Alaska Film Archives

[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 1]
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 1]
This film features Joanie Adler’s birthday with eight candles on the cake, Joe Crosson Jr. or Don Crosson at the party, Joanie Adler playing croquet with parents, Joanie Adler skiing with her parents and other children, Chena River break-up near the Cushman Street Bridge in Fairbanks, Chena River break-up with cars and trucks on streets (including Illinois Street), an overview of flooding as seen from a rooftop, coal bunkers in the background, Fairbanks Winter Carnival queen contestants, and an ice throne. Notes on the original film say “Terry Gordon, Baby ‘36, Xmas, Snow, Cabin, Flood, Carnival, Break-up ‘36, and Carnival ‘36.”
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 2]
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 2]
This is the 1936 Winter Carnival in Fairbanks.
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 3]
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 3]
This film contains footage of Joanie Adler with adults, Joanie riding a pony, Joanie at the zoo, Joanie riding a bike, an unidentified couple at a mining operation, Joanie Adler swimming, Joanie with her parents at a cabin, Joanie playing with Christmas toys, children in a parade in Fairbanks near the Cushman Street Bridge, aerial shots of mountains, break-up, a family camping and sawing wood, and more aerial shots of mountains.
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 4]
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 4]
This film shows people skiing behind a truck as seen from the truck.
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 5]
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 5]
This film includes scenes of the Dave and Mary Adler wedding party, Joanie Adler holding flowers and playing in a sprinkler, Joanie Adler's birthday party with seven or eight candles, Joanie Adler cooking in a kitchen with Joe Crosson, Jr., glacier and river scenery, Mrs. Adler carrying Joanie and Mr. Adler across a creek, Joanie Adler driving a small car built by Joe Crosson, Sr., Joe helping Don Crosson drive a car, Joanie Adler with puppies, Don Adler in uniform, people at an airport, Joanie and possibly Joe Crosson, Jr. gardening, dignitaries with Governor Ernest Gruening, a Grumman Goose airplane, Joanie Adler playing with dogs, and the Adler family canoeing. This film was labeled as follows: “Mary and Dave just got married; Little Joe and Joan cooking; Joan in car summer 1939..."
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 6]
[Adler-Tollefson Family films - 6]
This film contains scenes of men preparing gold for smelting into an ingot, caribou, and Joanie with Mrs. Adler.
[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.
The Alaska Coast, Seattle to Columbia Glacier
The Alaska Coast, Seattle to Columbia Glacier
Footage features Alaska Steamship Lines ship "Yukon" cruising from Seattle to Columbia Glacier through the Inside Passage. It stops at Ketchikan, Juneau, and an unidentified town.
[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.
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 1]
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 1]
Footage includes a walking dragline and gold dredge in Ester, travel to Circle City, Indians in Circle showing parkas and furs, the sternwheeler Yukon arriving and passengers disembarking, buildings and scenes around Circle Hot Springs Resort, Eagle Summit, a brief view of the Miller House owners, children clearing snow from a skating rink, and various skating activities including racing and figure skating. Notes accompanying the original film can and box say "mining at Ester, Cripple Creek dragline, dredge, Dorothy Erin (?) go to Circle, Circle Indians, boat at Yukon, birds on road, Indian cemetery, Circle Springs, Miller House, Eagle Summit, Ada Williams, 1937 - Megan Florence and I go to Circle, school festival 1944"
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 2]
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 2]
Footage includes people panning for gold, a B-17 flying overhead, men cutting firewood with a truck-mounted saw in downtown Fairbanks, downtown buildings, Wien Alaska Airlines operations at Weeks Field, an airplane taking off, Jim Dodson's airplane, hangars on the field, fire, children ice skating, dog sled races on the Chena Rive, men launching a small barge, travel in an outboard motor-powered riverboat, the tug M.S. Otter of Fairbanks pushing a barge, a grouse on the road, men working on a cabin, a small boat being launched in a lake, men cutting ice for drinking water with a hand saw, a car pulling a sled with blocks of ice, a fire in a Fairbanks Laundry building, and a formation of military airplanes. Notes accompanying the film say: view of McKinley, Deadwood and Dr. Schiable, around Fairbanks, sawing wood, around 2nd Ave., Wien Airways & Jim in planes, old Pan Am, Dorothy's house, skating in Main School yard, my 8th, dog team races at end of 2nd, K9 team won, youngster falling down, Albas trip, grouse, McKinley, ducks, Hanlon, building at lake, kids, lake boat, Albert Martin, Bob Harwood, geese, cutting ice, Bud Shaw, (?), fire at laundry, Russian DC-3, P-63 to Russia led by B-25.
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 3]
[Annabeth Hanlon collection 3]
Footage includes people working on an Aeronca light airplane, people mugging for the camera, people unloading mail from train, McKinley Park Hotel, Horseshoe Lake, puppies, a cache on stilts, a log cache, Mt. McKinley and scenery, feeding ground squirrels, a tent camp for tourists, a fox, Fanny Quigley at a cabin with a dog, Open North American Sled Dog Races in Fairbanks, an early Arctic Cat snowmachine, Dr. Roland Lombard loading sled dogs into a truck, and curling matches at the Fairbanks Curling Club. Notes accompanying the original film can and box say "McKinley, Fannie Quigley, 1964 dog races, curling."
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 9]
[Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 9]
This video is composed of footage from four film reels. AAF-16334 is from a film likely shot by Lee family friend Fred Torsak. It is labeled “1936?, Weeks Field airplanes, Cushman Street Bridge, Dad, dog team, polar bear.” (a post office date stamp on the film box says July 26, 1937). The film contains footage of airplanes at Weeks Field in Fairbanks, a Pacific Alaska Airways hangar, Cushman Street in Fairbanks, the Samson’s hardware store building, Cushman Street bridge over the Chena River, a polar bear in a cage, and people riding in a dog sled. AAF-16335 is from a film likely shot by Lee family friend Fred Torsak. It is labeled, “Fairbanks Alaska, Gold Dredge mining.” (The post office date stamp on the film box is April 2, 1938). The film contains footage of a large placer mining site, hydraulic giants at work, a man with a camera filming the mining operations, an overburden being blasted or falling in large chunks, a mining camp, a man walking along the pipeline (Davidson ditch or siphon?), a dredge at work, and tailings piles. AAF-16336 is from a film likely shot by Lee family friend Fred Torsak. It is labeled “Gold mining with great cleanup gold.” (The post office date stamp on the film box is February 13, 1939). The film contains color footage of hydraulic giants and a bulldozer at work, a man in a large sluice box, a man holding a large pan full of gold, people working a smaller sluice box, and Main School in Fairbanks. AAF-16337 is from a film likely shot by Lee family friend Fred Torsak. It is labeled “Weeks Field, dog team, Main School.” (The post office date stamp on the film box is also February 13, 1939). The film contains color footage of a dog team next to an airplane, a woman taking photos of a dog team, an airplane flying overhead, Main school in Fairbanks, and the wooden Fairbanks Airplane Corporation hangar on Rickert's field situated across from Weeks Field on Cushman Street in Fairbanks.
[Bristol Bay sailing fleet, Dickson crash and Woodley airways, Dickson family in Anchorage, Stinson tri-motor and Star Airlines]
[Bristol Bay sailing fleet, Dickson crash and Woodley airways, Dickson family in Anchorage, Stinson tri-motor and Star Airlines]
Summary: Part 1 (AAF-1158) footage includes Palmer buildings, the Tusk in Merrill Pass, stone marten furs, loading meat in Woodley floatplane near Nome, a sunset, spawning salmon, an aerial view of a river, an unidentified town, sport fishermen with mosquito nets, Bristol Bay sailing fleet fishing for salmon, pulling nets, a cannery, Star Airlines Bellanca on floats, a sailing fleet under sail, a cormorant nest, an airplane shadow with a circular rainbow, a fishing fleet, unloading fish at a cannery, and cannery activity. Part 2 (AAF-1159) includes Star Airlines Bellanca airplane on floats at Lake Spenard, Dickson Airways Waco biplane nosed over in ice on Prince William Sound island, Bud Seltenreich and Art Woodley with Coast Guard rescuers, Art Woodley drinking coffee, the Coast Guard cutter Haida, Woodley airplane and Dickson Waco, Bud Seltenreich and Roy Dickson under a rock outcropping used for shelter, mountains and steaming inactive volcanoes, Aiachak crater and Katmai crater. Additional footage features magma in St. Augustine volcano following the March 26 1931 eruption, Mt Redoubt, Woodley Travelair suspended from an Alaska Railroad crane during the conversion to floats, Mt. McKinley, a forest fire, Sand Point seen from the air, Aleutian Islands, Dr. Walkowski and an injured worker being loaded into Woodley Travelair on July 14 1937, mountains, Woodley float planes, Art Woodley with an Eskimo man in a kayak, Roy Dickson and a salesman, a spring flood on the Yukon River with Woodley float plane tied to a house, an unidentified village seen from the air, a fishwheel, a Nome bicycle race, an egg race, high kick, a blanket toss, games, King Island Eskimo kayak and umiak races, and an aerial view of the Yukon River.
[Family, Alaska, travel outside]
[Family, Alaska, travel outside]
This film reel is made up of 14 smaller reels. Reel 1 is labeled "Military unit, 1936 Carnival, family skiing," and it contains footage of ROTC formation marching and ice. Reel 2 is labeled "Children skiing, 1938 Carnival, First Air Mail," and it contains footage of skiing, the Winter Carnival, the Chena River, skiing, dog sleds, and an airplane. Reel 3 is labeled "Trip to Paxons July 1940, Kay catching salmon, Xmas scenes, Thelma in grass skirt, Thelma and I in blue uniform," and it contains footage as described in addition to children skating and skiing as well as hockey on the Chena River. Reel 4 contains footage of people dancing. Reel 5 contains footage of people outside with a camera. Reel 6 is labeled "My Last Days at Home, May and June 1942," and it contains footage of family scenes, boys in Boy Scout uniforms, boys tumbling, boys on bicycles, boys playing a ball game, a boy with a pack, more family scenes, and a man in a military uniform. Reel 7 is labeled "Matanuska Farm, Dawson's Film," and it contains footage of cows, sheep, family, an airplane, a lake, and mountains. Reel 8 is labeled "Ski meet Birch Hill, College, Russ, June 15, 1942, disposing of dynamite pwd, ski towing car, College Hill," "Thelma and I kissing," and "Skiing 1941." It contains footage of skiing, hockey, and a couple kissing. Reel 9 is labeled "Fishing, geese, Naknek, 1943," and it contains footage of fishing, people posing with fish, and river scenes. Reel 10 is labeled "Xmas 1946 at Vinton, Iowa," and it contains family scenes. Reel 11 is labeled "California, ferry Staten Island, ski trip Vermont, around Washington, 1947?," and it contains views of a ferry, people with skis, and Washington D.C. scenes. Reel 12 is labeled "Tok trip, Mary, buffalo, skiing, Cleary Summit," and it contains footage of a bison on the road and people skiing. Reel 13 is labeled "September 1949 to March 1950, Donn in football, skiing, hockey, 1950 Carnival, dogs and sled being parachuted, Toni, auto races," and it contains footage as described as well as a ski jump and blanket toss in Fairbanks. Reel 14 is labeled "Air Trip to States July 1953," and it contains footage of a station wagon and trailer, a "to Alaska" sign, aerial views of mountains, family scenes, and bears.
Glacier priest
Glacier priest
This is a series of highly dramatized reenactments from the life of Father Bernard Hubbard, a scientist and missionary. Occasionally, the reenactments don't jibe with the story. Scenes dramatized include: climbing the Taku Glacier, traveling by dogsled to the village of Holy Cross to combat an influenza epidemic (the musher is shown wearing short, Sami-style boots and three nuns are shown in their fur-hooded cloaks), Father Hubbard's run to an unnamed village when he was sick with the flu himself, Father Hubbard's ascent of Aniakchak Volcano (men dig through a layer of ash to find clean snow), exploring the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes (men cross rocky terrain with a wheeled dog sled, men in a forest of dead trees, men and a dog wear gas masks as they approach the volcano), his work among the King Island Eskimos (many shots of King Islanders including a Wolf? dance), and his promotion of Alaska as a place to settle in (children play on an old-fashioned merry-go-round, a man digs up large potatoes, and agriculture scenes which may have been shot in Matanuska Valley).
[Harry Leonard’s Wiseman films]
[Harry Leonard’s Wiseman films]
These films were made by prospector and miner Harry Leonard primarily during the 1930s and 1940s at Fairbanks, Alaska, and at or near Wiseman, Alaska, a small mining community along the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River in the Brooks Range about 270 miles north of Fairbanks. In 2019, the original films were preserved through funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF); Reflex Technologies of Burbank, California, scanned the reels of original 8mm film and created digital DPX files, which were then output to new 16mm internegative and answer print film stocks by Video & Film Solutions of Rockville, Maryland. The original films, new internegative and answer print films, and digital files are all being preserved by the Alaska Film Archives at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Many of the following identifications are from film donor George Lounsbury. AAF-1865 scenes include a fire in a Fairbanks building, Harry Leonard’s wife Savannah Leonard standing near car, Harry Leonard approaching the camera, cabins and sled dogs, Savannah Leonard with a broom and with snowshoes at the Leonard home on Dunkel Street in Fairbanks, and Harry Leonard waving. A pilot starts a Stearman bi-plane airplane on skis, followed by aerial views of Wiseman and mountains. Images back at Fairbanks include fire at the Hotel Alaska. Koyukuk region images include a small dam, large pump and pipe, and Harry Leonard with hydraulic giant moving material at Archibald Gulch on Nolan Creek. AAF-1866 scenes include a dog team on the Chena River at Fairbanks, Soviet aviator Mavriky Slepnyov walking to camera with unidentified men, with Savannah Leonard, and with Harry Avakoff (in dark suit). Harry and Savannah Leonard and other men pose with airplanes at Weeks Field in Fairbanks, and then an airplane on skis takes off. In the Koyukuk region of Alaska, men at the Wiseman Roadhouse include (left to right) unidentified, Phil Sundquist, Ace Wilcox, Poss Postlethwaite, Albert Ness, Martin Slisco and unidentified. On the final pan of the men, Harry Leonard is the last man on the right. Next are images of Wild Lake, Phil Sundquist with rifle, and the Hope Family at camp, including Ludi Hope and her adopted son Henry, who was the son of Japanese whaler and miner James Minano. Following scenes of a lake are men including Ace Wilcox and Vern Watts at sluice box, Biner Wind’s mining camp, Biner Wind on the runners of a dog sled, Harry Leonard with dog in front of tent, Phil Sundquist sharpening a saw, spring breakup on the Koyukuk River, miners shoveling ore into sluice boxes at Biner Wind's mining operation on the Hammond River, Ike English by sluice box, and people gathered around an airplane at Wiseman. Next are scenes of Roshier H. Creecy panning a sample in a washtub over a campfire and standing by a cabin during the winter at Gold Creek. Roshier Creecy, born just after the Civil War ended, was one of the few known African Americans who made their living by prospecting and mining in Alaska in the early 1900s. Following this are scenes of Roshier Creecy pulling a sled over ice and then dogs pulling a sled on snow, Harry Leonard waving to camera, Roshier Creecy waving to camera, Wiseman as viewed from the hillside, a dog yard, a log church (possibly at Allakaket?), and aerial views during a winter flight in a biplane. Images at Fairbanks include the Chena River breaking up downtown, and airplanes at Weeks Field. After scenes of people posing for the camera, are images from the Wiseman area including Tishu Ulen and Joe Ulen and their family, self-tripping dam on Gold Creek, a snared black bear, moose, and Harry Leonard prospecting with pack dog. Next is a scene of people posing by an airplane on floats flown by Wiley Post with Will Rogers while it is parked on the Chena River at Fairbanks. This is followed by scenes of a grouse, mountains near Wiseman, hunters with caribou antlers and meat, and Harry Leonard with a sled hauling firewood in winter. AAF-1867 images from the Wiseman area include high water running over Harry Leonard's Gold Creek dam, mining camp with small sluice boxes and prospect boiler, man shoveling ore into sluice boxes, and Harry Leonard at hunting camp with three moose heads. Images at Fairbanks include people at Weeks Field getting into single engine Wien Alaska Airlines airplane piloted by Herman Lerdahl, Richard Wien as a boy running toward the camera, and a Mirow airplane on skis. Images outside of Alaska include a United Airlines Mainliner and travel to cities at several locations. Scenes of travel across the United States from Key West, Florida, to New York City and El Paso, Texas, were possibly filmed by a friend of Leonard’s borrowing his camera.
[Huttula Family films]
[Huttula Family films]
AAF-11853 is made up of four smaller reels of film. Reel 1 is labeled, "Reino Huttula film as boy," and contains footage of a greenhouse, a horse and plow, a gold dredge, and gold mining activities. Reel 2 is labeled, "Johnny Dunn etc - drinking, Mary Jo Frank, Catherine Rosella" [note that the writing on the box is faint and difficult to read], and contains footage of a walking dragline, a dredge, and people drinking at a table. Reel 3 is labeled, "Karen, caribou," and contains footage of social gatherings and a dredge. Reel 4 is unlabeled, and contains footage of a social gathering, a dredge, tailings piles, people with a car and dog, and (in color) hills and a dredge. Edge codes on films suggest that films were shot during the 1930s, with the color portion possibly shot in the mid-1940s.
[Huttula Family films 2]
[Huttula Family films 2]
AAF-11854 is made up of three smaller reels of film. Reel 1 is labeled, “Carnival” and contains footage of hills and caribou, a baby, and an airplane landing on a river. Reel 2 is labeled “Karen” on the leader and “Skiing Eugene Bell [or Ball], Mary Rosamond, Reini” on the box [note that writing on box is faint and difficult to read]. It contains footage of a family and a baby. Reel 3 is labeled, “Karen Jo, Togo, Circle” on the box, and “tablecloth” on the film leader and contains footage of a parade and carnival, dog mushing, sand hill cranes, people biking, people swimming (with a woman wearing a swimsuit made from tablecloth?), and a bear cub on a leash. Edge codes on films and postal marks on boxes suggest that the films were shot between 1941 and 1945.
[Lee family films 1]
[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.
[Lee family films 4]
[Lee family films 4]
AAF-16347 is labeled “Lee,” and it contains the following note written by Norm Lee in about 2017: “Electric dragline, bucket is big enough to drive car into 1936, mom with Jean 1937, mom at Sixth Avenue house, Birch Lake, dredge at Ester, dad and mom and Jean, Sixth Avenue Fairbanks, dad with Jean, Weeks Field 1937, dad skiing Chena River, Leonhard Seppala, Griffin Park hockey, clown in front of Griffin’s store on Cushman Street, Arcade 1938?, Pacific Alaska Airway float, Jean, mom with Jean, dad with Jean, friend of mom and dad’s, Jean growing up, dad’s wolf, dredge, old bridge over Chena River, Jean 1938, Harding Lake mom and Nancy Brealy[?], Chena River, looking at downtown Fairbanks, NC Company etc., early bomber to Weeks Field 1939?, Jean with neighbor, hydaulicking, big electric dragline at Ester (one of the biggest at the time), Eagle Summit, caribou, raining on the road to Circle Hot Springs, miner’s cabin, Seward - Alaska Steamship, mother aunt uncle and cousins with Jean, Bridal Falls near Valdez, Uncle Harold and mom, Gulkana Roadhouse, cool way to supply water, Cushman Street bridge, picnic time mom and Jean, our ’36 Ford Coupe, Birch Lake, Jean on Sixth Avenue, Arne Larson and Gurry skiing, Weeks Field 1939, Fairbanks Winter Carnival Parade 1942?, Cousin Marian waving, Jean 1942 or 1943, Harding Lake, mom and Jean 1943, mom and Gurry (from Norway), neighbors, twins Norman and Ingrid 1943, black and white 1944, color, Jean and Karen Jorgenson, sled on Sixth and Cowles, fire on Second Avenue and Cushman, dog racing on downtown Chena, mom with kids on the way to Norway 1946 (Weeks Field), Pan Am DC-3 to Seattle - first leg visiting relatives in California and New York on way to Norway, darker film is in Norway (stayed for one year), May 17th Independence Day parade in Norway, Grandpa and Grandma Lee with us kids and dad’s beautiful home, mom’s mother and dad and uncles and aunt, relatives, Jean and her friend Turrie skiing (Norway), ski jump (Holmenkollen), Norwegian flag, boarding the ocean liner (Stavangerfjord) to return home.” Scenes are as described in Norm Lee’s note.
[Lounsbury film collection 1]
[Lounsbury film collection 1]
Footage includes children, rotary snow plow, men outside F.E. company building, downtown Fairbanks, a dredge, Pacific Alaskan Airways (PAA) hangar and people leaving, the Cleary City Post Office, people posing, Billy Roots bus (?), Cleary Summit roadhouse, men with a caterpillar tractor, small cat train in front of Service motors, Fairbanks streets, Jimmie Mattern signing autographs at PAA Hangar at Weeks Field, Mattern's airplane “Texan” and Russian flying boat at Weeks Field during search for Sigismund Levanevsky, people departing Fairbanks on Alaska Railroad (ARR), Richardson Highway Transportation Company bus, steamship travel in Southeast, a gold dredge and thaw field, MST Company bus , boys at Fox, woman with a horse at Cleary Summit roadhouse, a boy with shovel, Chena River spring break-up, dog races, Sigrid Seppala wearing parka, Winter Carnival Parade, and dog races.
[Lounsbury film collection 8]
[Lounsbury film collection 8]
Footage includes people on Fairbanks streets (including Joe Crosson with a bowtie), people on a bus, a bus trip on Steese Highway in the winter, children on a street, men outside of the F.E. Company building, a rotary snowplow in operation, Ice Carnival or Winter Carnival parade floats, winter bus travel, Fairbanks street scenes, a woman with puppies, men outside of a building, a woman with a baby, men with a dead wolf, men outside of Billy Root's Transportation Company in Chatanika (?), people standing next to a bus, men pushing a car at a gas station, cars and trucks along a road, men outside of the F.E. Company building, people posing on Fairbanks streets, trucks travelling along a road during winter, a crowd lining Cushman Street, sled dog teams, Leonhard Seppala, and a Caterpillar plowing a road.
[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.
[Miscellaneous Alaska scenes]
[Miscellaneous Alaska scenes]
The donor’s original number and title for AAF-20844 are: “RW 109. Travel Scenes, St. Moritz, Skiing.” This film features scenes outside Alaska, which include a road trip in the United States and skiers at St. Moritz in Switzerland. Scenes in Alaska include the Russian Orthodox Church and Spirit Houses at Eklutna, Skagway street scenes, Skagway Inn, Kirmses Curios shop, White Pass & Yukon Railroad train trip, men at a fancy dinner, aerial views of mountains, a boat trip to a glacier, competitive downhill skiing, people eating and huddling around newspapers, men being served an extravagant meal including wine and caviar on an airplane, a series of historic black and white photographs, a group of Alaska Native children eating, William Egan meeting with people, entertainer Burl Ives at Alaskaland, cabins and carnival rides and games at Alaskaland (also known as A-67 or Alaska 67 Centennial Exposition), and Alaska Native people dancing with masks. This is followed by scenes of a lighted sign for Alaska Airlines Golden Nugget Jets followed by "Golden Samovar Service" aboard a Boeing 727 Golden Nugget Jet. Passengers are served an extravagant meal that includes hors d’oeurves, wine, caviar, soup and a main course. Alaska Airlines introduced “Golden Nugget Service” in the early 1960s as a tribute to the 1890s gold rush era. Passenger planes were decorated in red and gold wallpaper and plush red seats. In the early 1970s, Alaska Airlines added the extravagant samovar service to highlight the fact that it had recently begun offering charters to the Soviet Union. This is followed by black-and-white scenes (striations indicate this may be Kodacolor film) of an Alaska town (possibly Rampart?) and flowers, well-dressed people at a conference or meeting, soldiers fighting in Vietnam, William Egan and Henry "Red" Boucher talking to men and women at a dinner, “Egan for Governor” sign, a map of the Bay of Bengal, a moose, the Santa Claus House in North Pole, people on go karts on a track in downtown Fairbanks, Woolworths Building in the background of the track, a log cabin visitors center in Fairbanks, an airplane taking off in Fairbanks and landing at Umiat, a Wien airplane, and a small totem pole.
[Rockney Family films part 3]
[Rockney Family films part 3]
Two smaller film reels were combined to make this item. Reel 1 is labeled “Whitehorse” and contains scenes of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, sternwheeler riverboats and an airplane on floats on the Yukon River, Riverboat Aksala, railroad tracks, the church at Bennett Lake in Yukon Territory, glaciers, people with a wooden canoe and camping and fishing supplies, and people hiking with packs. Reel 2 is an edited film labeled “Pictorial of Alaska” which contains descriptive title screens and scenes of life in Alaska such as travel along a river, dog mushers and dogs, an airplane on skis landing and being met by horses pulling a sled, a woman and a girl with flowers, Winter Carnival scenes in Fairbanks, a dredge and hydraulic giant, a mining community, girls playing with a puppy in a yard, women and a man walking among flowers, Fairbanks homes, university graduation scenes in Fairbanks, a man with a small child, two small children (twins?) with toys in the snow, a family cross-country skiing, children playing on the Davidson Ditch pipeline, a family at a house, and a sunset over a cabin community.
[Russ and Thelma Huber Film Collection, Trails to Highways, Diesel Trail to the Orient]
[Russ and Thelma Huber Film Collection, Trails to Highways, Diesel Trail to the Orient]
This film reel is made up of 3 smaller reels. Reels 1 and 2 are labeled "Trails to Highways Pt.1 and Pt.2," and they contain views of earth-moving and road construction equipment, an ox pulling a cart, road construction crews at work, and cars on the road. Reel 3 is labeled "Caterpillar Tractor Company presents 'The Diesel Trail to the Orient,'" and it contains views of a Pan American World Airways Flying Boat airplane, barges, earth-moving equipment, Hawaii [?], and a China Clipper airplane.
[Seppala family film 2]
[Seppala family film 2]
Footage includes Leonhard Seppala mushing dogs outside of Alaska, log dam repairing washout on Davidson Ditch, slow-motion of Leonhard mushing in Ottawa Dog Derby in 1930, and Fairbanks Winter Carnival dog races on the Chena River. Additional footage includes Seppala's cabin and Leonhard mushing dogs at Chatanika, a small car ferry, the sternwheeler Casca traveling on the Yukon, Seppala's cabin with flowers in summer and Leonhard and Constance with puppies and dogs, Seppala's cabin at Chatanika in the fall, Leonhard working on the Davidson Ditch, sternwheeler travel, road travel, another small car ferry, Leonhard in Dawson City, the Fairbanks Winter Carnival, Leonhard mushing dogs and with dogs in a dogyard, flowers, Nome streets, lightering people to a ship in Nome, a Wien Detroiter airplane in Nome, a reindeer herd, hides hanging by a cabin, and people along streets in Fairbanks during the winter carnival.
[Sled dog races, family, Fairbanks and college scenes]
[Sled dog races, family, Fairbanks and college scenes]
This film reel is made up of 5 smaller reels. Reel 1 is labeled "Dog Races," and it contains views of sled dog races on the Chena River, Cushman Street bridge, Samson's Hardware, a title frame reading "Dog Derby Fairbanks Alaska Feb 18, 1934," mushers and dog teams starting and finishing on the Chena River, the king and queen of the Winter Carnival, a horse on a bridge, a ski jump on a river, ice skaters racing, skiers, a hockey game, and sled dog races. Reel 2 is labeled "Huber Children," and it contains footage of a woman with children, a nurse carrying a baby to a car parked in front of a hospital, babies at home being bathed, children playing outside with a dog and sled, children watching ice go out on the Chena River, Catholic Church and St. Joseph's Hospital, children playing, children opening presents at Christmas, and a father reading a book to boys. Reel 3 is labeled "Dawson, Fishing Trip, Summit Lake, Family Swimming Harding, Musk Oxen, Yak, Scouts, Thelma Making Coed Commanders Cap and Scarf, Boys Skiing, Carnival, Dog Teams, Skiing," and it contains footage of road travel, Rapids Hunting Lodge, Black Rapids Glacier and Summit Lake on Richardson Highway, Howard Hughes landing a Lockheed Super Electra airplane at Weeks Field in 1938, a family swimming, musk oxen in a pasture at Alaska Agricultural College (University of Alaska Fairbanks), loading a musk ox into a crate, loading the crated musk ox onto a railroad box car and the train departing, people boarding an Alaska Railroad train, herds of caribou, Yaks at UAF, Dall Sheep and a man with Dall Sheep, caribou or reindeer at UAF, musk oxen, Christmas scenes, skiing, a train, a woman in uniform, skiing at Birch Hill, sled dogs, a Boy Scout float in the Ice Carnival Parade, and ski-jumping at UAF. Reel 4 is labeled "College Scenes," and it contains the title frame "Farthest North College," views of ROTC students marching with rifles on the UAF campus, people skiing, people skijoring on skis being pulled by cars, a student picnic during spring, ROTC marching and a crowd at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Eielson Memorial Building at UAF, a brawl and student initiation, a Starvation Gulch bonfire, a ROTC formation including the marching band, the Winter Carnival parade, children with dog sleds, and skijoring on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks. Reel 5 is labeled "Alaskan Game, Seal, Fox, Caribou, Buffalo, Moose," and it contains views of seals on rocks, foxes playing, herds of caribou, a herd of bison, and a bull moose.
[Southeast Alaska travel, Yakutat, Nome fire aftermath and villages 1]
[Southeast Alaska travel, Yakutat, Nome fire aftermath and villages 1]
Filmed by George and Lona Morelander during a portion of their teaching careers in Alaska. Summary: Part 1 (AAF-2930) footage includes Wrangell street scenes, an unidentified location, a group of Alaska Natives aboard a steamship, travel in Southeast Alaska, unloading salmon at a cannery, a man with gun on a beach, fishing boats, men arriving at a floatplane and the float plane taking off, and a small child. Part 2 (AAF-2931) footage includes travel in Southeast Alaska, glaciers, people with rifles on a beach, unloading salmon, people on a ship, and a man climbing rigging. Additional footage includes people at a picnic, a child doing cartwheels on a beach, houses on beach railroad tracks, and children sledding. Images at Yakutat (?) include buildings and people, games and races on a large dock, and boys and men boxing.