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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
[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.
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 6]
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 6]
This film is labeled "San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Alaska Hiway [Highway] to Fairbanks” and notes with the film say “Might be Arne Larsen film, Hiway driving Chevy, 1950s Chevy, Fairbanks, Dave Larsen?, Birch Hill, Dragline, Jergen mining, Gold Dredge Ester or Fox, Circle Hot Springs, Jergen and Guri Lealand, San Diego shipyard, zoo, SFO, LAX.” The film contains footage of Alaska Highway travel, the Riverboat Nenana in a dry dock, Aurora Lodge, a panoramic overview of Fairbanks, mining activities, a gold dredge at work, a dragline in operation, a power plant building, a gold dredge in a float pond, a dragline, hydraulic giants, a conveyor belt, a Circle Hot Springs lodge, the Circle Trading Company building, and scenes outside Alaska.
[Mining operations]
[Mining operations]
This film contains images of a mining operation, a bulldozer pushing muck, sluice box cleanup, a snowy landscape, children playing, a truck loaded with logs, a man operating a hydraulic giant, Wien aircraft, a parade and other travel scenes outside Alaska, a Boeing VC-137B Air Force One aircraft painted in white-and-red color scheme at an airport outside Alaska.
[Family activities]
[Family activities]
This film contains images of a family gathering at Christmastime, a boy and dog playing, a dead wolf, a mining operation, an airport, children dressed as cowboys, travel scenes outside Alaska, a parade outside Alaska, and the Hoover Dam.
[Scenes from around Alaska]
[Scenes from around Alaska]
This film contains images of a dead wolf, bulldozers, a man and woman and two boys, people sledding on a hillside, blowing snow along Steese Highway, Circle Hot Springs in winter, a mining operation, men working in sluice box as children play, fall landscape, caribou, winter landscape, summer landscape, Cat train moving over snowy ground, Ocean Van Line trailer, tractor trailers hauling supplies, a bulldozer plowing a path through trees, scenes in northern Alaska, a dog team, a dead seal, an Alaska Native family posing for the camera outside of a wall tent, a Cat train, an airport, tractor trailers, a bulldozer plowing snow, a Cat train, and men working to free a vehicle that has fallen though ice.
[Alaska sheep and bear]
[Alaska sheep and bear]
This footage shows Dall sheep in the hills (focus is soft) and a bear near a river.
[Fur Rendezvous, polar bear, Kotzebue, Nome, Unalakleet, kayak races]
[Fur Rendezvous, polar bear, Kotzebue, Nome, Unalakleet, kayak races]
Footage features an Alaska Native dance demonstration in front of a crowd on an Anchorage baseball field, a blanket toss, and dog mushers racing across a flat area; polar bears on ice in Northern Alaska; the Kotzebue waterfront, fish drying on racks, children, the post office, the trading post, the Wien Arctic Hotel, a whalebone, and Alaska Native women and a man with closeup views of their faces; Native dancing in Nome with King Island Chief Aulaġana (John Olarana or Olaranna) and others, a blanket toss, and fish drying on racks; the Unalakleet waterfront with kayaks and an airplane on floats, kayak races, and a demonstration of a kayak roll by a man wearing a gutskin parka. The film is made from three shorter reels of film spliced together. The original boxes are labeled as follows: 1) Fur Rendezvous – 100’ $30.00 - #60013. 2) #54 Polar Bear - $15.00. 3) #28 Kotzebue, Unalakleet, Nome, Kayak Races.
[Walrus hunt, Kotzebue, Nome, Unalakleet, kayak races, wildlife]
[Walrus hunt, Kotzebue, Nome, Unalakleet, kayak races, wildlife]
This film contains footage of a waterfront in a northern Alaska coastal village, many people in a motor-powered umiak, a camp on a rocky beach, Alaska Native children playing in a tent, men throwing a rope into the water to retrieve a log, men on the edge of sea ice getting into an umiak, open water and sea ice, homes at the edge of the steep rocky island of Little Diomede, people unloading supplies from an umiak onto the shore on Little Diomede, and then some footage is repeated. The footage also features foxes playing in brush; the Kotzebue waterfront, fish drying on racks, children, the post office, the trading post, the Wien Arctic Hotel, a whalebone, and Alaska Native women and a man with closeup views of their faces; a Native dancing in Nome with King Island Chief Aulaġana (John Olarana or Olaranna) and others, a blanket toss, and fish drying on racks; the Unalakleet waterfront with kayaks and an airplane on floats, kayak races, and a demonstration of a kayak roll by a man wearing a gutskin parka; arctic ground squirrels or parka squirrels, a man feeding squirrels, a pika, a marmot, and seals on a beach and in water. Persons and locations identified in 2015 by a person who once lived in the Nome area include: Belmont Point, Snake River, Bering Sea Hotel, Sam Mogg, Charlie Dickson (?), Olaf Piscoya and persons from the Ozenna family, Big and Little Diomede Islands, and Aloysius Pikonganna. This film is made from five shorter reels of film spliced together. The original boxes and cans are labeled as follows: 1) Walrus Hunt - $131.25 [on leader = Color Reproduction Company – Hollywood, California]. 2) Walrus Hunt Reel 1 - $73.00. 3) Reel #19 Foxes – 220’ @ .29 $63.80. 4) XXVIII – 400’ – Kotzebue: tents, homes, post office, trading post, Wien Arctic Hotel, old Eskimo woman in sun on beach, older Eskimo woman and son – Nome: informal Eskimo dance with King Alarna, blanket toss – Unalakleet : 4th of July kayak races, rolling kayak over to upside down then to right side up. 5) #67 Parka Squirrels – Alaskan Parka – 100’ $30.00.
[Whittier earthquake cleanup, Lake George glacier breakup, wildlife]
[Whittier earthquake cleanup, Lake George glacier breakup, wildlife]
Footage includes foxes playing in brush; men working to repair railroad tracks, damaged buildings and burned out fuel storage tanks in Whittier following the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964, rubble along the shoreline, Lake George glacier breaking up, bears fishing in a river and playing onshore, aerial views of a volcanic crater, seals on a beach, closeups of young seals, and bears and cubs eating and fishing. The film is made from six shorter reels of film spliced together. The original boxes and can are labeled as follows: 1) Foxes - #60013 – 100’ $30.00. 2) R-58 Whittier Earthquake - $15.00. 3) #41 Lake George Glacier Breakup - $15.00. 4) #49 Close-up Brown Bears - $15.00. 5) #39 Fur Seals - $15.00. 6) #44 Bear and cubs - $15.00.