning with the boat sequence and ending with views of the Third Rail at Wiseman. The remainder of the reel is Lounsbury family films beginning with footage of a mine at Ester Dome and scenes at Kotzebue followed by a family visit to Iowa.
[Gold mining, Alaska travel and activities 2]
[Gold mining, Alaska travel and activities 2]
Footage features people aboard a boat outside of Alaska, dog mushing, a tractor pulling a load of timber or logs with the Cushman Street Bridge visible in the distance, small girls at a birthday party, a girl with a dog, a bridge and road, people posing for the camera, a Farmall tractor pulling a boat out of the river at Cushman Street Bridge, hay piles, mountain scenes, Savage Rock at Denali or McKinley National Park, a large coal chute near Healy, a truck loaded with coal, mining operations, men and women in a boat, a waterfall, mountains and a sunset, aerial views of a river and mountains, airplanes and a camp on a rocky beach in northern Alaska, men posing by an airplane, aerial views of wildfires and mountains, men with cameras posing along with children in a northern Alaska coastal village (Barrow?), children in parkas posing, village homes, a woman chopping wood, a caribou, children in parkas with a small dogsled in Fairbanks, a brief glimpse of Leonhard Seppala with a dog team in Fairbanks with the Samson Hardware Building in the background, winter carnival scenes in Fairbanks, women in parkas posing near a Pacific Alaska Airlines airplane, a brief aerial view of the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, people disembarking from a DC-3 airplane, women and a man posing, people re-boarding the airplane, winter carnival lights, people shoveling deep snow at a cabin, men and women posing with a dog team, a man placing dogs in harnesses (black & white section of film with the first man identified as Jeff Studdert by local historian George Lounsbury in 2014), dogs running under the Noyes Slough swinging bridge and out onto the Chena River in Fairbanks, and another man driving a dog sled as a woman rides in the sled. Handwritten notes on film boxes are as follows, though the order does not seem to correspond with the order of scenes above: “Boat trip, Bowler[?].” “Dog team and tractor.” “Trip to Delta – loop.” “Fire scenes at Mc Park, coal mine at Healy.” “Lake Chelan boat trip sunset.” “Trip to Barrow, caribou, carnival and dog sled ride.”
[Gold mining, Alaska travel and activities 1]
[Gold mining, Alaska travel and activities 1]
Footage features a bulldozer caught in ice on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks, a large Service Motor Company fire in downtown Fairbanks, mining activities, a man holding a large gold nugget, a bulldozer and dragline in operation at a large placer mine operation, men walking toward camp, a sluice, tailings piles, a bulldozer stuck in the Chena River after breaking through ice, people in parkas ice skating, a man photographing people on skates as well as a man ice fishing with a net, people weighing fish with a scale, Chena River and Cushman Street bridge, the railroad depot in Fairbanks, chained black bear cubs being fed, river views, people in a small boat and a man with a duck, a cow and pig, St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox church and graves in Eklutna, women feeding a baby moose with a milk bottle, a man in a small boat, a tent and campsite, a family at a camp or picnic, men and women posing by a Birch Lake sign, a woman outside of a log post office, placer mining operations, aerial views of a mine area, a man operating a dragline, and people posing near an airplane. Handwritten notes on the film boxes are as follows: “Service Motor.” “Tractor and Gold Mine.” “Alaska, trip to Palmer, grave house, baby moose, skating, Birch L. “Bert P[?].” “Trip to Ophir, [?] Barrow trip.”
[Rockney Family films part 3]
[Rockney Family films part 3]
Two smaller film reels were combined to make this item. Reel 1 is labeled “Whitehorse” and contains scenes of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, sternwheeler riverboats and an airplane on floats on the Yukon River, Riverboat Aksala, railroad tracks, the church at Bennett Lake in Yukon Territory, glaciers, people with a wooden canoe and camping and fishing supplies, and people hiking with packs. Reel 2 is an edited film labeled “Pictorial of Alaska” which contains descriptive title screens and scenes of life in Alaska such as travel along a river, dog mushers and dogs, an airplane on skis landing and being met by horses pulling a sled, a woman and a girl with flowers, Winter Carnival scenes in Fairbanks, a dredge and hydraulic giant, a mining community, girls playing with a puppy in a yard, women and a man walking among flowers, Fairbanks homes, university graduation scenes in Fairbanks, a man with a small child, two small children (twins?) with toys in the snow, a family cross-country skiing, children playing on the Davidson Ditch pipeline, a family at a house, and a sunset over a cabin community.
[Alaska travel]
[Alaska travel]
This film contains scenes of mountains, the AJ Mine in Juneau, the state capitol building in Juneau, boat travel along the Inside Passage, a large steamship with three smokestacks or funnels, aerial views of glaciers and mountains, the Mendenhall Glacier, signs for White Pass and the Trail of ’98, Miles Canyon on the Yukon River near Whitehorse in Canada, Robert Service Camp, a brief glimpse of the sternwheeler S.S. Tutshi, men waving in front of a Lockheed Electric airplane (NC14906), aerial views of landscapes, aerial views of Fairbanks and landing at Weeks Field, the Old Main building at the University of Alaska campus in Fairbanks, a car driving on railroad tracks, a sign for the golden spike along the Alaska Railroad near Nenana, Alaska Railroad Engine No. 1 on display, a White Pass and Yukon Route train, the entrance to Mt. McKinley National Park, a red tour bus in the park, black and white scenes of Alaska wildlife, a large placer mining operation with a dredge, a log cabin, men at work using hydraulic giants and steam points, a gold mining operation near the ocean, totem poles at Stanley Park in Vancouver in Canada, Alaska Native people and homes in Nome, fishermen unloading halibut from a boat (possibly at Prince Rupert in Canada according to Stevens's notes - he adds that the halibut heads were cut off and used for fertilizer), adults and children playing shuffleboard on a ship deck, a man playing accordion aboard the ship, and aerial views of landscapes including rivers and mountains.
[Lounsbury film collection 8]
[Lounsbury film collection 8]
Footage includes people on Fairbanks streets (including Joe Crosson with a bowtie), people on a bus, a bus trip on Steese Highway in the winter, children on a street, men outside of the F.E. Company building, a rotary snowplow in operation, Ice Carnival or Winter Carnival parade floats, winter bus travel, Fairbanks street scenes, a woman with puppies, men outside of a building, a woman with a baby, men with a dead wolf, men outside of Billy Root's Transportation Company in Chatanika (?), people standing next to a bus, men pushing a car at a gas station, cars and trucks along a road, men outside of the F.E. Company building, people posing on Fairbanks streets, trucks travelling along a road during winter, a crowd lining Cushman Street, sled dog teams, Leonhard Seppala, and a Caterpillar plowing a road.
[Hunting and Alaska scenes]
[Hunting and Alaska scenes]
This film reel made up of 15 smaller reels. Reel 1 contains scenes of musk oxen, men feeding musk oxen, a man and sheep, and a bridge (very overexposed). Reel 2 is labeled "Military class, children, trip up the Chena, University reindeer, crane," and it contains views of children playing, children riding in a car, children pulling a wagon, a child in snowshoes, reindeer, cars on a road, a small boat with outboard motor on a river, and a man fly fishing. Reel 3 is labeled "Airplane hunting trip" and "February 12, 1933." It contains aerial views during winter, an airplane on skis, landscapes, a cache, mountains, cabins, dog teams and passing by a Northern Air Transport ski plane, a family walking on a road with a child pulling a sled, and cabins. Reel 4 is labeled "Circle trip, caribou, children, hunting, September 1933," and it contains footage of a family fishing, siphons and pipes on Davidson Ditch, a man with a pack and a gun, a man with a sheep's head, a man dragging a dead caribou, a caribou strapped to a car, and people posing near small game tacked to a shed. Reel 5 is labeled "Huffman's - Dog Derby March 1933," and it contains scenes of dog races and dog teams on the Chena River, downtown Fairbanks, Cushman Street bridge, the Samson's Machinery building, NC buildings, people on the river and bridge, and the church and hospital. Reel 6 contains scenes of people, cabins, a placer gold mining operation, and children playing on a cable spool. Reel 7 is labeled "Carnival, skiing, children, July 4, 1937," and it contains views of a ski jump, children with a dog, 4th of July children's races on Second Avenue, children swimming, and a dog pulling a child on a wagon. Reel 8 contains views of a child, a canoe, a baby in a crib, people boating on a lake, and a dog sled (very overexposed). Reel 9 is labeled "1950 Carnival Parade and ski jumps," and it contains views of the Ice Carnival parade on Cushman and Second Avenue, the carnival, and a ski jump. Reel 10 is labeled "March 1951 Donn skiing," and it contains views of crowds watching cross-country skiers at the Alaska Agricultural College & School of Mines (University of Alaska Fairbanks), and a downhill ski race. Reel 11 is labeled "Donn's wedding, June 195 [1?]," and it contains views of the Huber wedding. Reel 12 is labeled "Wendy and Chena and pups," and it contains footage of a woman as well as a child and puppies. Reel 13 is labeled "Waterskiing July 1955, Chena's pups," and it contains views of a family, people waterskiing on a lake, and puppies. Reel 14 is labeled "Super-XX Nov. 11, 1955," and it contains footage of a car, a family, a camper, travel, and sternwheelers in Whitehorse. Reel 15 is labeled "Children skiing winter 1934-1935," and contains footage of people skiing.
[Family, Alaska, travel outside]
[Family, Alaska, travel outside]
This film reel is made up of 14 smaller reels. Reel 1 is labeled "Military unit, 1936 Carnival, family skiing," and it contains footage of ROTC formation marching and ice. Reel 2 is labeled "Children skiing, 1938 Carnival, First Air Mail," and it contains footage of skiing, the Winter Carnival, the Chena River, skiing, dog sleds, and an airplane. Reel 3 is labeled "Trip to Paxons July 1940, Kay catching salmon, Xmas scenes, Thelma in grass skirt, Thelma and I in blue uniform," and it contains footage as described in addition to children skating and skiing as well as hockey on the Chena River. Reel 4 contains footage of people dancing. Reel 5 contains footage of people outside with a camera. Reel 6 is labeled "My Last Days at Home, May and June 1942," and it contains footage of family scenes, boys in Boy Scout uniforms, boys tumbling, boys on bicycles, boys playing a ball game, a boy with a pack, more family scenes, and a man in a military uniform. Reel 7 is labeled "Matanuska Farm, Dawson's Film," and it contains footage of cows, sheep, family, an airplane, a lake, and mountains. Reel 8 is labeled "Ski meet Birch Hill, College, Russ, June 15, 1942, disposing of dynamite pwd, ski towing car, College Hill," "Thelma and I kissing," and "Skiing 1941." It contains footage of skiing, hockey, and a couple kissing. Reel 9 is labeled "Fishing, geese, Naknek, 1943," and it contains footage of fishing, people posing with fish, and river scenes. Reel 10 is labeled "Xmas 1946 at Vinton, Iowa," and it contains family scenes. Reel 11 is labeled "California, ferry Staten Island, ski trip Vermont, around Washington, 1947?," and it contains views of a ferry, people with skis, and Washington D.C. scenes. Reel 12 is labeled "Tok trip, Mary, buffalo, skiing, Cleary Summit," and it contains footage of a bison on the road and people skiing. Reel 13 is labeled "September 1949 to March 1950, Donn in football, skiing, hockey, 1950 Carnival, dogs and sled being parachuted, Toni, auto races," and it contains footage as described as well as a ski jump and blanket toss in Fairbanks. Reel 14 is labeled "Air Trip to States July 1953," and it contains footage of a station wagon and trailer, a "to Alaska" sign, aerial views of mountains, family scenes, and bears.
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 4]
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 4]
This film shows people skiing behind a truck as seen from the truck.
[Lounsbury film collection 3]
[Lounsbury film collection 3]
Some portions are left-to-right reversed. This footage includes travel outside of Alaska including a Rose Bowl parade. Alaska footage features Alaska Railroad travel, tent camp in Mt. McKinley National Park and activity at camp, sled dog races on Chena River in Fairbanks, sled dog demonstrations, Fairchild 71 airplane on skis and pilot Ed Young, Russian Junkers arriving in Fairbanks in March of 1931 carrying body of Ben Eielson, funeral procession in Fairbanks carrying body of Ben Eielson to the railroad depot, road travel, chained bear, bison and sheep at the University of Alaska, hydraulic giant, bi-plane at Fairbanks with pilot A.A. Bennett (?), aerial view of Fairbanks, Alaska Railroad train travel, sternwheeler at Nenana, U.S. Army Pilot Captain Hoyt at Fairbanks and hand-propping airplane, riverboat travel, houses and yards in Fairbanks, and summer parade at Fairbanks, and Mayor Rothenburg of Fairbanks handing flowers to George Lounsbury's mother Fay Jennings. Additional footage (from Johnny Repo) includes canoe, small mining operation and cabin, moving mining equipment by barges marked as Florence and Alyum Mining Co,. moving dragline, group of men outside the roadhouse at Wiseman with man getting haircut, people crossing mouth of Wiseman Creek in boats during break-up on the Koyukuk River, rowing and paddling on river, cutting wood, Wien Alaska Pilgrim airplane at landing strip, Wien airplane on landing strip with pilot Tony Schultz, cabins at creek, assembling dredge, flying boat Sikorsky S-42 (?), Glass Flying Service at Valdez, Ford Tri-Motor takes off from Valdez, winter storm at Valdez, airplanes at Valdez from different companies including Lyle, Mirow and Reeve, Pilgrim airplane on skis taking off, aerial views of mountains and gold camp, J-2 (?) Piper airplane taking off, Jim Dodson aircraft, break-up on unidentified river, Wiseman (?), man sawing firewood, men building cabin, men whipsaw lumber, mining operation with dragline and hydraulic giants, large dead bull moose being hauled off, Caterpillar pulling small building, aircraft, and aerial view of Fairbanks and mining operation. AAF-9547 begins with footage shot by donor George Lounsbury's grandfather, Guy Jennings, on a trip out of Alaska to buy a new Buick automobile. Following the scenes of the log buildings and wall tents at the entrance of McKinley Park is Jennie R. Jennings, Guy’s wife, wearing a fur coat and standing closest to the camera at the far edge of a group of four women. Following the scene of the vehicle driving on the park road, is a close-up shot of Alice Nordale and Austin E. “Cap” Lathrop, who wore a bill cap. Following scenes of men washing dishes at McKinley Park, is a close-up shot of Fay Jennings, daughter of Guy and Jennie, with dark hair, (and Alice Nordale?), standing in front of a vehicle. Following scenes of a parade in Fairbanks and Mayor Rothenburg handing flowers to Fay Jennings, who is wearing an aviation hat, there are scenes of a canoe and mining operations, and beginning with the canoe is footage shot by Johnny Repo (sp?). Scenes of airplanes at Valdez came from film obtained by the Lounsbury family through Bob Reeves. The final part of the reel, beginning with aerial views and then a color shot of the Ophir area, are films from Johnny Repo (sp?).
[Lounsbury film collection 1]
[Lounsbury film collection 1]
Footage includes children, rotary snow plow, men outside F.E. company building, downtown Fairbanks, a dredge, Pacific Alaskan Airways (PAA) hangar and people leaving, the Cleary City Post Office, people posing, Billy Roots bus (?), Cleary Summit roadhouse, men with a caterpillar tractor, small cat train in front of Service motors, Fairbanks streets, Jimmie Mattern signing autographs at PAA Hangar at Weeks Field, Mattern's airplane “Texan” and Russian flying boat at Weeks Field during search for Sigismund Levanevsky, people departing Fairbanks on Alaska Railroad (ARR), Richardson Highway Transportation Company bus, steamship travel in Southeast, a gold dredge and thaw field, MST Company bus , boys at Fox, woman with a horse at Cleary Summit roadhouse, a boy with shovel, Chena River spring break-up, dog races, Sigrid Seppala wearing parka, Winter Carnival Parade, and dog races.
[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.
[Harry Leonard’s Wiseman films]
[Harry Leonard’s Wiseman films]
These films were made by prospector and miner Harry Leonard primarily during the 1930s and 1940s at Fairbanks, Alaska, and at or near Wiseman, Alaska, a small mining community along the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River in the Brooks Range about 270 miles north of Fairbanks. In 2019, the original films were preserved through funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF); Reflex Technologies of Burbank, California, scanned the reels of original 8mm film and created digital DPX files, which were then output to new 16mm internegative and answer print film stocks by Video & Film Solutions of Rockville, Maryland. The original films, new internegative and answer print films, and digital files are all being preserved by the Alaska Film Archives at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Many of the following identifications are from film donor George Lounsbury. AAF-1865 scenes include a fire in a Fairbanks building, Harry Leonard’s wife Savannah Leonard standing near car, Harry Leonard approaching the camera, cabins and sled dogs, Savannah Leonard with a broom and with snowshoes at the Leonard home on Dunkel Street in Fairbanks, and Harry Leonard waving. A pilot starts a Stearman bi-plane airplane on skis, followed by aerial views of Wiseman and mountains. Images back at Fairbanks include fire at the Hotel Alaska. Koyukuk region images include a small dam, large pump and pipe, and Harry Leonard with hydraulic giant moving material at Archibald Gulch on Nolan Creek. AAF-1866 scenes include a dog team on the Chena River at Fairbanks, Soviet aviator Mavriky Slepnyov walking to camera with unidentified men, with Savannah Leonard, and with Harry Avakoff (in dark suit). Harry and Savannah Leonard and other men pose with airplanes at Weeks Field in Fairbanks, and then an airplane on skis takes off. In the Koyukuk region of Alaska, men at the Wiseman Roadhouse include (left to right) unidentified, Phil Sundquist, Ace Wilcox, Poss Postlethwaite, Albert Ness, Martin Slisco and unidentified. On the final pan of the men, Harry Leonard is the last man on the right. Next are images of Wild Lake, Phil Sundquist with rifle, and the Hope Family at camp, including Ludi Hope and her adopted son Henry, who was the son of Japanese whaler and miner James Minano. Following scenes of a lake are men including Ace Wilcox and Vern Watts at sluice box, Biner Wind’s mining camp, Biner Wind on the runners of a dog sled, Harry Leonard with dog in front of tent, Phil Sundquist sharpening a saw, spring breakup on the Koyukuk River, miners shoveling ore into sluice boxes at Biner Wind's mining operation on the Hammond River, Ike English by sluice box, and people gathered around an airplane at Wiseman. Next are scenes of Roshier H. Creecy panning a sample in a washtub over a campfire and standing by a cabin during the winter at Gold Creek. Roshier Creecy, born just after the Civil War ended, was one of the few known African Americans who made their living by prospecting and mining in Alaska in the early 1900s. Following this are scenes of Roshier Creecy pulling a sled over ice and then dogs pulling a sled on snow, Harry Leonard waving to camera, Roshier Creecy waving to camera, Wiseman as viewed from the hillside, a dog yard, a log church (possibly at Allakaket?), and aerial views during a winter flight in a biplane. Images at Fairbanks include the Chena River breaking up downtown, and airplanes at Weeks Field. After scenes of people posing for the camera, are images from the Wiseman area including Tishu Ulen and Joe Ulen and their family, self-tripping dam on Gold Creek, a snared black bear, moose, and Harry Leonard prospecting with pack dog. Next is a scene of people posing by an airplane on floats flown by Wiley Post with Will Rogers while it is parked on the Chena River at Fairbanks. This is followed by scenes of a grouse, mountains near Wiseman, hunters with caribou antlers and meat, and Harry Leonard with a sled hauling firewood in winter. AAF-1867 images from the Wiseman area include high water running over Harry Leonard's Gold Creek dam, mining camp with small sluice boxes and prospect boiler, man shoveling ore into sluice boxes, and Harry Leonard at hunting camp with three moose heads. Images at Fairbanks include people at Weeks Field getting into single engine Wien Alaska Airlines airplane piloted by Herman Lerdahl, Richard Wien as a boy running toward the camera, and a Mirow airplane on skis. Images outside of Alaska include a United Airlines Mainliner and travel to cities at several locations. Scenes of travel across the United States from Key West, Florida, to New York City and El Paso, Texas, were possibly filmed by a friend of Leonard’s borrowing his camera.
[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 (?).
[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.
[Huttula Family films]
[Huttula Family films]
AAF-11853 is made up of four smaller reels of film. Reel 1 is labeled, "Reino Huttula film as boy," and contains footage of a greenhouse, a horse and plow, a gold dredge, and gold mining activities. Reel 2 is labeled, "Johnny Dunn etc - drinking, Mary Jo Frank, Catherine Rosella" [note that the writing on the box is faint and difficult to read], and contains footage of a walking dragline, a dredge, and people drinking at a table. Reel 3 is labeled, "Karen, caribou," and contains footage of social gatherings and a dredge. Reel 4 is unlabeled, and contains footage of a social gathering, a dredge, tailings piles, people with a car and dog, and (in color) hills and a dredge. Edge codes on films suggest that films were shot during the 1930s, with the color portion possibly shot in the mid-1940s.
[Huttula Family films 2]
[Huttula Family films 2]
AAF-11854 is made up of three smaller reels of film. Reel 1 is labeled, “Carnival” and contains footage of hills and caribou, a baby, and an airplane landing on a river. Reel 2 is labeled “Karen” on the leader and “Skiing Eugene Bell [or Ball], Mary Rosamond, Reini” on the box [note that writing on box is faint and difficult to read]. It contains footage of a family and a baby. Reel 3 is labeled, “Karen Jo, Togo, Circle” on the box, and “tablecloth” on the film leader and contains footage of a parade and carnival, dog mushing, sand hill cranes, people biking, people swimming (with a woman wearing a swimsuit made from tablecloth?), and a bear cub on a leash. Edge codes on films and postal marks on boxes suggest that the films were shot between 1941 and 1945.
[Fairbanks ice carnivals and aviation]
[Fairbanks ice carnivals and aviation]
This footage features the 1929 Fairbanks Ice Carnival Queen contest, a flight with Ed Young, a film shot by Dan Lhamon, Howard Hughes in Fairbanks in August 1938 during his 1938 Around the World Flight in a Lockheed Super Electra, a Pan American airplane, a Pacific Alaska Airways airplane, a Wien Alaska Airlines airplane, and the 1948 Ice Carnival sled dog races. According to George Lounsbury, approximately the first five minutes of footage is a Lounsbury family film, and it contains images of George's mother in the late 1920s. Scenes of Howard Hughes were from a film obtained from Earl Pilgrim. Scenes of Russian airplanes, Juneau, and Nome were films from Dan Lhamon and Rod Wolff. The remainder is film George Lounsbury received from his brother, but the origin is unknown, and the Lounsbury family does not appear in that part of the film.
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 6]
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 6]
This film contains scenes of men preparing gold for smelting into an ingot, caribou, and Joanie with Mrs. Adler.
[McMillin Pribilof films AAF-14558--14559]
[McMillin Pribilof films AAF-14558--14559]
Films were shot by L.C. McMillin on the Pribilof Islands of Alaska during the late 1930s and early 1940s prior to World War II. At the time, McMillin was employed as an agent by the United States government to manage the islands and its peoples, and to oversee fur seal harvests. McMillin’s first and middle names were Lee Carroll or possibly Lee Clarence. AAF-14558 is labeled, "Natives 1," and "St. George, Road Building, P. Manderville[?]," and contains images of men carrying wooden planks, men on shore and near a house, man killing fox [approximately 55 seconds of this material removed from online display due to culturally sensitive content], a small boat arriving and men pulling the boat ashore, crates on a truck, a boat leaving and arriving, men with a wooden beam, old church being disassembled, bulldozer, men moving rocks, and man climbing cliff. AAF-14559 is labeled, "Natives 2," and contains images of men with ropes climbing over a cliff to retrieve eggs, men hauling water, a white building and woman holding pitcher, men with a boat or umiak, people harvesting blocks of ice, wedding scenes, men in small boats, a religious procession, truck pulling boat, men portaging boat, boat rowing toward another boat, man high up on pole, man snipping fur from fox tail [approximately 41 seconds of this material removed from online display due to culturally sensitive content], child, and men with wheelbarrows near shore., Titles and title screens included here are part of the original film, and may include words, phrases, and attitudes that would now be deemed insensitive, inappropriate or factually inaccurate. Some scenes have been removed from online display due to culturally sensitive content. Where removed, the omission is noted by a title screen. Contact film archivist for more information.
[McMillin Pribilof films AAF-14555--14557]
[McMillin Pribilof films AAF-14555--14557]
Films were shot by L.C. McMillin on the Pribilof Islands of Alaska during the late 1930s and early 1940s prior to World War II. At the time, McMillin was employed as an agent by the United States government to manage the islands and its peoples, and to oversee fur seal harvests. McMillin’s first and middle names were Lee Carroll or possibly Lee Clarence. AAF-14555 is labeled, "Seattle Trip etc.," and contains images of clouds, many people in a small boat, a shoreline with small white buildings, a sailboat, rigging on a boat, ice coating the boat rigging, sunsets, flag blowing in breeze, Juneau shoreline, Ketchikan Cold Storage building, a drawbridge at an unknown location, many people in small boats, man raising a U.S. flag, birds, cattle, and a woman picking flowers. AAF-14556 is labeled, "St. Paul," that contains scenes of ships (possibly military ships), a procession led by men carrying a United States flag and religious banners, many people in small boats and standing on shore, small children standing and waving, girl's and women's foot races, men participating in a pie-eating contest and tug-of-war match, baseball game, ship at sea, men unloading barrels on shore, a cliff and birds, and a landscape. AAF-14557 is labeled, "St. George misc.," that contains scenes of a man smoking, boys participating in a gunny sack race and pie-eating contest, people coming out of a church (possibly a wedding party), a procession led by men carrying a United States flag and religious banners, seals, a landscape and hills, reindeer, and birds on a rock., Titles and title screens included here are part of the original film, and may include words, phrases, and attitudes that would now be deemed insensitive, inappropriate or factually inaccurate.