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.”
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- [1939 New York World's Fair, travel]
- This film reel is made up of 6 smaller reels. Reel 1 is labeled "West Point, World's Fair New York 1939," and it contains scenes of men doing calisthenics, men boxing, men fencing and wrestling, men in uniform and marching, and scenes from the world's fair. Reel 2 is labeled "New York to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, June and July 1939," and it contains footage of New York City streets, a West Point gathering, and Puerto Rico. Reel 3 is labeled "July 1939, Trip to Clearwater with Jim Ryan and Ray Henderson 193[?]," and it contains views of children playing, a pilot climbing into a biplane, people with a captive bear cub, Hap Arnold's B-10 Bomber flight from Washington D.C. landing at Weeks Field and pilots in Fairbanks in August 1934, a military aircraft at Weeks Field, a boy's birthday cake, children playing in a garden, and a boat on the Tanana River traveling to the Delta Clearwater River. Reel 4 is labeled "July and August 1939, Plymouth, Washington D.C., Marengo, Black Hills, Seattle, Juneau, Fairbanks," and it contains footage of Washington D.C., people at home, people swimming, farm scenes, a man in a boat, a family gathering, Mt. Rushmore, Elkhorn Mountain, camping, a family eating watermelon along the roadside, Columbia River, boats and fishing, Juneau, and trucks on the Richardson Highway. Reel 5 is labeled "Fort Riley - Marengo," and it contains scenes of men in uniform, children playing, a family gathering, farm scenes, a waterfront and ships, totem poles, glaciers and icebergs, a car towing a trailer, travel along the Richardson Highway, a glacier, "Devil's Elbow," a family at Christmas, hay being loaded, and women getting into a car. Reel 6 is labeled "Bear, Sunset, Village of Ruby, Caribou, Mendenhall Glacier," and it contains footage of the Ruby waterfront, wildlife, the Black Rapids Glacier near Richardson Highway during its advance in the 1930s, and scenery.
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- [1947 Nalukataq whale feast at Barrow]
- Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about these films is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: “Barrow, Nulakatuk, 1947. After a successful whaling season they have a Nulakatuk celebration which is to celebrate the parting of the whales soul so there is no hard feeling to the whales so they will come again the next year. All the whaling captains get together and have this celebration and if there are a lot of whales killed that season they may have two or three celebrations on different days.", From the Alaska Film Archives, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks., From the William W. Bacon III collection. APR Collection Number 2015-203., AAF-20,079 transferred in 2016 by Reflex Technologies of Burbank, California, to Blu-ray Disc, DVD, and Mac-format external hard drive. Some light and color corrections may have been applied to Blu-ray disc and DVD by Reflex Technologies., Filmmaker's original labeling scheme has film AAF-20,079 numbered as Bacon 17, and titled “1947 Nulakatuk Whale Feast, Barrow.” Film contains scenes of whale and muktuk being distributed at the Nalukataq whale feast at Barrow, people eating and celebrating, blanket toss, men in military uniforms, Alaska Native dancers and drummers, children running and chasing after large vehicle, and more blanket toss.
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- [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.
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- [1971 Midnight Sun 600]
- Footage includes mechanics (likely in Fairbanks) preparing snowmachines for Midnight Sun 600 racing, Brian Willner cleaning a snowmachine, motorhomes and support vehicles with snowmachine trailers (likely leaving Fairbanks for Anchorage), the distribution of race bibs in an auditorium in Anchorage, racers at the start line in Anchorage, Bob Hamme in a red helmet, crews picking up broken-down machines along the highway, a wrecked truck in a ditch, mechanics welding skis and rebuilding snowmachines in a shop (and possibly doing overnight repairs in Glennallen or Tok), snowmachines and racers at the start line for second-day start (possibly in Glennallen or Tok), individual racers heading out, racers on the highway, and racers returning to the finish area.
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- [1974 Chena flood dam construction]
- This film features earth-moving equipment at work on dam construction as well as culverts filling with water.
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- [1974 Festival of Native Arts, Tanacross and Northway dancers, storyteller Poldine Carlo]
- A group of dancers from Northway and Tanacross demonstrates various Alaska Native dances onstage at the Festival of Native Arts. A man introduces two dancers, Bessie Barnabas and Eva Moffitt of the Salcha people, who are also dancing with the group. The other dancers are introduced (names are difficult to hear), and dancing continues. A man from Nenana introduces Poldine Carlo, who welcomes everyone to Fairbanks and then tells an Athabascan story once told to her by Jennie Huntington of Koyukuk. A woman is interviewed about her techniques for making birch bark baskets. A man is interviewed about his relief wood carvings. Jim Johnson of Tanana is interviewed about a miniature fishwheel and about his hand-built snowshoes and sleds. A man invites the audience to join dancers onstage, and many people dance. The audio on the original videotape cuts out briefly in a couple sections at the end.
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- [1974 North American Sled Dog Championships]
- The film can is labeled “29th Annual North American 1974,” and the film contains footage of sled dog racing.
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- [1977 Yukon 800]
- Footage includes aerial views of Yukon 800 riverboats starting on the Chena River in Fairbanks, aerial shots of boats racing along the river, Jim Movius being interviewed by Ted Lehne in Galena, the re-start of the race in Galena, and aerial views of Pike's Landing and boats at the finish line.
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- [1977 Yukon 800 - 2]
- This footage was filmed prior to and during the Yukon 800 riverboat race. Footage includes boats and spectators at Pike's Landing on the Chena River, racer Moe Samuelson being interviewed about boat construction and the race while showing different parts of his race boat (Slo-Mo's Kayak II) to reporter Ann Handley, spectators waiting for boats in Galena, boats arriving in Galena on 6/25/77, aerial views of the Tanana River, spectators in Tanana watching boats pass by, spectators and race boats at Pike's Landing on the Chena River, the airport and spectators in Tanana (?), Jim Movius crossing the finish line in the winning boat, and Jim Movius being interviewed about the race by reporter Chuck Benson.
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- [1982 Valdez Winter Carnival and winter activities]
- Footage includes 1982 Valdez Winter Carnival scenes including families on a sled hill, snowmachines, Valdez scenes, a man and woman being interviewed (silent), church, and more snowmachines. Valdez winter activities include scenes of people playing baseball on snowshoes, totem pole sculptures, the Valdez harbor, and people in costumes jumping off a boat and swimming.
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- [1988 ivory carver; BIMA dredge at Nome]
- The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has film AAF-20,005 numbered as Bacon 1-01 and titled "Eskimo carver with old bold [bow] drill: WP [workprint]-100 feet." AAF-20,005 has not yet been digitized - it is the workprint for AAF-20,006, which the filmmaker's original labeling scheme has numbered as Bacon 1-02 and titled, "1988 ivory carver with drill in mouth: ECN [Eastman Color Negative]-100 feet." Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about these films is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: "Box 1 - 3 Small Reels, 1 Large Reel - Kotzebue, Nome, Original reels and Work Prints. BIMA is a floating dredge. Huge dredge was digging up gold bearing sand off Nome. Also other shots of Nome on same reel, ivory carver Pat, close up of head shots of dogs, dog team packed with dogs, tourists panning for gold and riding dog sleds, breakwater, tug and barge coming into channel, Front Street of Nome, ivory shop cut in to ivory carver, downtown Nome, the Nugget Inn on Front Street of Nome, Dredge 5 working." [Note that this description does not entirely match actual footage on reels - it is likely that portions of this description were meant for AAF-20,084].
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- [1988 ivory carver; BIMA dredge at Nome]
- The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has film AAF-20,008 numbered as Bacon 1-04 and titled "BIMA dredge: ECN,ECL-1,200 feet." Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about these films is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: "Box 1 - 3 Small Reels, 1 Large Reel - Kotzebue, Nome, Original reels and Work Prints. BIMA is a floating dredge. Huge dredge was digging up gold bearing sand off Nome. Also other shots of Nome on same reel, ivory carver Pat, close up of head shots of dogs, dog team packed with dogs, tourists panning for gold and riding dog sleds, breakwater, tug and barge coming into channel, Front Street of Nome, ivory shop cut in to ivory carver, downtown Nome, the Nugget Inn on Front Street of Nome, Dredge 5 working." [Note that this description does not entirely match actual footage on reels - it is likely that portions of this description were meant for AAF-20,084].
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- [Adler-Tollefson Family films - 4]
- This film shows people skiing behind a truck as seen from the truck.
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- [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..."
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- [Adler-Tollefson Family films - 6]
- This film contains scenes of men preparing gold for smelting into an ingot, caribou, and Joanie with Mrs. Adler.
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- [Adler-Tollefson Family films - 7]
- This film contains scenes of family activities that appear to be mostly outside the state of Alaska.
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- [Adler-Tollefson Family films - 8]
- This film contains scenes of family activities that appear to be mostly outside the state of Alaska.
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- [Adler-Tollefson Family films - 9]
- This film contains scenes of family activities that appear to be mostly outside the state of Alaska.
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- [Aerial view of pipeline construction]
- Footage includes aerial views of Fairbanks, the pipeyard, pipeline construction, sections of pipeline arranged along the roadside, trucking on the Haul Road, and North Star terminals.
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- [Aftermath of 1964 earthquake in Anchorage]
- This footage shows the aftermath of the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake. Scenes include the severely damaged Government Hill Elementary School, businesses and homes, a yellow house sitting at an angle after the ground had fallen away, damage at the Alaska Sales and Service car dealership, and crushed cars.
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- [Air shots of Kotzebue 1981]
- The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20047 numbered as Bacon 11-01 and titled “Air Shots of Kotzebue 1981.” Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about the group of films that includes this film is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: “Chilkat dancers, carving on the largest totem pole - The Japanese were having a World’s Fair and they wanted to have the largest totem pole so they went to Haines to have it carved; it was huge - Inuit Circumpolar Conference meeting in Nuke, Greenland in 1980, beluga hunting in Kotzebue - In the evening when the hunters bring in the whales they cut them up and hang them to dry - Nome inside shots of Omiak - When he went to Egg Island, big Omiak Eskimos climbed up the cliffs and got the bird eggs, puffin and seagull eggs - They get up there and drop the eggs down to a guy that catches them, and then he gives them to a guy in a boat where he has a basket with grass in it and they fill up the baskets - Bill got up the hill and it was so slippery from bird droppings that he kept slipping so he could not get down - They had to go around and climb up to the top and drop a rope down to him and pull him up - Says it was really embarrassing.” Notes on the film box are as follows: “Barrow Nulakatuk, ICC Meeting Inuvik NWT Canada 1960, ICC meeting Nuuk Greenland July 1, 1980, Eskimos going to ECC Island out from Nome 1950, Kotzebue beluga hunters return at night 1950” and “Reel 1: Original, Air shots of Kotzebue Oct. 31 1981.”
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- [Alaska 1931]
- This film is labeled “Alaska 1931” and “Scenes taken for footage for Milford - Alaska 1931.” The footage contains scenic shots of various snowy mountains, glaciers, a small boat in icy waters, a man aboard a boat cranking a film camera, icy waters, a man with a camera, and more glaciers and snowy mountains.
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- [Alaska 1931 or 1935, Copper River Railroad, Harriman Fiord, Inside Passage, Juneau]
- This film is labeled “Alaska 1931 or 1935” and “Copper River RR, Harriman Fiord, Inside Passage.” The film contains scenes of a boat moving through icy waters, an airplane on floats in water, a train crossing a bridge over Copper River and moving alongside the river, four men maneuvering an automobile outfitted for travel on railroad tracks, a car running along train tracks, a man walking on a rocky hillside and chopping at earth to make steps, glacier scenes, snowy mountains, men in a rowboat, men examining ice, a man operating a film camera, icy waters, travel alongside steep mountains rising out of an inlet, men in a boat, the Juneau waterfront, A.J. Mine, and downtown Juneau.
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- [Alaska 1931 reel 4, glaciers and ships]
- This film is labeled “Alaska 1931 Reel 4.” The film contains scenic shots of glaciers and mountains, a small boat moving in front of a glacier face, a calving glacier, icebergs, a small boat moving through icy waters, ice near a shoreline, a larger steamship moving through icy waters near a glacier face, and seals resting on icebergs in the distance.
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- [Alaska 1935, Blackstone Bay, College Fiord, odds and ends]
- This film is labeled “Alaska 1935” and “Blackstone Bay, College Fiord, Odds and Ends, Goats etc., Fish.” The film contains scenes of two men rowing a boat and anchoring it near a waterfall, a man holding a film camera, a man watching salmon swim upstream, numerous salmon in a shallow stream, two men paddling a boat in the distance as seen from a rock opening, a herd of mountain goats on a hillside near a shoreline, a calving glacier and icy waters, and birds flying near a waterfall.
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- [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.
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- Alaska 49th state : [part 1]
- This film was used for lectures by the Machetanzes when they travelled outside of Alaska. Footage includes the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner headline "Alaska 49th State," George Sundborg checking teletype and noting the passage of statehood legislation on June 30 1958, statehood headlines from the Anchorage Daily Times and Anchorage Daily News, men launching a large star suspended by helium balloons from the Polaris building's roof in Fairbanks, a line of people signing a giant telegram in Fairbanks, a statehood parade down Second Avenue in Fairbanks, Ernest Gruening shaking hands in Anchorage, and graphics showing routes to Alaska. Additional images include passengers embarking on the Riverboat Discovery near Fairbanks, Jim Binkley piloting the boat and talking on a microphone, Mary Binkley with a microphone and an unidentified assistant showing fur to passengers, Alaska Natives at Tanana River fish camp, Alaska Native men building a fishwheel, men retrieving salmon from a fishwheel and processing it for drying, an Alaska Native woman making a birch bark basket, Sara Machetanz looking at a birch bark baby carrier, and Sara with baby Traeger Machetanz. Additional images include children bottle feeding a moose calf, people harvesting grain and vegetables in the Matanuska Valley, an aerial view of an oil drill rig, Healy coal mine, men operating a hydraulic giant and driving thaw points near Fairbanks, a dredge operating near Fairbanks, men using Caterpillars and a dragline to operate a large sluice box, sluice box clean-up, and a man smelting gold into an ingot. Additional images include the Machetanzes Hi Ridge cabin near Palmer during winter, Fred using a dog team and chainsaw to obtain firewood, a moose at a cabin, Fred and Sara travelnig to Palmer during winter, a snow plow and rotary snowblower on the road, and Jan Koslosky with a rifle showing a large Polar Bear hide. Images at the Fur Rendezvous in Anchorage include a fur auction, a weight-pull contest, a blanket toss, a merry-go-round, the start line of World Champion Dog Sled Races, and Northern Alaska Native dancers performing the Wolf Dance.
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- Alaska 49th state : [part 2]
- This film was used for lectures by the Machetanzes when they travelled outside Alaska. Footage includes Open North American dog sled races in Fairbanks and Dr. Roland Lombard wearing bib number one. Additional images include travel on the Alaska Railroad during winter, a man with a reindeer in Fairbanks, downtown Fairbanks, a party at the Atwood home in Anchorage, international travelers arriving at the Anchorage International Airport and Bob Reeve at the airport, a musical conductor and choral group, KTVA television studios and Norma Goodman, and shoppers in a grocery store. Southeast Alaska images include glaciers and travel by ship, amphibious aircraft taking off in Juneau, loggers cutting and hauling trees, Ketchikan Pulp Mill, salmon in a stream, purse seiner and cannery. Additional images include two men going upstream in a canoe and fishing for grayling, and campus buildings at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.
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- [Alaska Air Guard earthquake film]
- This film contains scenes of earthquake damage in Anchorage, Kodiak, Seward, and Valdez following the March 27, 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake. Title screens indicate the footage was shot by an Alaska Air National Guard Air Transport Squadron.