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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 3 of 3 Objects
[Lou and Ruth McCoy collection 1]
[Lou and Ruth McCoy collection 1]
Footage includes scenes from the Fairbanks 1947 Ice Carnival (Winter Carnival) parade, sled dog races, the 1947 Chena River break-up and flooding (possibly 1948), snowshoe baseball, and Jeff Studdert with a 37-dog team in 1957.
[McMillin Pribilof films AAF-14555--14557]
[McMillin Pribilof films AAF-14555--14557]
Films were shot by L.C. McMillin on the Pribilof Islands of Alaska during the late 1930s and early 1940s prior to World War II. At the time, McMillin was employed as an agent by the United States government to manage the islands and its peoples, and to oversee fur seal harvests. McMillin’s first and middle names were Lee Carroll or possibly Lee Clarence. AAF-14555 is labeled, "Seattle Trip etc.," and contains images of clouds, many people in a small boat, a shoreline with small white buildings, a sailboat, rigging on a boat, ice coating the boat rigging, sunsets, flag blowing in breeze, Juneau shoreline, Ketchikan Cold Storage building, a drawbridge at an unknown location, many people in small boats, man raising a U.S. flag, birds, cattle, and a woman picking flowers. AAF-14556 is labeled, "St. Paul," that contains scenes of ships (possibly military ships), a procession led by men carrying a United States flag and religious banners, many people in small boats and standing on shore, small children standing and waving, girl's and women's foot races, men participating in a pie-eating contest and tug-of-war match, baseball game, ship at sea, men unloading barrels on shore, a cliff and birds, and a landscape. AAF-14557 is labeled, "St. George misc.," that contains scenes of a man smoking, boys participating in a gunny sack race and pie-eating contest, people coming out of a church (possibly a wedding party), a procession led by men carrying a United States flag and religious banners, seals, a landscape and hills, reindeer, and birds on a rock., Titles and title screens included here are part of the original film, and may include words, phrases, and attitudes that would now be deemed insensitive, inappropriate or factually inaccurate.
[McMillin Pribilof films AAF-14553--14554]
[McMillin Pribilof films AAF-14553--14554]
Films were shot by L.C. McMillin on the Pribilof Islands of Alaska during the late 1930s and early 1940s prior to World War II. At the time, McMillin was employed as an agent by the United States government to manage the islands and its peoples, and to oversee fur seal harvests. McMillin’s first and middle names were Lee Carroll or possibly Lee Clarence. AAF-14553 is unlabeled, and contains images of ships on the water, a community along the shoreline (possibly Ketchikan), totem pole, sunsets, views from boat on water, people disembarking ship and crawling into rowboats that are towed to shore at one of the Pribilof Islands, storm waves as seen from shore, people at dock, people in row boats waving, stormy waves crashing beach, woman walking near home and posing on steps, woman walking along boardwalk, buildings in community, boys swimming [portions intentionally blurred for online display], children participating in foot races, gunny sack races, racing with a pole etc., boys bobbing for apples, girls eating donuts off of string, pie-eating contest, baseball game with teams wearing uniforms, men herding seals and tossing seal hides into truck [approximately five minutes of this material removed from online display due to culturally sensitive content], men offloading supplies from ship, men gathering chunks of ice, power shovel filling dump truck with soil, men excavating hillside, men with shovels working in stream, people herding reindeer, men rowing boat to dock, and cliffs and surf. AAF-14554 is labeled, "Funter bay," and contains scenes of foxes on a rocky beach, numerous foxes in winter, and seals on beach., Titles and title screens included here are part of the original film, and may include words, phrases, and attitudes that would now be deemed insensitive, inappropriate or factually inaccurate. Some scenes have been removed from online display due to culturally sensitive content. Where removed, the omission is noted by a title screen. Contact film archivist for more information.