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.

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: [Adolph Murie collection - select films]; These are films made by naturalist, author, and wildlife biologist Adolph Murie at Alaska's Mount McKinley (Denali) National Park. The scenes include Adolph's wife Louise, his son Jan, and his daughter Gail. They also include wildlife including bears, wolves, fox, dall sheep, caribou, and a variety of birds and waterfowl. According to notes accompanying the films, one scene shows a grizzly bear near a cabin in Toklat within the park. The following details are transcribed from original labels on film containers or from associated handwritten notes; items in brackets are the processor's notes. Weezer and Weazy are nicknames for Louise. Film 1368-106: “[On can]: 160; [On reel]: 1941 begin Gail and Wags at hdqts. McKinley Park; [On white card in can]: Gail and Wags at Igloo in winter, Weezer with Wags winter, playing with stick, Gail at Rising[?], glacier at Igloo in spring, Wags alone at Igloo, Fox pups (and black one) male female good, wolves wild fair, old squaw, wheatear, horned grebe, (film intact) 1940-41; [On pink note in can]: this reel has some wolf shots, mostly fox, sheep, caribou, cut pieces; [On yellow note in can]: Film 9 wolf, birds, fox, Dall sheep, Bears, caribou, brief footage showing 2 children 1 man, Mt. McKinley." Film 1367-17: “[On box]: #8 set #2, McKinley Park May 1949, Snowbirds at hdqts (good), Rabbit (good), Drawn, Splice; [On card in box]: wolf eating caribou on river bar, Wolf drinking, distant shot of wolf feeding on caribou, wolf walking away, grizzly at Toklat by cabin, grizzly in fall snow with grass (good), porcupine feeding in willow, porcupine in willow (good), silver fox, Gail (short shot), gulls in tree (out of focus), ptarmigan flocks flying (good), ptarmigan on ground white-good.” Film 1367-6: “[On box]: #59; finished July 3 '49, Gail and Jan Big Rock [or River?]; cock fowl hen fair, much blank, bear-sheep shaky, squirrel middens, wolf tracks around bridge, wolverine hairs, Checked; [On card in box]: Gail and Jan snowshoe and ski, Pile of sq middins, squirrel cuttings, wolverine tracks, wolf tracks around bridge (overexposed), wolf track (with trap), shaky scenes of sheep, grizzly following wounded sheep, blank film, rock ptarm (out of focus).” Film 1367-67: “[On box]: #15 set #2, bear and fox 66, jaeger poor, ptarmigan and Gail, Gail feeding Wags milk; [On white card in box]: 1940, Willow ptarmigan male in spring (bare ground), closeup of male Ptarm on log-Gail behind, Gail chasing ptarmigan, caribou herd running, Gail with young wolf pup, feeding wolf pup, Wolf pup nuzzling in grass, Gail swinging, Me and Gail and Jan at East Fork.” Film 1367-35: “[On box]: #1, Moose yearling, wolf on Polychrome Rd; [On card in box]: sheep (ewe and lamb) short, wolf on road, wolf defecating on road, wolf going over mt, calf moose (good), cow and calf moose, cow with two calves, moose feeding (out of focus), 2 calves and cow feeding (good shots).” Film 1367-61: “[On box]: #18, Weezy feeding wolf pup, caribou [illegible], silver fox, ptarmigan; [On card in box]: blue film, caribou running, caribou crossing stream, silver fox on snow, silver fox running, silver fox closeups, feeding wolf pup (Weazy), Rock Ptarmigan sitting (out of focus), more ptarmigan on snow, wolf pup.”

: [1949 Fairbanks flood, mining activities]; Film contains footage of the Ladd Field Post Cafeteria sign, a man and a woman walking together, a man welding, large machinery, boats on the Chena River, flooded areas in downtown Fairbanks, 1st Avenue Dress Shoppe, swimming pool, Wells Alaska Motors, flooding in a neighborhood, flooding around houses, flooding in the woods, men in a boat, men walking through flood waters, boating in flood waters, Northern Commercial Company power plant with a sternwheeler riverboat parked along bank, Samson Hardware and Mining Machinery, a sunrise in the woods, large pieces of mining equipment, a dredge, men working with hydraulic giants, men working a sluicebox, people around a campfire, people in the woods camping, large mining machinery, farmland (potatoes?), a large dredge bucket, a dragline, two men in a little yellow raft on the water, men walking on the Davidson Ditch pipe, Discovery Claim Felix Pedro sign, people gold panning, a group shot of people showing off goldpans with gold and gold nuggets in them, the landscape surrounding the mining area, KFAR building and tower, the Rapids Meals and Rooms building, Rapids Hunting Lodge (Black Rapids Roadhouse), a group of men on and around a truck, and a large building on fire.

: [Adler-Tollefson Family films - 4]; This film shows people skiing behind a truck as seen from the truck.

: [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 Division: Great Falls to Fairbanks; This is an Army Air Corps training film for crews ferrying aircraft from Great Falls, Montana to Fairbanks, Alaska, where Soviet pilots then took possession of the airplanes. The aircraft were part of the Lend-Lease program in which the United States sent war supplies to the Soviet Union during World War II. Footage includes graphics showing the route, aerial views of runways along the route, views of runways during landings, and graphics advising pilots of procedures for aborting flights. During the life of the Lend-Lease project, nearly 8,000 planes flew along this route, also known as the Alaska-Siberia (ALSIB) route, from Montana to Alaska then on to Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. The film was made by the U.S. Army Air Forces Air Transport Command Overseas Technical Unit.

: [Alaska Highway travel, winter carnival, mining]; This film contains footage of scenic outdoor views (possibly along the Alcan Highway), dog mushing, St. Joseph's Hospital and the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in downtown Fairbanks, The Cushman Street Bridge, buildings along the shore including the Pioneer Hotel and Northern Commercial Company power plant, scenes from a Fairbanks winter carnival including a blanket toss, people ice skating and playing hockey in outdoor rink, vehicles, a parade and crowds of people, footage of mining operations with a heavy piece of machinery, a man unloading wood near downtown Fairbanks, men standing in a field, airplanes parked on the ground, two men and a dog standing in snow, a small airplane taxiing in the snow, cars in front of a hardware store, a man standing in front of a house, a man and woman standing on a stone bridge (not in Alaska), mountain views (likely not Alaska), a man in a field with grapes, a woman tending a rose bush, a car in front of a house, scenic landscape views, a sunset through snowy woods, the Northward Building in downtown Fairbanks, a cabin in snowy woods, and a group of people at an indoor gathering.

: [Alaska Native celebrations]; This film contains scenes of different groups of Alaska Native peoples drumming and dancing in Southeast and Northern Alaska, people sharing and eating muktuk (whale) at a celebration in Northern Alaska, and a blanket toss in Northern Alaska (possibly Barrow).

: [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]; 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]; 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 - 3]; Notes with this film say “1943 – 1944, Anne Larsen film of Jergen and family, gold dredge hydraulic moving camp, Snoqualmie ski lodge, ski jumping, Oregon coast, cliff house coast calif?, GJOA expedition, SFO Jergen and Arne, Jerhen’s family? in Calif?” Writing inside the film can says “Chatnika, Kirkland[?], Vasapark[?], Billings, Dahls and Seattle and some snow” and “During the war and some from Alaska.” The film contains footage of small log cabins, a dredge in a dredge pond, mining camp buildings being moved, Snoqualmie Ski Lodge in Washington State, the Cliff House in San Francisco, a plaque in San Francisco commemorating Roald Amundsen’s 1903-1906 Gjoa expedition, the Roald Amundsen monument in San Francisco, and family gatherings and activities outside of Alaska.

: [Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 4]; Notes with this film say “1946 DC3 PAA FAI-Norway at Weeks Field Oct, Winter in Fairbanks lots snow, Emil and Jergen, Canada? dam, PAA plane DC3, gold dredge, Fairbanks winter carnival parade, reindeer Ingrid and Norman, Norway ski jump Holmekolen, Seattle – New York Farm.” Writing inside the film can says “Lee Family going to old country, Fairbanks winter time, Vancouver Island, back to Fairbanks, Dredge No. 3 1946, Fairbanks Creek Dredge 2, Winter Carnival, Skibowel [Skibowl?] Seattle, Graham, Palsbo." The film contains footage of a Pan American World Airways Clipper DC-3 airplane, frost-covered trees and snow-covered homes in Fairbanks, a mammoth tusk leaning against a utility pole, scenes outside Alaska, a Pan American airplane, a dredge in operation, a downtown Fairbanks Winter Carnival parade, a Pioneers of Alaska float, a Fraternal Order of Eagles float, other parade marchers and floats, a captive reindeer, and ski-jumping and other scenes outside Alaska.

: [Arnie M. Lee and Family collection - 5]; Notes with the film say “1949-50, Trapping, Copper River, Moving FE Dredge, Taken by Arne Larsen.” Writing inside the film can says “Moose Lake trapping, Hanegela[?] Valley, Living Seattle, Moving Dredge No. 2, Fairbanks Creek 1950” and “Trapping, Dredge No. 2 moving 1949-1950.” The film contains footage of snow-covered mountains, a red building with a “Strelna” sign, a small log cabin or cabins, a dog with puppies, beaver pelts stretched to dry, a man snow-shoeing as dogs follow, dogs pulling a sled up a steep hill as a man pushes, Pan American Airways and United Air Lines airplanes, bulldozers moving a dredge in winter, and a Goldstream mining office and buildings.

: [Dawson Cooper collection]; This footage features the Ice Carnival puppy parade and regular parade in Fairbanks, people at a wedding in a private home, people hauling boxes on a dog cart, a fishwheel, interior river scenes, a town on a riverfront, Ft. Yukon scenes, river scenes, flower gardens, people in a house, sled dog races on Chena River, teams passing under a foot bridge on Noyes Slough, downhill skiing on Birch Hill, a parade in the summer, hockey at Griffin Park ice rink, the Ice Carnival throne, an unidentified woman, a stack of logs, a walking dragline, conveyor and mine scenes in Ester, columns of smoke from a forest fire, the KFAR transmitter building, people on a picnic, the midnight sun, a car on a narrow road, mining equipment, car travel filmed from inside the car, airplanes, placer gold mine operations, sluice box clean-up, a box with gold amalgam, a dredge operating, a flower garden, and tomato plants.

: [Fairbanks, family scenes]; This film contains footage of men fishing in a river, a large garden in summer, cabins in the snow, trucks driving on a snowy road, Chena River during breakup with large ice flows, a gravel pit with dragline pulling up gravel and depositing to dump truck (dredging river?), farmland with cows, a snowy road, Fairbanks homes and a flower garden, Creamers Dairy and fields, traffic driving on 2nd Avenue in downtown Fairbanks, a woman opening gifts at what appears to be a baby shower, a newborn baby, various scenes of a very young baby in a crib, a baby getting a bath, a man holding baby in a baptismal gown, additional scenes of a baby getting older, laying on floor, rolling over, sitting up, playing with toys, scenes of Christmas, a Christmas tree, a baby in a baby seat next to a Christmas tree, and a group of people celebrating Christmas.

: [Fairbanks International Airport construction]; This film contains scenes of the construction of the Fairbanks International Airport runway and paved surfaces, starting after the trees have been cleared and ending with the first airplane landing. Footage includes construction crews with Caterpillar tractors, scrapers, dump-trucks and draglines moving earth and leveling ground, construction buildings and housing, a man demonstrating an unstable patch of ground which turns to jelly as he jumps on it, a drainage system and lighting system being installed, an asphalt plant in operation and paving crews finishing construction. The film ends with a Consolidated LB-30 Liberator owned by Morrison-Knudsen Construction Company making a landing on the completed runway.

: [Fort Yukon, Hudson Stuck Hospital]; This film contains footage taken while flying over a town in an airplane. This is followed by footage of a large wooden building with a flag pole in front, which appears to be the Hudson Stuck Memorial Hospital; a sign for the Hudson Stuck Memorial Hospital; nurses in white uniforms and children standing in front of the hospital; nurses walking past a farm and speaking with men working on the farm; a man driving a red tractor; people and nurses talking to the man on the red tractor; a group of nurses conversing; nurses talking to a uniformed officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; a small boy and a hound dog; and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer talking with a well dressed man and woman in front of the hospital.

: [Ft. Richardson and ATG and Lend-Lease aircraft with Russian markings at Nome, Turnagain by the Sea development and ATG... 3]; Part 3 (AAF-1544) footage includes a sternwheeler, Eskimo dancers, a bear cub, Eskimo men gathering eggs and catching birds in flight, a tent, umiaks, loading freight in Nome, hauling meat with dog sleds, Governor Gruening swearing in Alaska Territorial Guard members, ATG members with rifles and during marching drills, Muktuk Marston, a snowblower in Nome, ATG headquarters in Nome (image reversed), Governors Gruening and Dewey, title screens and a map, a dog team and reindeer hooked to a sled, Muktuk Marston with a puppy and swearing in ATG members, dog team travel, aerial views of mountains, captive bear cubs, Governor Dewey in a red parka, and more aerial views of mountains.

: [Goodnews Bay Mining Company and Platinum area scenes 1]; AAF-16390 is a super-8mm film labeled, “Start flight into camp, end with [illegible] and fox.” The film contains aerial views of snowy mountains as seen from a small airplane, coming in for a landing over a spruce forest onto a snowy runway, aerial scenes of a small settlement [possibly Good News Bay?], coming in for another landing on a snowy runway [possibly the Platinum airport?], a grab dredger moving what looks like chunks of ice, a dog team in the distance, a snowshoe hare running, and four men working with what appears to be a clamshell bucket while a smaller grab dredge removes ice from a slushy pond in the background. Additional scenes include a dredge that appears to have a huge chunk of ice stuck on its bucket, a snowy landscape, a helicopter, a group of people shoveling [possibly digging clams] in a tidal area, snowy mountains in the background, a mining camp and surrounding areas, a smaller dredge, a general overview of area, a fox, and a grab dredge with another large piece of machinery.

: [Goodnews Bay Mining Company and Platinum area scenes 2]; AAF-16391 is a super-8mm film containing footage of a container ship or barge in a bay and men using the ship’s crane to offload a container onto the shore. The last few seconds of the film show a grabber dredge, a stream sluice, and a man working with a high pressure hose.

: [Goodnews Bay Mining Company and Platinum area scenes 3]; AAF-16392 is a super-8mm film labeled “Bird Island – Clean up at Plt Creek.” The film begins with daytime scenes of small motor boats traveling over open water. A whale surfaces a few times in front of the boats followed by scenes of a rookery. The sun sets behind a rock outcropping as birds fly by. A bulldozer moves mud and snow from a roadway or ditch. A man fishes for salmon from a motor boat, then two men show off their catch. This is followed by scenes of draglines and a large sluicebox and men working and cleaning the sluicebox with shovels.

: [Goodnews Bay Mining Company and Platinum area scenes 4]; AAF-16393 is a super-8mm film containing scenes of a bucket dredge in a frozen pond, a dragline moving water and mud from the pond, snow surrounding homes, snow piled almost to the top of the roofs, a bucket dredge working in an icy pond with mountains in the distance, a town as seen from a hill above, and more scenes of mining equipment in operation. A man works a dragline while a dog sits nearby. A group of adults gather around people who are processing salmon, and a man holds up a large salmon. The film ends with a shot of the Platinum Post Office and structures along a river or inlet with mountains in the distance.

: [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.

: [Hetherington films, reel 1]; This film contains scenes of military or government-supported activity in the Interior and on the North Slope of Alaska, perhaps related to exploration work. It includes scenes of early helicopters, large tent camps, men setting up towers and talking on radios, aerial views of tundra and mountains, and a cabin or building engulfed in flames as a crowd of men watches.

: [Howard C. Robinson's Alaska film 2]; This film contains scenes of fishing operations at Bristol Bay, sail boats and fishermen of Bristol Bay fishing fleet, cannery barges, a cannery line, sport-fishing, pilot Gren Collins and his airplane on floats, Kenai River, Brooks River, Kokolik River?, Alaska birds and waterfowl, Dall sheep, mountain goats, deer, caribou, buffalo, bears, moose, fur seals in the Pribilof Islands, the fur seal industry, Lake George and Knik Glacier, and emptying of Lake George.

: [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]; 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.

: [Lazy Mountain Children's Home activities, etc.]; Footage includes aerial scenes from a Kodiak to Karluk flight, a crashed plane, Mr. Stickwood in a boat, a Russian church, a plane leaving a lagoon, a trip to the States, and Lazy Mountain children's Home activities. 1964 Good Friday Earthquake scenes include a cracked highway, aerial views of Anchorage, Fire Island, Kachemak Bay, Homer Spit, and earthquake damage at Ouzinkie and Afognak.

: [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]; 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.

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