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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 4 of 4 Objects
[Fred Machetanz]
[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.
[George Steck collection 07]
[George Steck collection 07]
Footage from around Fairbanks includes participants in a Safe Driving Auto Rodeo held in the Penneys parking lot on Cushman Street.
[McMillin Pribilof films AAF-14548--14552]
[McMillin Pribilof films AAF-14548--14552]
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-14548 is unlabeled, and contains images of seals entering the water as waves crash along a rocky coastline. AAF-14549 is labeled, "White People, etc." and contains scenes of a man and woman picking flowers, a truck driving along a wooden track or road, people posing at a house and boarding a ship, a woman and man exploring a grassy island, men with fur seals, men digging, men possibly gathering eggs from a cliff, men with cameras standing near a windy beach, people posing for camera, man walking near boats, people in a horse costume, men with cameras filming fur fox, man and women walking along a rocky beach, and a group of people with flowers. AAF-14550 is labeled, "Seals," and contains images of large groups of fur seals on rocks and beaches in the Pribilof Islands. AAF-14551 is unlabeled, and contains scenes of rocky shorelines, birds including murres and puffins nesting on rocky cliffs, eggs in a basket, men in small boat, seals, auklets and other birds, small bird and chick, cormorants, and a fox. AAF-14552 is labeled, "Our Friends," and contains scenes of Pribilof fur seals with the following title screens:"Sleek fat bulls arrive first," "Selecting the Harem Sites," "After the Harems are formed," "A single family," "Boy! Do I itch," "A fight over the Ladies," "Seals resting after a hard season," "Pups playing in the surf," "Final Fall coat for the pup," and "Taking to the water through the surf. Following the title screen "Pribilof Bird Life" are scenes of puffins and auklets, men holding birds and eggs, people gathering eggs from rocky beach, and boat full of eggs. Following the title screen "Blue Foxes," are scenes of fur foxes in summer and winter. Following the title screen "Stellar Sea Lions," are scenes of seals on a rocky beach, reindeer, people herding reindeer, reindeer in winter, and reindeer in corral. Following the title screen "Working Cargo During June," are scenes of men working to row a boat away from a rocky shoreline and toward a larger vessel further away, and rowboat returning to shore. Following the title screen "Winter - Snow and ice scenes in March," are images of a snowy landscape, icy waters lapping against the shoreline, men digging away drifted snow, men dragging large rowboat to water, and men rowing to and from steamboat. Following the title screen, "Pribilof snow plows," are images of a line of men digging large drifts of snow while another man watches. Following the title screen, "Native Church service," are scenes of a procession of people led by men carrying an American flag and banners and a priest, and an unidentified church building. Following the title screen, "Flower scenes on the Pribilofs" are images of wildflowers, and women on beach picking flowers. Following the title screen "St. Paul Island sunset on Big Lake," are scenic views of the water and sky. Film ends with the title screen "A Bering Sea sunset.", 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-14560--14562]
[McMillin Pribilof films AAF-14560--14562]
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-14560 is labeled, "4th Julys, games, wedding, birds," and contains scenes of men with an octopus, a procession of people coming out of a church and going back into church, row boat arriving at a dock, waves crashing against the shore, ship, whale spout, construction of a large dam at unknown location, football game at unknown location, man with film camera, sled with barrels, people carrying an umiak or boat and lifting it onto a truck, and a road made of planks on the tundra. AAF-14561 is labeled, "Surf," and contains images of a shore and waves, rowboats coming ashore, a ship in the bay (possibly a military ship), supplies being offloaded onto the shore, a boat named "Veca," rowboats along the shore, man climbing a mast, and flowers. AAF-14562 is labeled, "Good scenes," and contains scenes in the Pribilofs and outside Alaska including men and a green truck, seals, men with crates, birds, flowers, travel outside Alaska, car on a snowy road, snowy mountains, people sledding, woman and flowering shrub, garden and flowers, train, large dam, train, United States flag, and a priest leading a procession., 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.