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Alaska Film Archives

About the Collection

Over the past half century, the University of Alaska Fairbanks has built the largest collection of archival films in and about Alaska. The collection combines hundreds of donations of film and videos to UAF by individuals, organizations and institutions. Materials range from professional productions to amateur home-movies, made in and about Alaska from the earliest days of filmmaking through today. Since 1993 these materials have been held by the Alaska Film Archives, a unit of Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives in the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library. Films and videos selected for this portal project are a sampling of the thousands available for checkout on DVD through the Rasmuson Library. Unless otherwise noted, items are presented here in their entirety, unedited and uncut. Short, popular clips from the collection can be viewed on our YouTube channel. Read more about the Alaska Film Archives.

481 to 510 of 1001 Objects
[Geology]
[Geology]
The original Betamax videotape is labeled “Geology.” The video contains footage of mountains and rock formations in the Western United States, and it briefly shows Portage Glacier in Alaska while a man (likely geologist C. L. Sainsbury) discusses each feature.
[Geophysical Institute]
[Geophysical Institute]
This footage includes scenes from a youth sports competition, an airplane landing and taking off at the Fairbanks airport, stock car race footage, a man who was injured at the racetrack being taken away in an ambulance (story titled "Stock Car Spots") (September 1974) (silent), the Chapman building at University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Elvey building, a man being interviewed about changes at the Geophysical Institute over the past 25 years, a man demonstrating lab equipment, and a man being interviewed about radio transmission equipment being used to transmit medical information to remote villages in Alaska (October 28, 1974) (silent and sound).
[Geophysical Institute at UAF]
[Geophysical Institute at UAF]
Footage includes an unidentified speaker explaining the method for dating rocks used at the institute and how this information is used by geologists. An unidentified man also explains seismic recording equipment.
[George Steck collection 01]
[George Steck collection 01]
This footage includes downhill ski races at Skiland on the Steese Highway, views from Cleary Summit during summer, a Ski Patrol competition at Skiland, a Goldpanner baseball game at Growden Park, people skydiving and testing a parachute on the ground, and a black bear hide. Footage at Murphy Dome includes antennae and dishes covered with hoar frost, an Aktiv Fischer Snow Trac operating, a snowman, buildings, Caterpillar tractors, and husky dogs playing.
[George Steck collection 02]
[George Steck collection 02]
This footage from Nenana includes the tripod on the Tanana River, a bridge, Nenana Ice Poll Tower and Watchman's building, and town scenes.
[George Steck collection 03]
[George Steck collection 03]
Scenes from the Miss Fairbanks contest in March of 1968. The footage also features singing and ballet performances.
[George Steck collection 04]
[George Steck collection 04]
Footage includes winter scenery near Murphy Dome, very snowy streets and cars at Second and Cushman in Fairbanks, mushers preparing for sled dog races downtown, and sled dog races on Second Avenue.
[George Steck collection 05]
[George Steck collection 05]
Footage includes the opening ceremony and activities for the Eskimo Olympics filmed inside the Gold Dome at Alaskaland.
[George Steck collection 06]
[George Steck collection 06]
Footage features Women's North American sled dog racers starting from the Alaska Dog Mushers Association on Farmers Loop.
[George Steck collection 07]
[George Steck collection 07]
Footage from around Fairbanks includes participants in a Safe Driving Auto Rodeo held in the Penneys parking lot on Cushman Street.
[George Steck collection 08]
[George Steck collection 08]
This footage features scenes from the Big Dipper ice arena in March of 1969. It includes ice show performers and Olympic medal winner Jo Jo Starbuck.
[George Steck collection 09]
[George Steck collection 09]
Footage includes skiers, rope tow, and Roger Evans throwing snowballs at the camera. Notes on the original film can say "May 67, Skiland view from head of tow, closeup of group including Bob Parrish, tow shack operator hans Fischer about to make a run, Frank Marion making run down bowl, group at bottom of bowl, Keith Harris skiing with case of beer, GP on hill throwing snowballs"
[George Steck collection 10]
[George Steck collection 10]
This footage features various people waterskiing on Birch Lake in July of 1967.
[George Steck collection 11]
[George Steck collection 11]
This film was recorded shortly after the opening of the Alaska 67 Exposition Park, A-67, and prior to the August 1967 flood. Footage includes perspectives from the Ferris Wheel, an upside down perspective from the Ferris Wheel, a hammer ride, a nurse fashion parade, views of the park and people in costumes, and a hot air balloon launch.
[George Steck collection 12]
[George Steck collection 12]
Footage featuring A-67, including equipment and people panning for gold at the mining village, people in costumes, views of park buildings, the Riverboat Nenana, and a band.
[George Steck collection 13]
[George Steck collection 13]
Footage includes the Binley Family Riverboat Discovery I, a group of people traveling down the Tanana River to Nenana on the Discovery, and people stopping for a picnic and to look at old buildings along the way.
[George Steck collection 14]
[George Steck collection 14]
Footage includes a parade in Fairbanks for the opening day of Alaska 67 Exposition A-67, an opening day ceremony with a boy scout color guard and military band, Captain Jim Binkley at a podium with dignitaries (including Governor Wally Hickel and Burl Ives), a ride around the park on an A-67 train, scenes from around the park, a woman on stilts, and a hot-air balloon being launched
[George Steck collection 15]
[George Steck collection 15]
Footage includes views of First Avenue in Fairbanks, Immaculate Conception Church and St. Joseph Hospital, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner building, a parade on Cushman Street, a baseball team (the Goldpanners) at the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce building on First Avenue, people along the banks of the Chena River watching the start of the Yukon 800 Marathon boat race, Goldpanners baseball practice, and construction at Growden Park.
[George Steck collection 16]
[George Steck collection 16]
Footage includes sled dog races at the Alaska Dog Mushers Association track on Farmers Loop Road in Fairbanks, Alaska.
[George Steck collection 17]
[George Steck collection 17]
Footage includes scenes at A-67 and Fairbanks just prior to the 1967 flood. Scenes include people making sand bags and the Chena River rising.
[George Steck collection 18]
[George Steck collection 18]
Footage features Fairbanks just after the flood waters receded and people started cleaning up the damage.
[George Steck collection 19]
[George Steck collection 19]
Footage shows the U.S. Air Force Blue Angels flying at Ft. Wainwright.
[George Steck collection 20]
[George Steck collection 20]
Footage features Fairbanks, the Cushman St. bridge, A-67 Exposition, and a Turtles concert at Bartlett Plaza.
[George Steck collection 21]
[George Steck collection 21]
This is the A-67 Civic Center Science Fair.
[George Steck collection 22]
[George Steck collection 22]
Footage features Armed Forces Day at Ft Wainwright in 1967.
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).
[Glaciers, Wonder Lake, Merrill and airplane]
[Glaciers, Wonder Lake, Merrill and airplane]
This film contains images of men sorting supplies for a field expedition (likely including Roscoe Bonsal, Ben Wood, Percy Pond, Andrew M. “Andy” Taylor, and Paul Kegal), a man unloading supplies from a small boat onto shore, men with packs hiking across an uneven glacier surface, a rock slide in the distance, canvas tents on a glacier, men hiking and posing for the camera, men hiking alongside crevasses, men roped together while hiking, men looking out across an icefield, snow covered mountain peaks, a glacier calving into water, mountain peaks as viewed from a boat, men on a boat, men posing with mountain goats they’ve hunted, a boat moving through icy waters, men with animal hides on a dock, a man (possibly skipper Paul Kegal) repairing the boat M/V Eurus, Paula and John Anderson’s fox farm and roadhouse (Polly’s roadhouse) at the north end of Wonder Lake in what is today Denali National Park, dogs pulling a sled in summer with one man driving and another riding in the sled, men at a cabin near the lake, a man and woman (possibly Paula and John Anderson) at a cabin, dogs, railroad tracks as viewed from a moving train, a train going through a tunnel, a south or southeastern coastal Alaska town, the Anchorage No. 1 Travel Air biplane taking off and climbing steeply, men in a rowboat towing the Anchorage No. 1 on floats, pilot Russel Merrill fueling an airplane, a man cranking and hand propping the Anchorage No. 1 airplane, aerial views of landscapes and shorelines from an airplane, a totem pole, Ketchikan, the Ketchikan Spruce Mill, a fish trap tender boat named the "Eureka of Seattle" with a fish scow alongside it named "APEX No. 3" (or possibly No. 8 or No. 9). The poles sticking out of the water are part of a fish trap known as a standing trap or pile trap. Identifications were made by comparing the film to photos in “With a Camera in My Hands: William O. Field, Pioneer Glaciologist: a Life History as Told to C. Suzanne Brown,” edited by C. Suzanne Brown and published by University of Alaska Press, 2004. According to Ketchikan author and retired Alaska Marine Highway System Captain William M. Hopkins in 2016, the end of the film contains views of Ketchikan, including the old Spruce Mill at the mouth of Ketchikan Creek. The waterway scenes are of the Eastern Channel of the southern end of Tongass Narrows between Mountain Point and the Coast Guard base and the Spruce Mill. If the entire clip was filmed in the same general area, the fish trap is possibly located somewhere along the southern Tongass Narrows or along nearby Annette Island.
[Gold mining, Alaska travel and activities 1]
[Gold mining, Alaska travel and activities 1]
Footage features a bulldozer caught in ice on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks, a large Service Motor Company fire in downtown Fairbanks, mining activities, a man holding a large gold nugget, a bulldozer and dragline in operation at a large placer mine operation, men walking toward camp, a sluice, tailings piles, a bulldozer stuck in the Chena River after breaking through ice, people in parkas ice skating, a man photographing people on skates as well as a man ice fishing with a net, people weighing fish with a scale, Chena River and Cushman Street bridge, the railroad depot in Fairbanks, chained black bear cubs being fed, river views, people in a small boat and a man with a duck, a cow and pig, St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox church and graves in Eklutna, women feeding a baby moose with a milk bottle, a man in a small boat, a tent and campsite, a family at a camp or picnic, men and women posing by a Birch Lake sign, a woman outside of a log post office, placer mining operations, aerial views of a mine area, a man operating a dragline, and people posing near an airplane. Handwritten notes on the film boxes are as follows: “Service Motor.” “Tractor and Gold Mine.” “Alaska, trip to Palmer, grave house, baby moose, skating, Birch L. “Bert P[?].” “Trip to Ophir, [?] Barrow trip.”
[Gold mining, Alaska travel and activities 2]
[Gold mining, Alaska travel and activities 2]
Footage features people aboard a boat outside of Alaska, dog mushing, a tractor pulling a load of timber or logs with the Cushman Street Bridge visible in the distance, small girls at a birthday party, a girl with a dog, a bridge and road, people posing for the camera, a Farmall tractor pulling a boat out of the river at Cushman Street Bridge, hay piles, mountain scenes, Savage Rock at Denali or McKinley National Park, a large coal chute near Healy, a truck loaded with coal, mining operations, men and women in a boat, a waterfall, mountains and a sunset, aerial views of a river and mountains, airplanes and a camp on a rocky beach in northern Alaska, men posing by an airplane, aerial views of wildfires and mountains, men with cameras posing along with children in a northern Alaska coastal village (Barrow?), children in parkas posing, village homes, a woman chopping wood, a caribou, children in parkas with a small dogsled in Fairbanks, a brief glimpse of Leonhard Seppala with a dog team in Fairbanks with the Samson Hardware Building in the background, winter carnival scenes in Fairbanks, women in parkas posing near a Pacific Alaska Airlines airplane, a brief aerial view of the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, people disembarking from a DC-3 airplane, women and a man posing, people re-boarding the airplane, winter carnival lights, people shoveling deep snow at a cabin, men and women posing with a dog team, a man placing dogs in harnesses (black & white section of film with the first man identified as Jeff Studdert by local historian George Lounsbury in 2014), dogs running under the Noyes Slough swinging bridge and out onto the Chena River in Fairbanks, and another man driving a dog sled as a woman rides in the sled. Handwritten notes on film boxes are as follows, though the order does not seem to correspond with the order of scenes above: “Boat trip, Bowler[?].” “Dog team and tractor.” “Trip to Delta – loop.” “Fire scenes at Mc Park, coal mine at Healy.” “Lake Chelan boat trip sunset.” “Trip to Barrow, caribou, carnival and dog sled ride.”
[Gold mining in Alaska]
[Gold mining in Alaska]
The donor’s original number and title for AAF-20641 are: “M 7. Gold Mining in Alaska.” This film contains scenes of a bulldozer clearing land and knocking down an old log cabin, a pilot with an airplane on floats, a large placer mining operation, draglines and hydraulic giants, a man and women cleaning a large sluice box, the Sternwheeler Nenana pushing a barge, many people on the porch of a Northern Commercial Company building as barrels are loaded onto the barge, a sternwheeler paddling away, hydraulic giants removing overburden at a mining operation, a sign for N.C. Co. Air Field, metal-sided buildings, a Gullwing Stinson airplane being fueled, an International tractor wrecked in the ice, and sled dogs.