Alaska Film Archives

[Goodnews Bay Mining Company and Platinum area scenes 1]
[Goodnews Bay Mining Company and Platinum area scenes 1]
AAF-16390 is a super-8mm film labeled, “Start flight into camp, end with [illegible] and fox.” The film contains aerial views of snowy mountains as seen from a small airplane, coming in for a landing over a spruce forest onto a snowy runway, aerial scenes of a small settlement [possibly Good News Bay?], coming in for another landing on a snowy runway [possibly the Platinum airport?], a grab dredger moving what looks like chunks of ice, a dog team in the distance, a snowshoe hare running, and four men working with what appears to be a clamshell bucket while a smaller grab dredge removes ice from a slushy pond in the background. Additional scenes include a dredge that appears to have a huge chunk of ice stuck on its bucket, a snowy landscape, a helicopter, a group of people shoveling [possibly digging clams] in a tidal area, snowy mountains in the background, a mining camp and surrounding areas, a smaller dredge, a general overview of area, a fox, and a grab dredge with another large piece of machinery.
[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.
[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.
[Nyac]
[Nyac]
Filmed at the mining community of Nyac east of Bethel, Alaska. Footage includes buildings in Nyac, a boy riding a moped, children and people, loading amalgam into a furnace, pouring molten gold into a mold, a boy with a gold brick, men with matching bear hides (sow and cubs), men skinning a bull moose that is hanging from a crane, a single-engine Northern Consolidated airplane departing, people on an operating gold dredge, a man in a skiff in a dredge pond, a man holding a gray jay, a winter snow storm, and 1955 chevrolet cars.
[Nome airfield and ATG, Eskimo villages and ATG, Anchorage and fishing, Family film, land clearing, Cemetery, Eskimo activity]
[Nome airfield and ATG, Eskimo villages and ATG, Anchorage and fishing, Family film, land clearing, Cemetery, Eskimo activity]
Part 1 (AAF-1523) footage includes Eskimo people pulling nets containing fish onto shore, a snow-blower, Lend-Lease bombers with Russian identification at Nome airfield, Governor Dewey of New York during a visit, Quonset huts, Eskimo hunters on an icepack, a wolf chained in a dogyard, a reindeer herd and harnessed reindeer, a Jeep with "Follow Me" in English and Russian, Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG) troops drilling, a village, Eskimos landing umiaks, Jack Jefford standing next to a DC-3 with "King Chris" painted on the nose, whaling festival activity, and a small sternwheeler. Part 2 (AAF-1524) footage includes Eskimos with dog teams and in boats, military aircraft, village activity, men building a log structure, a group of Eskimos, children on a teeter-totter, a bear cub, an aircraft buried in snow, military officers looking at an Alaska map, boys in a pie-eating contest, ATG troops training, a man with a net catching birds (?), a fishwheel, ice fishing, and village scenes.
[Fort Wainwright 1970s]
[Fort Wainwright 1970s]
This film contains scenes from the early 1970s of troops at Fort Wainwright boarding a C-130 aircraft, aerial views of the landscape, and scenes of soldiers with parachutes exiting the aircraft.
[KTVF news stories, Chitina, Riverboat Discovery II]
[KTVF news stories, Chitina, Riverboat Discovery II]
Some segments of this film have sound, and others are silent. Specific dates and titles were noted on some segments and are included here in parentheses. The footage includes views from a Winnebago camper as it drives along the highway, people swimming in a lake, boats and houses on a lake, a person water-skiing (July 10, 1972) (silent and sound), Liberty Falls Campground, a KTVF Winnebago camper, men and boys with fish, a Chitina sign, views of a road and buildings, a Chitina store, old vehicles, people dip-netting, a Pioneer Access Road sign, an old log church, hikers, old buildings (August 28, 1972) (sound), a man in a hard hat being interviewed about fighting a fire at the McKinley Park Hotel (no date) (sound), clouds and sunsets (August 1, 1972) (sound), Carpenter's Local 1243 on strike, picketers in front of a Tanana Valley Clinic construction site and married-student-housing site (August 1, 1972) (silent), United States Secretary of the Interior Morton speaking about progress on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline project (August 2, 1972) (sound), a small airplane taking off (August 2, 1972) (silent), Japanese men stepping off an Alaska Railroad train car (August 3, 1972) (silent), women holding up an award plaque, reception scenes (August 3, 1972) (segment is titled "Fohn-Hansen Award") (silent), a man being interviewed on the UAF campus about the similarities between Australia and Alaska (August 4, 1972) (segment is titled "Ambassador Plimsoll") (sound), exhibits at the University of Alaska museum (August 4, 1972) (silent), a man being presented with a gold key and a gold pass (August 4, 1972) (segment is titled "Barker Award") (silent), the Fairbanks railroad station, a pile of cabbages (August 4, 1972) (silent), and people boarding the Riverboat Discovery II on a fundraising tour for U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. Aboard the boat, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Morton talks with Senator Stevens about the pipeline, conservation and development issues, jobs and population growth in Alaska, and hiring preferences on the pipeline project. Subsequent footage shows Captain Jim Binkley talking about the future of tourism and riverboats in Alaska (August 7, 1972) (sound), people viewing paintings (August 7, 1972) (segment is titled "Engles Art Show") (silent), firefighters battling a blaze in a burning house (August 8, 1972) (segment is titled "Grahhl Fire") (silent), Dr. William Wood and others speaking (August 9, 1972) (segment is titled "Reindeer Symposium") (silent), a man being interviewed about traffic flow on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus (August 9, 1972) (sound), buildings and satellite dishes, a man being interviewed (August 10, 1972) (segment is titled "Space Data Acquisition Facility") (sound), people boarding a small riverboat, river views, a Ronald McDonald clown entertaining children (August 9, 1972) (segment is titled "Openings/Fisher") (silent), protestors holding signs about a rent-raise at Birch Park housing (August 9, 1972) (silent), the construction of apartments, a health spa, a service station (August 12, 1972) (sound), circus trucks and a tent, circus animals (August 12, 1972) (silent), the M.B. Equipment Company building, and junk in a field (August 12, 1972) (silent).
[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.
[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.
[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.
[KTVF news stories, cross country skiing, snowmachines, baseball, airplanes]
[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).
Midnight Sunland Alaska. U.S.A.
Midnight Sunland Alaska. U.S.A.
This program was produced to promote Alaska tourism by Wien Alaska Airlines and hosted by Lowell Thomas Jr. The footage includes glaciers, highway travel, a chained wolf at a roadhouse near Tok, Paxson, glaciers along Alaskan roads, travel in Southeast Alaska aboard a ship, glaciers in Southeast Alaska, aerial views of Juneau and Skagway, views of Anchorage, cabbages and a vegetable stand in the Matanuska Valley, the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus and aerial views of it, aerial views and street scenes in Fairbanks, an aircraft at the Fairbanks International Airport, and travel on a Wien F-27 to Ft. Yukon, Nome, Kotzebue, and Pt. Barrow. Village scenes include cabins, fishwheel operation and a fish camp near Ft. Yukon, street scenes and gold panning in Nome, people pulling in a beluga whale and Eskimo Dancers in Kotzebue, and children excavating Native artifacts. Additional footage includes Harding Lake, the hotel in McKinley Park, ivory carvers, and an Eskimo blanket toss in Kotzebue.
[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?).
[Family scenes, Alaska Highway travel]
[Family scenes, Alaska Highway travel]
Film contains footage of a little girl (aproximately 1 year old) at a birthday party with a cake and presents, a little girl playing with toys, a little boy's 3rd birthday party with children, cake, the child opening presents, a truck on a snowy road, scenic views of mountains and winter snowscape, a little girl about 2 years old, a man, woman, and child standing outside on the side of a road in winter, snowscapes viewed from a moving vehicle, snowy roadway viewed from a moving vehicle, winter landscapes, tall cabin at Whitehorse in Canada, sternwheeler riverboats on a shore at Whitehorse, cars racing around a snow track in the winter on the Chena River in Fairbanks, ice skaters performing for a crowd outside in winter on the Chena River in Fairbanks, views of Fairbanks businesses along river, views of the outside of a building, a man standing with a dog, scenic views of the landscape, ships on the water, a church with a Nativity scene in front, a bridge (not in Alaska), a woman and man standing outside of a brick home (not in Alaska), Pan American airplane at an airport, the mountains filmed from an airplane in flight, a man and a boy standing in snow in front of a truck, military vehicles along a snowy road, views from a truck driving down the Alaska Highway, and a truck at Whitehorse in Canada with sternwheeler riverboats on the shore in the background.
[KTVF news stories from Fairbanks during 1973 - 4]
[KTVF news stories from Fairbanks during 1973 - 4]
Footage includes a press conference at which a man talks about Bill Rogers's retirement, conservation in Alaska, pipeline workers, oil reserves. It also features an auction, a man explaining feasibility studies for the pipeline's terminus, scenes from James C Ryan Junior High School, scenes from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the smoldering remnants of a structure, radiation signs in a rural area, exterior and interior views of several grocery stores, men working with insulation in an attic, fire fighters at the Fairbanks Fire Department, and several people exiting a Pan Am airplane.
[Eyth Family collection films 2]
[Eyth Family collection films 2]
This film contains scenes featuring people posing and getting into a small airplane, a small framed cabin, a log cabin, boats on a river, women and a cabin, cabins and caches along a river, a family at a cabin, many people in a boat, a moose in a river, and mountains as seen from a river.
[Drag racing, air show, parade, construction, family, Haul Road 2]
[Drag racing, air show, parade, construction, family, Haul Road 2]
AAF-10406 is made up of several smaller reels of film. Handwritten notes on original film boxes are as follows: “Good of mud going up Chandlar shelf, get caribou from Song River, caribou truck, caribou on Peterbuilt hood, Jason and Loren 18 mo old on porch.” “Children Jason, Loren, Larissa, Summer 1981, Nani’s house.” “Grandchildren sliding 1983.” “Jason, Priscilla, Bev, Jason on Haul Road, Livengood Gold Mining Camp.” “Train, RR crossing, Bud Wilson and I Atigun Pass, L and Larry wedding.” This film contains footage of men building something from wood, road construction on a muddy road, men with caribou racks posing near a truck, young children playing and posing for the camera, family scenes, a family in winter sledding downhill on an innertube and down a roadway on runner sleds, a snowmachine pulling people and sleds uphill, a mountain reflection in water, people at ERA Helicopters Inc.'s North Slope Operations Center in Deadhorse, a Wien airplane taxiing on a runway, a child with a trucker driving a truck, a man changing a tire on a truck, llamas or alpacas along a road, an overturned truck, driving on a muddy road as seen from the driver’s perspective, construction on a very muddy road, a wedding, a just-married car in winter, a truck driving on icy roads, railroad crossings with Alaska Railroad cars going by, truckers putting chains on tires, snowy roads and trees, and dog mushing activities near Fairbanks.
[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.
[Bush pilot John Thompson]
[Bush pilot John Thompson]
The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20080 numbered as Bacon 18-01 and titled “Bush Pilot John Thompson.” Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about the group of films that includes this film is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: “Stan Price at his home - He is an old-timer who lived on Saxman Island - There were these bears and he knew them and he could walk around and they never bothered him because he knew them - He had a garden there - There is his obituary in the box - Riverboat in Nenana - It was put in down river from the bridge - They wanted to bring the riverboat up to Fairbanks so they had to wait until high water to get the boat up to Chena but it could not fit under the bridge - There was a big pole in the way so they had to take a big saw and cut enough of the pole to make it under the bridge - Homesteader Paul Elbert’s new D9 cat. He is cleaning his farmland outside of Fairbanks in a place called ‘Happy Valley.’" Notes on the film box are as follows: “Stan Price at his home with the bears, Rusty Heurlin at his log home in Ester June 1974, break-up 1961, Riverboat Nenana under the bridge in Nenana, coming up the Chena River tying up in Fairbanks, Obituary of Stanton Price” and “ Reel 1: Bush pilot John Thompson.”
[Chuck Gray film collection addition 2]
[Chuck Gray film collection addition 2]
The original reel and can notes for AAF-10076 are: "Dune Lake 1 and 2 - 1970, Beaver Creek 1956, and Old John 1 and 2 - 1970." The writing on film leader is "Dune Lk. 1989." The footage features building supplies being offloaded at a remote site in winter, a large vehicle with a trailer, a cabin being constructed, an airplane on floats, men clearing an ATV trail, a man on a snowmachine setting traps, ice fishing, an airplane on skis, men in snowshoes fishing in open water, fishing and boating, men and a campfire, cooking and eating in a camp, and loading supplies into an airplane.
[Family travel and Alaska 1]
[Family travel and Alaska 1]
This film is made up of several smaller film reels labeled "1960 At Home, Diamond Mine [?], 707 Jet, Mike, Arkansas [?], back in Tex, [?] and Me, Plane at Post at Home," "Girls at Wisc Lake at Home [?] 1962," "At Home in Park 1964, Debbie and [?] 1962," "Parade 1964," "May 1964, Mike at Home, First Fishing, Ice and Snow, Pile Driver Slough," "Xmas 1965 and New Year 1966," "Fall 1966 Spring 1967, First Trip to Gulkana, Sourdough, Beautiful Scenes," and "At Home, Crappie, Dad and Shorty, Pat and the Kids, Swimming, June 7." The film contains a mix of footage from Alaska and travel outside Alaska, including family gatherings, airplanes, children fishing and playing, an Alaska parade, a man walking on an icy river, a public pool, and a beach.
[Alaska travel, Healy, Valdez, Gulkana, Ski Boot Hill, travel outside 4]
[Alaska travel, Healy, Valdez, Gulkana, Ski Boot Hill, travel outside 4]
This film is made up of several smaller reels labeled "Gulkana, Donky[?] River," "Flood 1967, Up Gulkana, Xmas 1967, Ski Cleary," "Gulkana River, Last Day at Dickie," "Porky, Salcha, D&V Cabin, Up Gulkana, Starting [?]," "Gulkana 1974 Paxon, Summit Lake, Boat Races #2," "Fish Trip Moose Shaw Creek, Salmon on Gulkana, Summer 1972," and "Summit Lake, First Day at Dicky." The film contains scenes of Alaska road and river travel, interior cabin views, a brief flooded neighborhood view, a man in a boat on a river, family Christmas and skiing scenes, people fishing and boating, an airplane, boats racing on a river, and people at a cabin.
[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.
[Hetherington films, reel 2]
[Hetherington films, reel 2]
This film contains scenes of a large military parade in downtown Fairbanks, a sign for "US Navy Petroleum Exploration NPR4," military equipment on display near the Lacey Street Theatre area in downtown Fairbanks, a Cat train, military aircraft and pilots, sailors near an Interior dredge in operation, people standing around a burned airplane (with all the fabric burnt off), a blanket toss in Barrow, large equipment including barges and backhoes at work along the beach (construction of NARL?), Navy ships along the coast, Quonset huts, and another blanket toss in Barrow.
[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.”
[Howard C. Robinson's Alaska film]
[Howard C. Robinson's Alaska film]
AAF-11895 begins with the title screens: "Howard C. Robinson presents Alaska" and "Produced by Robinson Studios." Program includes scenes of the Inside Passage, Ketchikan, commercial fishing activities, Wrangell, Petersburg, Taku Glacier, Sitka, Skagway, White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, Valdez, the Gulf of Alaska, Prince William Sound, Resurrection Bay, Seward, Resurrection River, Iron Mountain, a map of Alaska, the Alaska Highway, White Horse, Fairbanks, gold mining and dredge activities, Anchorage, a bear pulling cart with small girl in cart, Worthington Glacier, Keystone Canyon, Matanuska Glacier, Matanuska Valley, Palmer, Juneau, the Governor's mansion, Mendenhall Glacier, Malaspina Glacier, Cordova, Columbia Glacier, Whittier, Anchorage, Lake Spenard, Cook Inlet, the Alaska Railroad, scenery between Seward and Anchorage, the Whittier tunnel, Hurricane Gulch, Talkeetna, Mt. McKinley Park and park hotel, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Nome, placer mining, pilot Gren Collins and an airplane on skiis, Alaska Native activities such as seal hunting and jigging for tomcod, a Russian Orthodox Church, Kodiak, Dutch Harbor, Umnak, Adak harbor, Massacre Bay at Attu, captured World War II-era Japanese equipment on Kiska, an Aleutian storm, and Aleutian volcanoes.
[Baker family films]
[Baker family films]
The original film is labeled “Ma and pa golfing, cutting and bringing in Christmas tree, Ma and Tom and Queenie.” The film contains scenes of the Baker family golfing in Michigan, Queenie the dog pulling people on a sled, a small airplane flying low along a shoreline, two people cutting a Christmas tree that is then towed to the truck by Queenie, and blue jays at a bird feeder.
[Smoke jumpers parachute and fight fire]
[Smoke jumpers parachute and fight fire]
This footage shows firefighters parachuting into a wildfire area, a crew collecting and organizing gear, airplanes flying through thick smoke, firefighters looking at a map, a helicopter flying over a burn area, aerial views of a fire, a helicopter carrying and dropping loads of firefighting materials, aerial views of a linear explosion (perhaps to create a fire line?), and firefighters digging and working.
[Mining activities, winter carnival parade]
[Mining activities, winter carnival parade]
This film contains footage of a moose in the woods, a large warehouse, Williams Equipment Company, people in the woods, a field, cars racing around a dirt track, mining activities including digging out dirt, a sluicebox, men operating mining equipment, scenic views of the landscape, a sunset, a fishwheel, a small boat on the river, scenic views of the river, several draglines in operation mining and dredging gravel out of a pit, men working on mining activities, the outside of a red house in the winter, a winter parade with floats, the Ladd Air Force Base marching band, SS Lathrop float, military men marching, fire trucks, marching bands, Santa Claus North Pole float, Uncle Panch KFAR-TV cart, dog mushing, airplanes in the sky including a T-33 Shooting Star and/or Northrop F-89 Scorpion, people dancing indoors, the Chicken Roadhouse and other buildings, a person walking in snow, people coming out of a cabin, a sign for Sadie and Gertie and Myrtle, people in parkas, a winter landscape, people playing with a dog outside in the snow, a winter parade with floats, women in white fur parkas with red hearts on sleeves, a military band, troops in arctic gear, white and black camouflaged tanks, Pioneers of Alaska float with "then and now" design, fire trucks including the College Community Fire Department trucks, Randy Acord flying over in a v-tailed Bonanza airplane with "KFAR" and "Acord" written on the wings and side of aircraft.
[Merton Attwood Collection 2]
[Merton Attwood Collection 2]
Footage includes children playing in snow outside a cabin, children walking with their mother, a Wien airplane landing, a moose, a group of Eskimos in an outboard powered riverboat arriving at a fish camp on the shore, dead caribou being unloaded from a Nodwell tracked vehicle, caribou, a view of a mining camp in winter, a dogsled, spring break-up on a river, a mining camp, a man feeding a black bear, a camp with a Telache Oil and Mining sign on the building, Christmas and other domestic family scenes, a mock wedding, and real married couple departing in a decorated car. Additional footage includes a man unloading a light airplane that flipped during landing, a helicopter arriving, a dog sled, a helicopter hauling a barrel of fuel, getting a camp water with a Nodwell, and camp activities. Additional footage includes a family Christmas, someone hauling freight in a small truck, children playing and working in a Kobuk school, Kobuck village scenes, and an aircraft departing. Additional footage features airplanes in Palm Springs, aerial views of Interior Alaska in winter, a river break-up, aerial and ground views of a mining camp, an ATCO building at a camp, a Wien C-46, a Caterpillar clearing snow, a light airplane landing, mining activity with heavy equipment, airplanes, men building a log cabin, a Cessna 180 on skis departing, a C-82 cargo airplane landing and departing, a Caterpillar clearing snow, sled dog races, and Yukon 800 boat races. Additional footage includes Santa Claus at a Christmas party in a village, Tanana Winter Carnival dog races, a supply barge on the Yukon River, and a water skier on the Yukon River.