Alaska Film Archives

[Nome airfield and ATG, Eskimo villages and ATG, Anchorage and fishing, Family film, land clearing, Cemetery, Eskimo activity]
[Nome airfield and ATG, Eskimo villages and ATG, Anchorage and fishing, Family film, land clearing, Cemetery, Eskimo activity]
Part 1 (AAF-1523) footage includes Eskimo people pulling nets containing fish onto shore, a snow-blower, Lend-Lease bombers with Russian identification at Nome airfield, Governor Dewey of New York during a visit, Quonset huts, Eskimo hunters on an icepack, a wolf chained in a dogyard, a reindeer herd and harnessed reindeer, a Jeep with "Follow Me" in English and Russian, Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG) troops drilling, a village, Eskimos landing umiaks, Jack Jefford standing next to a DC-3 with "King Chris" painted on the nose, whaling festival activity, and a small sternwheeler. Part 2 (AAF-1524) footage includes Eskimos with dog teams and in boats, military aircraft, village activity, men building a log structure, a group of Eskimos, children on a teeter-totter, a bear cub, an aircraft buried in snow, military officers looking at an Alaska map, boys in a pie-eating contest, ATG troops training, a man with a net catching birds (?), a fishwheel, ice fishing, and village scenes.
People of the Tundra
People of the Tundra
Marvin "Muktuk" Marston, former commander of the Native Scouts utilized by the Alaska Territorial Guard during World War II, gives his personal views of Native life. Marston shows scenes of Eskimo whaling and festivals, fishwheels and preserving fish in pits along the Yukon River, sternwheelers, and a dog playing with bear cubs. Diomede Island footage includes Eskimo men climbing cliffs and harvesting bird eggs as well as a hunter catching birds using decoys and a long pole with a small net. Nunivak Island footage includes funeral services for a departed elder. Additional footage includes Governor Gruening's recruitment of Alaskan Natives into the Alaska Territorial Guard, construction of Alaska Territorial Guard facilities by Eskimo women, Marston and Sam Mogg travelling by dogsled to recruit members of the Alaska Territorial Guard, and use of reindeer to replace sled dogs. Additional footage includes Russian pilots and American Lend-Lease aircraft painted in Russian colors in Nome, Alaska Territorial Guard soldiers, Nome street scenes, a propeller driven snowmachine, dogs pulling a three-wheeled cart, Eskimo children, and portraits of several people.