Alaska Film Archives | Archive

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.

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: [1947 Nalukataq whale feast at Barrow]; Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about these films is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: “Barrow, Nulakatuk, 1947. After a successful whaling season they have a Nulakatuk celebration which is to celebrate the parting of the whales soul so there is no hard feeling to the whales so they will come again the next year. All the whaling captains get together and have this celebration and if there are a lot of whales killed that season they may have two or three celebrations on different days.", From the Alaska Film Archives, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks., From the William W. Bacon III collection. APR Collection Number 2015-203., AAF-20,079 transferred in 2016 by Reflex Technologies of Burbank, California, to Blu-ray Disc, DVD, and Mac-format external hard drive. Some light and color corrections may have been applied to Blu-ray disc and DVD by Reflex Technologies., Filmmaker's original labeling scheme has film AAF-20,079 numbered as Bacon 17, and titled “1947 Nulakatuk Whale Feast, Barrow.” Film contains scenes of whale and muktuk being distributed at the Nalukataq whale feast at Barrow, people eating and celebrating, blanket toss, men in military uniforms, Alaska Native dancers and drummers, children running and chasing after large vehicle, and more blanket toss.

: [Fred Machetanz]; Film contains scenes of artist Fred Machetanz at work in his studio, sign for “Hilscher Highway – Private Road,” scenes of driving along a snowy road as seen from inside a car, and signs pointing toward Machetanz property.

: [Chalkyitsik films - part 2 of 2]; These notes are from Jennifer Jolis of Fairbanks and UAF Prof. Stanley Edwin of Fort Yukon, who viewed this film in the Alaska Film Archives offices at the Rasmuson Library, UAF, on November 21, 2017. Jolis was a VISTA volunteer and Edwin was a 6-year-old growing up in Chalkyitsik, Alaska, during 1966-1967, when Jolis and others shot these films. AAF-13934 contains scenes of Eagle-the-dog; slough where fall fishing and ice fishing happened; Bobby Moses as a boy; Alice and Carl Moses cutting moose; Marianne Nicholson; Patty Salmon in canvas-covered canoe; summer of 1966 scenes; cabins with poles sticking up for radio reception; cabins; greenhouse and the old school, which was replaced in 1967 because of flooding; Bob Mott’s barge; Fort Yukon boat; Bill Fredson changing stovepipe; children playing on oil barrels include Stanley Edwin, Darryl Salmon, Robert Moses, Paul Edwin, and Agnes Herbert (wearing a scarf); unknown boy on swing; girl on swing is Isabelle Salmon wearing red; Bill Fredson with hand over face; scenes from flying over Chalkyitsik – possibly in Wien airplane – when Jolis was first arriving in 1966; fall time of year; Red Bluff, so called because of the reddish color of the soil; Johnny Edwin and possibly Woody Salmon in plaid shirt (maybe Paul Herbert shot this portion of the film); and Bill Fredson at lake.

: [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.

: [Stenberg films 6]; This is a film that was developed in June 1959 and the early 1960s and is labeled, “St. Juneau - end is [illegible].” The film contains scenes of southeast Alaska, aerial views from a seaplane in flight, views from a small powerboat, a Grumman seaplane at a dock (N1019N), families swimming, a Petersburg parade, the Petersburg 4-H Club with a banner in a parade, a family camping and swimming, a wildfire along the roadside, and a bulldozer clearing a fire line.

: [Alaska Visitors Association film]; This 35mm film from the Alaska Visitors Association shows eagles, whales, rivers, sled dog teams, aerial views, mountains, seals, hills, forests, moose, sheep, caribou, geese, rivers, ducks, bears, a cruise ship, fish, Prince William Sound, totem poles, a blanket toss, Alaska Native peoples, recreational activities, and waterfalls. A narrator encourages people to visit Alaska following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

: [White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, Bennett Lake]; This film is labeled “Train.” The footage contains scenes of travel on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, Bennett train station in Canada, a log cabin, the Trail of ’98 sign, a railroad trestle over a gorge, an Inspiration Point sign, people gathered at a monument, Skagway, a ferry, an engineer, and a church at Bennett Lake.

: [Fairbanks 1960s]; This film contains views of Fairbanks in the early 1960s, including cars driving through thick ice fog downtown, muddy neighborhood roads during spring break-up, the sternwheeler “Nenana” parked along the Chena River prior to its restoration and move to Alaskaland, and a bulldozer clearing snowy land.

: [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.

: [Eyth Family collection films 6]; AAF-13879 contains scenes of a house and buildings in winter. AAF-13880 contains scenes of a house and buildings in winter. AAF-13881 and AAF-13882 contains family Christmas scenes. AAF-13883 contains scenes of men packing game meat onto a small boat. AAF-13884 contains scenes of a woman and children with a baby skunk. AAF-13885 contains scenes of the Valdez harbor, moose, and cabins. AAF-13886 contains scenes of men loading game meat onto a boat and small cabins in winter.

: [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]; 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.

: Alaska 49th state : [part 2]; 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.

: [Eyth Family collection films 7]; AAF-13887 contains scenes of a family Christmas, a moose, and a glacier. AAF-13888 contains scenes of deep snow. AAF-13889 -- AAF-13894 contain scenes of a glacier face, a Bridal Veil falls sign, Fourth of July celebrations, a family camping, a river and fishing (poor exposure on original film), a family Christmas, and a camper and boat.

: [Lee family films 3]; AAF-16346 is from a film containing the following note: “Jean, Ingrid and Norm at 18 Mile, Bob and Charlotte, Carl Elken[?] Matanuska, Ron and Norm Davidson Ditch, Harding Lake, dressed up for Easter, Jean in [??] parade, birthday Ingrid and Norman, reindeer [??] at university, Jean’s birthday party, Christmas at Arne’s home, Ingrid and Norm learning to ski, beaver swimming.” The film contains scenes of family activities and travel around Alaska, children walking on railroad tracks, the Cushman Street Bridge in Fairbanks, people hiking and climbing on tors formations, children swimming at Harding Lake, a family in a boat, children playing on snow piles, children racing on ice skates, a boy dressed like a cowboy, children dressed up and posing for the camera, a girl in traditional Scandinavian clothing, a summer parade in Fairbanks, a Pioneers of Alaska float and other floats in the parade, a birthday celebration, a family riding on a sled pulled by reindeer, Christmas celebrations, and children on skis.

: [Haines, totem poles, etc. 2]; The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20,055 numbered as Bacon 12-2, and titled "Haines, Sue Silver Carver: 50 feet." Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about these films is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: "...Silver carver and more inside the Whale House..."

: [White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, train interior]; This film is labeled “Poor quality, train trip.” The footage contains scenes of buildings at Bennett Lake in Canada, a conductor and passengers within a train car, White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad travel and scenery, the Caribou Hotel in Carcross in Canada, a sternwheeler in Carcross, and more train scenes.

: [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?).

: [Chuck Gray film collection]; This film includes footage of Seward, aerial views of Seward, and Anchorage following the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake. Additional footage includes Alaska Dog Mushers dogsled races at the Fairbanks track on Farmers Loop Road, dogsled races with Le Mans style start, dogsled slalom race, a snowshoe softball game, the 1966 Golden Days Parade including Charlie Creamer driving a car and George Clayton with his old truck. Final images feature people on rides at the Golden Days Midway.

: [Alaska Air Guard earthquake film]; This film contains scenes of earthquake damage in Anchorage, Kodiak, Seward, and Valdez following the March 27, 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake. Title screens indicate the footage was shot by an Alaska Air National Guard Air Transport Squadron.

: [Skagway, White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, Carcross]; This film is labeled “Reel #3 Unknown, Part Railroad.” Footage contains scenes of Skagway, passengers disembarking from a ferry or ship, a White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad steam engine and railroad cars, sites along the railroad from Skagway to Carcross in Yukon, Canada, the Caribou Hotel and the Matthew Watson General Store in Carcross, and a sternwheeler in Carcross.

: [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.

: [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.

: [Snowmachines, trapping]; All film segments are labeled "Trapping - December 1961 to January 1962," and they contain images of filmmaker Victor Rovier driving to the Alaska Marine store, a Polaris Sno-Traveler sign, men looking at and test-driving various models of snowmachines, moose in the snow, a wounded moose on the road, a bridge, a small group of cabins, people driving snowmachines, people driving on snowmachines and walking with snowshoes while checking and setting traps, a fox in a trap, a wolverine in a trap, a fox in a trap, dogs running alongside snow machines, an elderly man posing on a snowmachine and going for a ride on a snowmachine.

: [Hanes, totem poles, etc. 7]; The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20,061 numbered as Bacon 12-9, and it's titled "Haines, Indian craft center, Carl Heinmiller: ECN [Eastman Color Negative]-200 feet." See AAF-20,004 for an associated item originally labeled Bacon 12-5. Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about these films is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: "Box 12 - 9 Reels, 1 black & white picture - Picture in box of Carl Heinmiller dancing. Picture doing the bear dance. Whale House clan at Klukwan inside Whale House. Different upright poles; they had moved the old Whale House. They had four posts and one was a Strong Man Totem that describes a man pulling a killer whale apart and his father fell out of the whale. A Girl and Worm Totem pole; she was put into the totem pole to save until she became eligible for the chief to marry. She wanted to get out so a worm came along and ate all around the wood so she could escape. Potlatch trough was a huge log approximately 30 feet long. They dug all the wood out, carved it with head on the front, legs on the back and that is where they put all the food for a potlatch. Silver carver and more inside the Whale House. Miner gal with gold, air shots of Fort Seward in Haines, shots along the Lynn Canal, work in Indian Craft Center, fishing at Haines, people come there and fly fish. Chilkat River, Klukwan Village."

: [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.

: [Church collection glacier and yacht]; Film contains views of a glacier in south or southeastern Alaska, the yacht "Westward," and barges.

: [Lewis Gibson films 1]; This footage was filmed in the mid-1960s and is labeled, “Tour with Visiting Relatives, Nova Scotia, snippet of UAF plaza, Chena Hot Springs, Alaska Highway Milepost Marker Fairbanks, Malemute Saloon, and Gold dredge.” The film contains scenes of family activities outside of Alaska, travel in Alaska, a circle of flags on the campus of University of Alaska Fairbanks, interior scenes of the museum at the university, Malemute Saloon in Ester, gold dredges, Joy Elementary School, and the Alaska Highway milepost marker in downtown Fairbanks.

: Films North; Film contains scenes of artist Fred Machetanz beginning work on a painting in his studio, outside in winter stacking firewood, and in his studio finishing a painting of polar bears.

: Alaska 49th state : [part 1]; 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.

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