Alaska Film Archives | Archive

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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: [Baker family films]; The original film is labeled “Ma and pa golfing, cutting and bringing in Christmas tree, Ma and Tom and Queenie.” The film contains scenes of the Baker family golfing in Michigan, Queenie the dog pulling people on a sled, a small airplane flying low along a shoreline, two people cutting a Christmas tree that is then towed to the truck by Queenie, and blue jays at a bird feeder.

: [Band plays at Sunset Strip in Fairbanks]; This footage includes scenes at the Sunset Strip night club in Fairbanks. A band plays, people dance, and a bartender serves drinks.

: [Beluga whale hunt]; The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20049 numbered as Bacon 11-03 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 3: Kotzebue, bringing in Beluga whales, cutting up, hanging up.”

: [Bilingual education and Teacher Corps guidelines]; AAF-13167 is a 1/2-inch open reel videotape labeled "John Collier Dec 10 PM Session, #1 Navajo Indian Community, #2 Mic Murphy and Interior Council and voting for [illegible], #3 Presentation of [illegible] to mic, Ray and [illegible] - miscellaneous candid shots of group." It contains scenes of speakers talking to college students or new teachers prior to their returning to communities. Topics include bilingual education for Native American students and Teacher Corps guidelines.

: [birch bark container]; Notes on the film reel says "Native woman demonstrates tracing and cutting pattern from small birch bark container."

: [Boat race, Jim O'Sullivan interview]; Specific dates and other information noted on the original film are given here in parentheses. The footage features a boat race, men climbing out of a boat as spectators on the river bank watch, Jim O'Sullivan being interviewed in an office about his election campaign for state legislature (title of segment is "Jim O' Sullivan and Boat Race") (June 20, 1976).

: [Boating on a river, camping]; This footage features three children in the front of a boat on a river, a boat passing a sternwheeler with tourists on the sternwheeler waving, a boat motoring to shore, a campsite with a teepee and campers, women preparing food at a campsite on the bank of a river, women roasting and eating hotdogs, a cliff face, sea gulls, and a cityscape viewed from across a body of water (likely not in Alaska).

: [Boy scouts and travel]; This film reel is made up of 5 smaller reels. Reel 1 is labeled "Boy Scouts at McKinley Park 1934," and it contains scenes of the Alaska Railroad, Boy Scouts at Mt. McKinley National Park, scout activities, boys hiking and climbing, boys rolling down a hill, a flag raising ceremony, the Troop 646 flag, scouts playing on empty oil barrels, an automobile, a group posing for the camera, the steamer Nenana in Nenana, the Nenana train station, a vehicle on railroad tracks, uniformed military men in Fairbanks, and a boy holding a "Mechanix Illustrated" magazine. Reel 2 is labeled "Trip to U.S. with Family 1935, Oregon to California, Alaska to U.S., Ketchikan to Agua Caliente Mexico," and it contains footage of family travel by boat and car, the Oregon ferry, the Golden Gate Bridge, Cascade Falls, San Luis Rey Mission, and the Hoover Dam under construction. Reel 3 is labeled "Richardson Trail to Circle," and it contains views of Eagle Summit, Circle Hot Springs, road, bridges, children, the ship S.S. Aleutian, a waterfall, cars on a road, a ferry, a dredge and mining equipment, hydraulic giants, a power or telegraph pole being erected, a dog sled, and a person on skis being towed behind a vehicle or sled. Reel 4 is labeled "Fairbanks to Yellowstone 1935 [1939?]," and it contains footage of men in military formation, views from a train and a ship, Juneau, and Yellowstone National Park. Reel 5 is labeled "Alaska to Seattle #1 1935," and it contains scenes of men in military formation [at college in Fairbanks?], the College train station, Healy train station, McKinley Park train station, Wasilla train station, Matanuska train station, Eklutna train station, Portage train station, a ship in Cordova, the Juneau waterfront, shipboard scenes, the Ketchikan waterfront, bear cubs aboard the ship, and other shipboard scenes.

: [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.

: [Bud Anderson film collection 1]; This footage features a family with babies, cutting up moose meat, and a Golden Days Parade. Notes on the original film can say "September 1963 Glen and kids, cutting moose, July 1968 Golden Days parade, Grandma and Grandpa camping."

: [Bud Anderson film collection 2]; Footage includes moose in yard, a child building a snow fort, Caterpillar tractors and other heavy equipment clearing snow and opening Steese Highway during spring, and children playing in a puddle with an inner tube as a make-shift boat.

: [Bud Anderson film collection 3]; Footage includes children playing with a basketball, highway travel, a car pulling a camper, a picnic, cars waiting for a ferry at Haines, arrival and travel on the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry "Wickersham," and family activities outside of Alaska.

: [Bush pilot John Thompson]; The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20080 numbered as Bacon 18-01 and titled “Bush Pilot John Thompson.” 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: “Stan Price at his home - He is an old-timer who lived on Saxman Island - There were these bears and he knew them and he could walk around and they never bothered him because he knew them - He had a garden there - There is his obituary in the box - Riverboat in Nenana - It was put in down river from the bridge - They wanted to bring the riverboat up to Fairbanks so they had to wait until high water to get the boat up to Chena but it could not fit under the bridge - There was a big pole in the way so they had to take a big saw and cut enough of the pole to make it under the bridge - Homesteader Paul Elbert’s new D9 cat. He is cleaning his farmland outside of Fairbanks in a place called ‘Happy Valley.’" Notes on the film box are as follows: “Stan Price at his home with the bears, Rusty Heurlin at his log home in Ester June 1974, break-up 1961, Riverboat Nenana under the bridge in Nenana, coming up the Chena River tying up in Fairbanks, Obituary of Stanton Price” and “ Reel 1: Bush pilot John Thompson.”

: [Camping, outdoor scenes, and scenes from an airport]; This footage features a woman on a swingset next to a lake, a woman and a man paddling a canoe, palm trees, a beach, a city, a woman modeling dresses and furs in front of a brick house, a well-dressed woman and man getting into a car in winter, driving, a woman and man getting out of a car, a landscape viewed from a moving vehicle, an airplane on the tarmac, two women boarding an airplane at an airport, an airplane being fueled at an airport, women picking produce in a field, a group of people eating at a picnic table, and airplanes taking off at the airport.

: [Carving totem]; The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20051 numbered as Bacon 11-05 and titled “Carving Totem for Japan World's Fair.” 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 5: Carving totem, Chilkat dancers, carving on largest totem pole outside, Eskimo dance at Nulakatuk, blanket toss, beluga kill.”

: [Chilkat dancers, totem pole construction]; The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20,004 numbered as Bacon 12-5 and titled "Chilkat Indian Dancers, World's Largest Totem Pole Construction, Carl Heinmiller, Whale House, Klukwon, Potlatch Trough: Orig [original]-300 feet." See AAF-20,054 -- AAF-20,061 for associated items originally labeled Bacon 12-1 through 12-4, and Bacon 12-6 though 12-9. 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 12 - 9 Reels, 1 black & white picture - Picture in box of Carl Heinmiller dancing. Picture doing the bear dance. Whale House clan at Klukwan inside Whale House. Different upright poles; they had moved the old Whale House. They had four posts and one was a Strong Man Totem that describes a man pulling a killer whale apart and his father fell out of the whale. A Girl and Worm Totem pole; she was put into the totem pole to save until she became eligible for the chief to marry. She wanted to get out so a worm came along and ate all around the wood so she could escape. Potlatch trough was a huge log approximately 30 feet long. They dug all the wood out, carved it with head on the front, legs on the back and that is where they put all the food for a potlatch..."

: [Chuck Gray film collection addition 1]; The original reel and can notes for AAF-10075 are: “Shee fishing, 1987 review, miscellaneous Clearwater, and miscellaneous fishing.” The footage includes the Blankenship Trading Post in Kiana, men eating inside a cabin, people fishing from boats, an airplane on skis, men setting beaver traps, an airplane cockpit, men hunting (in Wisconsin?), a tracked vehicle, a cabin home in winter, fishing and river travel in Alaska, a moose, a fox, people dipnetting, airplanes on floats, and a boat with “Kobuk Camp” painted on the side.

: [Chuck Gray film collection addition 2]; The original reel and can notes for AAF-10076 are: "Dune Lake 1 and 2 - 1970, Beaver Creek 1956, and Old John 1 and 2 - 1970." The writing on film leader is "Dune Lk. 1989." The footage features building supplies being offloaded at a remote site in winter, a large vehicle with a trailer, a cabin being constructed, an airplane on floats, men clearing an ATV trail, a man on a snowmachine setting traps, ice fishing, an airplane on skis, men in snowshoes fishing in open water, fishing and boating, men and a campfire, cooking and eating in a camp, and loading supplies into an airplane.

: [Chuck Gray film collection addition 3]; The original reel and can notes for AAF-10077 are: "Bristol Bay, Valdez 1971, and winter fishing trips." The film includes fishing, airplanes on floats, a NCA seaplane landing and turning around onshore, a sign the says "Welcome to Brooks River Alaska - Katmai National Monument - Northern Consolidated Airlines - Anglers Paradise Camp" fly fishing near small waterfalls, cabins, fox closeups, a sign that says "Welcome to Kulik River Alaska - Northern Consolidated Airlines - Anglers Paradise Camp," children, a boat harbor, more waterfalls, a family on a boat, airport scenes in winter, airplanes on skis landing and taking off, and winter fishing.

: [Chuck Gray film collection further addition 6]; Footage features scenes of flying supplies in to establish a hunting camp in the Brooks Range. Airplanes include a Pilatus Porter, Cessna 170 (?) and Piper Super Cub. Additional footage includes moving supplies with an Argo off-road vehicle and a ground squirrel.

: [Chuck Gray film collection further addition 7]; This footage features men clearing land with a small John Deere dozer, building a small cabin, and hunting sheep.

: [Collapsed roof on building]; This video shows a building labeled "J & O Drilling," a collapsed building covered in snow, the inside of a collapsed building with the roof of the building resting on a large truck inside, a camper in the collapsed building, and a view of the inside roof of the collapsed building.

: [David and Mike Doxey Film collection 1]; This original film was labeled "Umiat." Footage includes snowmachine travel, ice fishing, a large burbot, pulling nets, Umiat (?), people working on snowmachines, several DeHaviland Twin Otter airplanes arriving, scenery and snowmachine travel, a dead moose killed by wolves (?), and additional North Slope scenes.

: [David and Mike Doxey Film collection 2]; Footage includes a family ice fishing, men with ptarmigan, Summit Lake on Richardson Highway, a cabin, a hunting camp, riverboats, freeze-up and windy winter scenes, snowmachines, camping on Homer Spit, river scenes, grayling fishing, and hunting camp scenes.

: [David and Mike Doxey Film collection 3]

: [David and Mike Doxey Film collection 4]; This film is labeled "Hunting 1980, Anaktuvuk 1981, Minto 1981, Yukon 1981." Footage includes a family at a hunting camp, airplanes, a man hand-propping a Super Cub airplane on skis, an airplane in flight and landing on snow, a Cessna on skis landing, men on snowshoes ice fishing, airplanes taking off, aerial view of a Cat train, Mike Doxey and Jerry Halberg travelling by riverboat and pike fishing, a Yukon 800 riverboat, a Cessna floatplane taking off from a lake and returning to land, aerial view of forest fires, travel by riverboat, fishing and a tent camp, ice pans on a river, and a man pulling a fishing net.

: [David and Mike Doxey Film collection 5]; This film is labeled "North Slope Boating 1978." Footage includes riverboat travel, grizzly bears on a hillside, more riverboat travel, a tent camp, a construction camp (?) on the North Slope, aerial views of the North Slope and Brooks Range, and landing in Fairbanks. Additional footage includes a raft trip down river, a caribou, swarms of mosquitoes, the arrival of a Grumman Widgeon seaplane, a Widgeon with a missing wing pontoon on the tundra, and a net with several fish in a river.

: [David and Mike Doxey Film collection 6]; Footage includes a river break-up, Richardson Highway travel, children playing, sled dog races, downtown Fairbanks, a panorama, Dawson City, waterskiing at Harding Lake, a Golden Days Parade in Fairbanks, a Sheep Creek dredge being moved in 1958, children in Easter clothes, Open North American Sled Dog Races and the Fairbanks Winter Carnival parade. Footage from 1960 through 1966 includes a family at Harding Lake, the 1961 Winter Carnival parade, Harding Lake, travel outside of Alaska, the 1963 North American Championship Sled Dog Race, snowshoe baseball, a scramble race, the 1963 Yukon Marathon, Eskimo Olympics, the 1964 Golden Days parade, dog races, Tanana River break-up in Nenana in 1965 and snowmachines at the 1966 North American. Additional footage includes Harding Lake in 1966, snowmachines in March of 1967, waterskiing at Harding Lake in 1967, fireworks, the 1967 Chena River flood in Fairbanks, boat travel on the Salcha River, waterskiing in 1968, and Jason in 1978.

: [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.

: [Dick King collection]; This footage includes a Cessna 140 C-140 taking off and landing from a river bed, men at a hunting camp by a campfire, a riverboat with duck hunters, a small airplane on floats taxiing, Bill Stroecker with a dog retrieving a duck, moving a house with a truck, construction of the Wien hangar at the Fairbanks International Airport, a young girl and boy playing, the chimney for the Wien hangar, an outboard motor-powered riverboat, a gold dredge operating, people watching a bucket train on a dredge , Bill Lavery with a whipsaw making lumber, a cabin, Bill Lavery in a plaid shirt and cap with unidentified men, men by a Cessna 170 C-170 airplane on ice with wheels, a truck moving a house, a man fly fishing, Bill Lavery working on a cabin, men with a riverboat loaded with a moose, Bill Stoecker in a rowboat loaded with a moose, a gold dredge, riverboat travel, a duck hunt with Bill Stroecker holding a duck, a lab retrieving a duck, Stoecker rowing a boat with a moose, a C-170 on ice, men whipsawing lumber, Bill Lavery in plaid, a lab retrieving ducks, children playing and being pulled on a sled by a dog in Island Homes (?). Activities on the North Slope during Dew Line construction include: a camp in winter, Caterpillars, a Wien C-47 airplane, aerial views of a LeTourneau Snow Train and a Cat train. Additional footage includes men unloading a Wien C-47, two riverboats on the Salcha River during freeze-up with ice running, ice skaters, crossing a frozen lake in a riverboat, unloading boats at a Salcha River landing , a truck hauling a disassembled C-47,a Wien Norseman on floats taxiing and taking off, children playing, a C-46 being repaired at Peters Lake, a herd of caribou, a Cat train on the North Slope, a short upside down segment of film with a fox, an Alaska Freight Lines Cat train on the North Slope with a Wien C-47, a Norseman and a Beaver on skis by a Cat train, dog races and an Ice Carnival parade in Fairbanks, a Wien C-47 on ice, a brief shot of a woman, men at a cabin and riverboat hunting, Bill Stroecker approaching with a duck, men unloading a Wien C-46, a moose, a 1 year old named Rebecca, men fishing in the ocean, children playing, a C-46 landing at a North Slope camp, people loading barrels into a C-46, an Alaska Freight Lines LeTourneau Snow Train, men loading a riverboat onto a trailer, Bill Stroecker fly fishing for grayling, a moose, a riverboat, float planes, a cabin on a river, cabins at Healy Lake (?), a man with a fish net, men hunting, a moose on a boats, Bill Stroecker holding a dead bird of prey, Bill Stroecker with a retriever, a string of ducks at a cabin, and a cabin on a river.

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