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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 9 of 9 Objects
[Reindeer, Barrow, seal hunt, Nome]
[Reindeer, Barrow, seal hunt, Nome]
This is a compilation of Eskimo activities from several Van Valin films, and it contains some brief scenes that are not present on other films in the series. Footage includes reindeer herding as well as life and activities in Nome. Summary: Footage includes a reindeer round-up, herders examining ear tags, reindeer being butchered, a man's hair being cut (koocheeruk) with a stone knife and wooden board, mail arriving from Kotzebue, snow house construction, dance movements, people going to church during Easter in Barrow, traditional sod houses during winter and summer, a skin tent, a King Eider duck, a man in a kayak, a village dance, boats with sails, seal hunting (patkotak), hauling a seal across an ice pack and pressure ridges, sled dogs hauling a bearded seal up on beach, Eskimos skinning a bearded seal (oogruk), seals being butchered and meat being transported by dog sled, a sled dog eating a dead dog, a midnight sun sequence, supplies hauled in an umiak, a blanket toss, a whaling festival and celebration (nalukutuq). Footage in Nome includes lightering people to shore, beach mining, racing dogs in Nome, Sinuk River, towing an umiak, salmon fishing, pipe smoke, drying salmon, and a kayak frame.
[Time-lapse images of sea ice movement at Barrow 1975 - 1976]
[Time-lapse images of sea ice movement at Barrow 1975 - 1976]
These are time lapse images of sea ice at Barrow, Alaska. See also AAF-11495 and AAF-11496, which contain images and information related to this study. This reel was made up of eight smaller reels of film spliced together onto one reel. Note that four original reels are each followed by duplicate reels. The original boxes are labeled as follows: 1) July 4, 1975 - July 1-4, 1975 - ice came in - feet show effect. 2) July 1-4, 1975 - dup #2 - Barrow ice data. 3) July 4-8, 1975 - Barrow ice data [note that several feet of blank unexposed film was removed from the end of this reel prior to digitizing]. 4) July 4-8, 1975 - Barrow ice data - dup #2 [note that several feet of blank unexposed film was removed from the end of this reel prior to digitizing]. 5) June 24, 1976 - ice moved in [note on film leader had question mark after date as follows: "June 24, 76?"]. 6) June 1976 after 24th June? [note on film leader was as follows: "After June 24, 76 - before Jun 30"]. 7) 1 End June 30, 1976. 8) 1 End June 30, 1976.
Elitnaureyaraq Yupigtun
Elitnaureyaraq Yupigtun
AAF-14564 and AAF-14565 are films that contain identical scenes with AAF-14564 narrated in English and AAF-14565 narrated in Yupik. The film was produced by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, Juneau Area Office, to demonstrate approaches to bi-lingual education in Alaska. The program contains scenes of daily life and school in Akiachak, Alaska, along the lower Kuskokwim River. Teachers are shown instructing students of various ages and are interviewed about the process of providing education in both Yupik and English. The film also contains scenes of people hauling water in winter, girls using story knives, people listening to a radio, men repairing a snowmachine, boys with a dog team, students saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school, and men and women at a school board meeting. University of Alaska educators and local instructors create new instructional materials. Students sing a song to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in Yupik. The film credits list the following names: teachers Mary Ann Lomack, Molly Lomack, and Bernadine Featherly; technical assistants Anna Alexie, Sophie Parks, Marie Nick, Elizabeth Worm, Molly Lomack, Susan Smalley, Mary Ann Lomack, Bernardine Featherly, and Mary Perela; consultants Warren Tiffany and Walter T. Featherly of the BIA and Irene Reed of University of Alaska Eskimo Language Workshop; narrator Marx Hartman; sound technician Lauchy McMillan; writer Richard Hawk of University of Washington; cameraman and editor Thomas Williams; and producer and director Donald J. Morrow. Local community members identified the following individuals in 2018: Actor Henry Lomack, translators Pascal Afgan and Ted Brink, and Yup’ik narrator Rev. Teddy Brink.
A Letter for Debra Anne
A Letter for Debra Anne
AAF-13990 and AAF-13991 are presented by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. Both films contain identical scenes with AAF-13990 narrated in English and AAF-13991 narrated in Yupik. The program is about the development of the Primary Eskimo Program (PEP), a bilingual language program introduced in Yupik-speaking Alaska Native communities of southwest Alaska. Opening credits list Area Director Clarence Antioquia, Assistant Area Director Emil Kowalczyk, Federal Program Director William Menojah, Jr., Title 1 Director Willard Walters, Agency Superintendent of Education S. William Benton, and Education Specialist Calvin Lundy. Cinematographer is Frank Johnson. Editor is Guy Bishop. Storyteller is John Haymer. Yupik interpreter is Oscar Alexie. The film is written and directed by Jerry Warner, and it's produced by Jerry Warner and Associates. The program contains scenes in Kwethluk and Akiachak, Alaska, including elementary-aged students learning to speak, read, and write in both Yupik and English. In 2018, Juliana Carlson, originally from Kwethluk, identified the following individuals who appear in the film: Ethel Peter (at 01:42, center girl with red and black shirt); Deborah, Mabel or Mary Constantine (at 02:16); Deborah Ann Michael of Kwethluk (at 5:07); the Kwethluk First Grade class including teacher Lillian Michael McGill, John Andrew, Jr., Paul Jackson, Anastasia Michael, Wassiliie Paul, Juliana Guy, Matthew Dillon, Minnie Nicori, William Nicolai and Olga Nick (at 05:41); Kwethluk First Graders John Andrew, Jr. and Juliana Guy (at 06:16); Lynn Jones (at 07:24); Alice Alexie, Veronica Michael (left), and Daniel Jackson (at 07:58); Samson Mann and Matthew Nicori (at 17:39); Kwethluk BIA first grade teacher Lillian Michael McGill (at 19:22); James Michael, Lillian Michael and Lola Evan (at 22:47); Sophie Owens Lowery (at 23:21); Kwethluk 3rd and 4th Graders (at 23:55); Elena Pasitnal (left), Elena Chimegalrea (center), and Marla Evan (right) (at 24:29); Deborah Michael of Kwethluk (at 26:46); and Wassillie Paul of Kwethluk (at 27:20).
[Howard C. Robinson's Alaska film 2]
[Howard C. Robinson's Alaska film 2]
This film contains scenes of fishing operations at Bristol Bay, sail boats and fishermen of Bristol Bay fishing fleet, cannery barges, a cannery line, sport-fishing, pilot Gren Collins and his airplane on floats, Kenai River, Brooks River, Kokolik River?, Alaska birds and waterfowl, Dall sheep, mountain goats, deer, caribou, buffalo, bears, moose, fur seals in the Pribilof Islands, the fur seal industry, Lake George and Knik Glacier, and emptying of Lake George.
Alaska Division: Great Falls to Fairbanks
Alaska Division: Great Falls to Fairbanks
This is an Army Air Corps training film for crews ferrying aircraft from Great Falls, Montana to Fairbanks, Alaska, where Soviet pilots then took possession of the airplanes. The aircraft were part of the Lend-Lease program in which the United States sent war supplies to the Soviet Union during World War II. Footage includes graphics showing the route, aerial views of runways along the route, views of runways during landings, and graphics advising pilots of procedures for aborting flights. During the life of the Lend-Lease project, nearly 8,000 planes flew along this route, also known as the Alaska-Siberia (ALSIB) route, from Montana to Alaska then on to Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. The film was made by the U.S. Army Air Forces Air Transport Command Overseas Technical Unit.
Radar Observations of Sea Ice at Barrow, Alaska
Radar Observations of Sea Ice at Barrow, Alaska
In this film, title screens and diagrams explain how observations of sea ice were performed and how data were interpreted. The University of Alaska Sea Ice Radar System was a 3-CM, X-Band ship’s radar used to sense natural reflecting surfaces on the ice. It was mounted on a tower about 12 meters above sea level and typically operated at a scanning range of three nautical miles, or 5.5 kilometers. Data acquired by the radar system were recorded by a camera which photographed the radar display at 3-minute intervals, and the resulting film could then be shown as a time-lapse motion picture showing sea ice movement. The area under observation was the Chukchi Sea coast just north of Barrow. The time lapse radar images include dates during which observations were made. Conclusions and unusual events are noted in title screens. See also AAF-11495 and AAF-11497, which contain images related to this study.
Alaska Wonders In Motion No. 3
Alaska Wonders In Motion No. 3
Images include the title screen "Educational Films Corporation America Presents Alaska Wonders In Motion No. 3 Produced by Al.I.Smith." This film's scenes feature early Anchorage, Alaska Railroad construction, Childs Glacier calving, and men hunting Kodiak bears. It also includes scenes of Anchorage streets and log structures, the Alaska Labor Union building, a laundry tent, Fourth of July celebrations featuring an eating contest, a baseball game, and Anchorage area bungalows.
Wonders in Motion
Wonders in Motion
This footage features buildings in Anchorage, the wooden trestle at Eagle River, track laying crews, and other construction activities. Childs Glacier near Cordova is also shown.