Alaska Film Archives
- This is a 1968 campaign film about the background and political vision of Mike Gravel prior to his election to the U.S. Senate. Bob Bartlett, Hubert Humphrey, and Ted Kennedy are briefly seen. The film covers the topics of campaign stresses, the development of oil fields in Alaska, and the need to create jobs in Alaska. The film reviews Gravel's childhood in Springfield, Massachusetts, his years in the military, and his family life in Anchorage and Washington D.C. Scenes in Alaska include Alaska Railroad travel, statehood activity in Anchorage and Juneau, a trailer park or mobile home park, building construction, Juneau, Nome ?, union halls, Sitka, and other unidentified scenes.
- The original narrated DVD is labeled “John Baker - A Story of Fur.” The original silent film is labeled “No. 1 Winter Trapline.” The narrated version is played back at a different frame rate and is slower and longer than the silent version. This is the narrated version. The film contains footage of the B&K Trading Company building and the Roadhouse in Talkeetna; Carol and Verna Close baking bread; a dog named Queenie with John Baker checking a trapline during winter; Queenie wearing a dog pack; John Baker hiking in snowshoes and checking a beaver trap; John Baker and trapping partner Gene Lanzaro building a small log cabin from start to finish, including peeling logs, scribing and notching logs, and sawing boards from logs; setting a wolverine trap; a pilot and mailman Cliff Hudson delivering mail via small airplane; John Baker nailing a roof on a cabin, cutting out a window on a cabin, installing a chimney through a cabin roof, looking at Mount McKinley (Denali) through cabin windows, demonstrating window shutters, and showing bear protection around windows; Gene Lanzaro cutting fireweed and the dog Queenie pulling a sled with logs; cooking meat and pancakes inside cabin; John Baker with a lynx that he trapped; a captive marten kept as a pet; a moose; John Baker demonstrating hiking in snowshoes versus without snowshoes in deep snow; John Baker showing a marten he has trapped and field dressing a spruce grouse; a new snowmachine; Queenie barking at a trapped wolverine; scenes of setting and checking a beaver trap, including fresh beaver signs in spring, a beaver snare, a beaver lodge with steam emerging, skinning a beaver, and Queenie pulling a sled; John Baker starting up and flying a small airplane on skis, aerial views of snowy landscapes, and groups of moose; landing an airplane on skis; a moose walking through deep snow; John Baker butchering a moose and loading it onto an airplane; aerial views of mountains and moose; a ptarmigan in white plumage; a snowmachine pulling a sled; showing off a trapline catch at Summit log cabin; Queenie running behind a snowmachine and riding on a sled; an airplane in a windstorm and John Baker digging out the airplane after the storm passes; Lake Hood airplanes and a hangar damaged by a windstorm near Anchorage; John Baker with a roll of furs and a pickup truck at Lake Hood airstrip; Anchorage Fur Rendezvous scenes, including Fourth Avenue in Anchorage, brief glimpses of George Attla and Jimmy Malemute, Roland Lombard mushing along a trail, a helicopter flying over the trail, Jonas Brothers Taxidermy shop in Anchorage, and a fur auction; Myers Furs shop in Michigan, a furrier at work, and John Baker’s father posing in a beaver coat and hat.
- This film was used for lectures by the Machetanzes when they travelled outside of Alaska. Footage includes the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner headline "Alaska 49th State," George Sundborg checking teletype and noting the passage of statehood legislation on June 30 1958, statehood headlines from the Anchorage Daily Times and Anchorage Daily News, men launching a large star suspended by helium balloons from the Polaris building's roof in Fairbanks, a line of people signing a giant telegram in Fairbanks, a statehood parade down Second Avenue in Fairbanks, Ernest Gruening shaking hands in Anchorage, and graphics showing routes to Alaska. Additional images include passengers embarking on the Riverboat Discovery near Fairbanks, Jim Binkley piloting the boat and talking on a microphone, Mary Binkley with a microphone and an unidentified assistant showing fur to passengers, Alaska Natives at Tanana River fish camp, Alaska Native men building a fishwheel, men retrieving salmon from a fishwheel and processing it for drying, an Alaska Native woman making a birch bark basket, Sara Machetanz looking at a birch bark baby carrier, and Sara with baby Traeger Machetanz. Additional images include children bottle feeding a moose calf, people harvesting grain and vegetables in the Matanuska Valley, an aerial view of an oil drill rig, Healy coal mine, men operating a hydraulic giant and driving thaw points near Fairbanks, a dredge operating near Fairbanks, men using Caterpillars and a dragline to operate a large sluice box, sluice box clean-up, and a man smelting gold into an ingot. Additional images include the Machetanzes Hi Ridge cabin near Palmer during winter, Fred using a dog team and chainsaw to obtain firewood, a moose at a cabin, Fred and Sara travelnig to Palmer during winter, a snow plow and rotary snowblower on the road, and Jan Koslosky with a rifle showing a large Polar Bear hide. Images at the Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage include a fur auction, a weight-pull contest, a blanket toss, a merry-go-round, the start line of World Champion Dog Sled Races, and Northern Alaska Native dancers performing the Wolf Dance.
- This film was used for lectures by the Machetanzes when they travelled outside Alaska. Footage includes Open North American dog sled races in Fairbanks and Dr. Roland Lombard wearing bib number one. Additional images include travel on the Alaska Railroad during winter, a man with a reindeer in Fairbanks, downtown Fairbanks, a party at the Atwood home in Anchorage, international travelers arriving at the Anchorage International Airport and Bob Reeve at the airport, a musical conductor and choral group, KTVA television studios and Norma Goodman, and shoppers in a grocery store. Southeast Alaska images include glaciers and travel by ship, amphibious aircraft taking off in Juneau, loggers cutting and hauling trees, Ketchikan Pulp Mill, salmon in a stream, purse seiner and cannery. Additional images include two men going upstream in a canoe and fishing for grayling, and campus buildings at the University of Alaska in 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.
- In this episode of Alaska On Line, Red Boucher interviews experts about various Alaskan issues. In part 1, Red Boucher interviews Gene Bjornstad, general manager of Chugach Electric, about deregulation and the role of electric energy in Alaska's economy. In part 2, Red Boucher interviews Colonel Randy Crawford, director of Alaska State Troopers, about law enforcement in Alaska. In part 3, Red Boucher interviews Wes Carson, president of Alaska Communications System, about the role of telecommunications in developing Alaska's economy. In part 4, Red Boucher interviews Robert Poe, executive director of AIDEA, about the Alaska Industrial Development Authority's role in developing Alaska's economy. In part 5, Red Boucher interviews Alaska State Senator Dave Donley about the goals and objectives of the 2001 legislative session. These programs were recorded on January 13, 2001.
- Hosts Ed Bennett and Eric Eckholm introduce the program. Lieutenant Governor Lowell Thomas, Jr., provides a brief description of the ballot initiative procedure as Alaska Review considers three initiatives scheduled for the upcoming 1976 November ballot. The first segment, "It's Your Choice: The Capital Sites, " deals with the proposal to move the state capital from Juneau to one of three proposed sites in Southcentral Alaska. The proposed sites of Larson Lake, Mt. Yenlo, and Willow are reviewed. Those interviewed include Capital Site Selection Committee member Leonard Lane, Frank Harris of Anchorage, Mat-Su Borough Manager Wes Howe, Mat-Su Borough Planner Bill Long, Carroll Close of Talkeetna, Gus Scheele of Wasilla, David Freer of Juneau, Juneau Mayor Virginia Kline, and unidentified man-on-the-street interviewees. The second segment, "Unicameralism: Uni-What?" examines the possibility of combining the state senate and house of representatives into a single legislative body. Those interviewed include Tom Fink of Anchorage, Wendell Kay of Anchorage, Cecilia "Pudge" Kleinkauf, Alaska Senator from Anchorage Joe Orsini, and Jack Doyle of the Legislative Affairs Agency. The third segment, "Limited Entry: A Necessary Evil?" deals with an attempt to repeal Alaska's limited entry restrictions on commercial fishermen. Those interviewed include Kodiak fisherman Dave Herrnsteen, Special Assistant to the Governor Bob Palmer, Alaska Representative from Kodiak Ed Naughton, fisherman Fred Lange (spelling?), Sam McDowell of the Isaac Walton league, Chief of Commercial Fisheries Carl Rosier, Wally Nuremberg, hatchery president Armin Koernig, Bob Blake of Cordova, President of the United Fishermen of Alaska Knute Johnson, Bill Hall of Cordova, and unidentified commercial fishermen. Program also contains public service announcements (PSA's) about alcohol abuse, forest fires, and pollution and litter.
- In the first segment, reporter Eric Eckholm provides an examination of proposed designs for Alaska's possible new capital. Members of the Capital Site Planning Commission meet to discuss designs for the capital site as put forth by five architectural firms. Those interviewed include: Mort Hoppenfeld, executive director of the Capital Site Planning Commission; Henrik Bull, architect; Ken De May, architect; Charles Behlke, chairman of the Capital Site Planning Commission; Sterling Gallagher, Commissioner of Revenue; and Jim Croll, public relations director for the Capital Site Planning Commission. In the second segment, Mark O. Badger and Eric Eckholm report on the ways that Juneau residents and leaders are coping with the proposed capital move. Those interviewed include: unidentified man-on-the-street interviewees; C.B. Bettisworth, founder of the FRANK Committee (Frustrated Responsible Alaskans Needing Knowledge); Bill Overstreet, Juneau mayor; Bill Ray, Alaska state senator from Juneau; and Dave Fremming, president of the Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce. In the third segment, Eric Eckholm reports on the first ever public auction of raw Alaskan gold in Fairbanks during November, 1977. Banker Bob Miller of Fairbanks, auctioneer Joe Kasler of Skagway, and several unidentified Alaska gold miners and buyers are interviewed. In the fourth segment, Ed Bennett reports on land development issues across Alaska. Those interviewed include: Maxine Silcott of Anchorage; Connie Sipe, chief of the State Attorney General's Consumer Protection Office; Bill McIntyre, a Fairbanks area land developer; Don Sheets of the Great Kennicott Land Company; Terry McWilliams, director of the Alaska State Parks Division; Sumner Putman, resident of Anchorage and McCarthy; Vincent Guzzardi, head of Golden North Realty in Fairbanks and developer of Wild Lake; Ray Bane of the National Park Service at Bettles; Bill Morgan of the Department of Environmental Conservation; and Dan St. John of Fairbanks, friend of the Meader family. Clips are shown from the Fred and Elaine Meader film "Year of the Caribou, " filmed at Wild Lake. The report also includes views of Anchorage, Fairbanks, the Matanuska Valley, Kennicott, McCarthy, and Wild Lake. The program also contains public service announcements (PSAs) about pollution, the United Negro College Fund, alcoholism, and forest fire prevention.