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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 11 of 11 Objects
[Alaska 1925, Kenai River, Skilak Lake, bear hunt]
[Alaska 1925, Kenai River, Skilak Lake, bear hunt]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1925,” “Alaska 25 - Kenai R. - Skilak Lake – Hunt,” and “Alaska Hunting II.” The film contains scenes of three men in a motor boat towing another boat, men rowing an open boat down a swift river, scenes from within the open boat as a man rows, faces of men in a boat, scenery along the shoreline, men standing by a log cabin, men hiking with packs, a porcupine running into the bushes, men setting up a canvas tent, men joking around in camp, men crossing a small stream, a man playing a flute, a hillside and inlet, and a man skinning a dead bear.
[Alaska 1926 odds and ends, glaciers and boats]
[Alaska 1926 odds and ends, glaciers and boats]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1926” and “Alaska 26 Odds and Ends #4.” The film contains miscellaneous scenes of glaciers, a man with a rifle aboard a boat, a coastal community waterfront, activities aboard a ship, men climbing a snowy mountain, icy waters and glaciers, and various boats.
[Alaska 1931]
[Alaska 1931]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1931” and “Scenes taken for footage for Milford - Alaska 1931.” The footage contains scenic shots of various snowy mountains, glaciers, a small boat in icy waters, a man aboard a boat cranking a film camera, icy waters, a man with a camera, and more glaciers and snowy mountains.
[Alaska 1931 or 1935, Copper River Railroad, Harriman Fiord, Inside Passage, Juneau]
[Alaska 1931 or 1935, Copper River Railroad, Harriman Fiord, Inside Passage, Juneau]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1931 or 1935” and “Copper River RR, Harriman Fiord, Inside Passage.” The film contains scenes of a boat moving through icy waters, an airplane on floats in water, a train crossing a bridge over Copper River and moving alongside the river, four men maneuvering an automobile outfitted for travel on railroad tracks, a car running along train tracks, a man walking on a rocky hillside and chopping at earth to make steps, glacier scenes, snowy mountains, men in a rowboat, men examining ice, a man operating a film camera, icy waters, travel alongside steep mountains rising out of an inlet, men in a boat, the Juneau waterfront, A.J. Mine, and downtown Juneau.
[Alaska 1931 reel 4, glaciers and ships]
[Alaska 1931 reel 4, glaciers and ships]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1931 Reel 4.” The film contains scenic shots of glaciers and mountains, a small boat moving in front of a glacier face, a calving glacier, icebergs, a small boat moving through icy waters, ice near a shoreline, a larger steamship moving through icy waters near a glacier face, and seals resting on icebergs in the distance.
[Alaska 1935, Blackstone Bay, College Fiord, odds and ends]
[Alaska 1935, Blackstone Bay, College Fiord, odds and ends]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1935” and “Blackstone Bay, College Fiord, Odds and Ends, Goats etc., Fish.” The film contains scenes of two men rowing a boat and anchoring it near a waterfall, a man holding a film camera, a man watching salmon swim upstream, numerous salmon in a shallow stream, two men paddling a boat in the distance as seen from a rock opening, a herd of mountain goats on a hillside near a shoreline, a calving glacier and icy waters, and birds flying near a waterfall.
[Alaska '35]
[Alaska '35]
This film contains footage of Alaska Railroad cars, horses pulling a wagon on a bridge, mountains and glaciers, mountain goats on a hillside, men with a boat on a beach, a street and buildings in Seward, a steam engine and train arriving at Palmer or Matanuska Junction, Matanuska Valley Colony and colonists, farm buildings and farm workers, a hog with piglets, men with pitchforks scooping hay, people in a truck moving furniture, a man and child at a water pump, a hay wagon, barns and silos, people building frame houses, a blacksmith or machinist at work, men moving building supplies with trucks and bulldozers, a family posing next to a finished house, workers and machinery threshing grain or chopping hay, a farmstead with a log home, a Caterpillar crossing railroad tracks, men unloading bags from a truck, people offloading supplies from a train, a bulldozer pulling a load of construction material, several Caterpillars clearing land and grading soil, a train and steam engine, trucks near tents, people with horses, a blacksmith, children in a wagon, the trading post and cooperative store, a family and home, a girl on a ladder, workers finishing house construction, people moving items into a house, a man chopping a tree, a man and boy at a water pump, men pitching hay, a frame home, a log home, a barn and silo, a horse and wagon, a threshing machine, a farm in the distance, and a car on the road.
[Alaska glaciers 1931 reel 3]
[Alaska glaciers 1931 reel 3]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1931 Reel 3.” The footage contains scenes of glaciers calving into water, scenic shots of glaciers, a panoramic shot across the face of a glacier, snowy mountains, and ice fields.
[Alaska traveling I circa 1926, railroad, ships, coastal communities]
[Alaska traveling I circa 1926, railroad, ships, coastal communities]
This film is labeled “Alaska 1925,” “Alaska 1925 - I think – travelling,” and “Alaska 1926 I.” The footage contains scenes of people traveling in an open train car, a conductor talking to people aboard a train, railroad travel, travel by ship, coastal communities, military ships in a harbor (possibly Seattle), automobiles and people in a town with a mountainous backdrop, a totem pole, a town with muddy streets, a sign for a Valdez dock, a ship at a dock, a boy with a fish, men unloading boxes on a dock, an Emel Packing Company sign, a cannery, an Alaska Steamship Company sign on a vessel, further scenes of shipboard and dock activities in Valdez, and ship passengers enjoying the scenery.
[Alaska traveling II circa 1926, Fairbanks and Cordova]
[Alaska traveling II circa 1926, Fairbanks and Cordova]
This film is labeled, “Alaska 1925 or 1927” and “Alaska Travelling II 1926.” Footage contains scenes of people aboard a large ship, the S.S. Alaska, viewing a glacier. It also features a train crossing a tall railroad trestle and winding through mountainous terrain, the train going under a trestle and through a tunnel, scenes of the railroad bridge in Nenana, First Avenue in Fairbanks, the sternwheeler Alice and another vessel, the Cowles Street library building and a nearby home in downtown Fairbanks, men and women at the University of Alaska farm in Fairbanks, a child with a haltered cow, a goat, other livestock, a man panning for gold, mining activities including a sluice box and windlass, men and women pushing an automobile, people on a street (likely in Fairbanks), a train in Cordova, men unloading sacks onto a dock, and people aboard a ship viewing the surrounding water and mountains.
[Antarctic studies part 1 roll1]
[Antarctic studies part 1 roll1]
The original film is labeled, “Antarctic B&W Part 1 Roll 1.” The film contains aerial shots of vast ice fields, various tracked vehicles driving across the snow, a field camp, a man patting a penguin on the head, a person skiing, a U.S. Navy airplane, and scientists using various instruments to take measurements.