1. Browse Repository
  2. Alaska Film Archives

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.

91 to 100 of 100 Objects
[Valdez, Alaska and Outside travel]
[Valdez, Alaska and Outside travel]
The first segment in Alaska includes footage of blowing snow in Valdez the and aerial views of winter countryside. Footage outside of Alaska includes George Meals at his farm in Atkinson Nebraska with unidentified women, traffic at night, a Northwest Airlines airplane, a man chopping wood, a woman and dog, tourists watching a dog sled in the summer, mountains, women in a Valdez Light and Power office, men and women in a garden (Nancy, Frank and Ertha Mills in Sebastapol CA), seals in cages, homes and roads, lights in downtown Las Vegas, an old west town (Nancy and Ertha with figures), a dam site, Nancy and friends posing for the camera, homes, people posing (Nancy and family near Amarillo Texas, George Meals with a hay wagon, and farm scenes in Atkinson Nebraska with Melvin and Marvin Meals. The second segment includes footage of downtown Valdez, snow removal vehicles, a propeller-driven vehicle (probably built by Owen Meals) driving down a street, freight being unloaded from a ship, fuel tanks, Alaska Freight Lines and other semi-trucks with trailers and freight, a snowplow, parked semi-trucks, snow removal, a snowy road, wintertime dock activities, an Alaska Steamship Company trailer being offloaded from a ship,Valdez street scenes during winter, trucks hauling pipes, a Valdez Light Power & Telephone Company truck, a small helicopter landing and taking off, and dock views. The third segment includes footage at the Valdez airport with a military DC-3 and other airplanes, an airplane taking off, cars driving on a snowy road, Anchorage city lights, mountains and a lake, foxes at a fox farm, a small water wheel, a cabin and cache, a bear cub and people, scenic views, highway travel, a small airplane taking off and flying by, wind in the mountains, a no-hunting sign, a waterfall and ice, Valdez City School (built in 1936 and used until the 1964 earthquake), and views from a ship. The fourth segment outside of Alaska includes images of families posing for the camera, scenes at a large airport, a woman climbing oil derrick/tower stairs, oil-drilling operation, a small windmill, and oil rigs.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 1]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 1]
AAF-11473 consists of 3 reels of 8mm film that have been combined onto one reel. Reel 1 is labeled “March 6, 1961” and contains footage of people sunbathing (the film has a mag stripe soundtrack that was badly deteriorated, so no audio was captured during digitization). Reel 2 is labeled “Hotel Fire” and contains footage of a burning building with firefighters responding (the film is badly deteriorated). Reel 3 is labeled”Chena Ice Classic etc.” and contains detailed scenes of the construction of the Cushman Street Bridge over the Chena River in Fairbanks in 1959.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 2]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 2]
This film consists of 3 reels of 8mm film that have been combined onto one reel. Reel 1 is labeled “2-0084” and contains footage of a parade in front of Pinska’s in Fairbanks, the University of Alaska power plant and campus in Fairbanks, and a Wien hangar and airport tower. Reel 2 is unlabeled and contains aerial footage of Anchorage-area damage and the movement of earth following the 1964 earthquake (footage is shaky due to camera movement and deterioration of the emulsion on the film). Reel 3 is labeled “Shrine Circus” and contains footage of a circus.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 3]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 3]
This film consists of two reels of 8mm film that have been combined onto one reel. Reel 1 is labeled “Lavery Fire” and contains a slip of paper inside the canister labeled “Lavery fire day & night.” This reel contains scenes of the 1959 Lavery Building fire at night and daytime scenes of downtown Fairbanks near Cushman Street and Second Avenue where the building once stood. Reel 2 is labeled “Aniak & Winter Carnival Parade,” and it contains aerial views of the Alaska landscape, scenes of an unidentified parade, cars racing around a dirt track, and sled dog races.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 5]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 5]
This film consists of one reel of 8mm film labeled “Aniak” and contains footage from a vehicle driving in the winter in Alaska, the exterior of a house in the winter, possible footage of a fire at nighttime, scenery of Alaska landscapes and river villages taken from an airplane in the winter, two people standing in front of an airplane in the winter, and the front of the Aniak Lodge.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 6]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 6]
This film consists of one reel of 8mm film labeled “People and Parties.” It contains footage of various locations throughout Alaska, a sign for ‘Evelyn’s,” a dog; the Traveler’s Inn, a number of well-dressed women exiting a building and showing off their clothing to the camera, a number of scenic views of Alaska landscapes, people and couples dancing at an undisclosed location indoors, a gathering of people in a home, and a woman and a baby playing together.
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 7]
[Vince and Evelyn Guzzardi collection 7]
This film consists of one reel of 8mm film labeled “Winter Carnival” on the outside of the film can and “#1 Cleary Hill” on a piece of tape applied to the reel itself. This film contains footage of mining operations, sled dogs and people dog sledding, scenery in Alaska in winter at sunrise/sunset, fireworks at night; an airplane in the snow; a caribou; people gathering at an outdoor location in winter (possibly a winter carnival), a parade taking place in the, and more dog sledding.
[Walrus hunt, Kotzebue, Nome, Unalakleet, kayak races, wildlife]
[Walrus hunt, Kotzebue, Nome, Unalakleet, kayak races, wildlife]
This film contains footage of a waterfront in a northern Alaska coastal village, many people in a motor-powered umiak, a camp on a rocky beach, Alaska Native children playing in a tent, men throwing a rope into the water to retrieve a log, men on the edge of sea ice getting into an umiak, open water and sea ice, homes at the edge of the steep rocky island of Little Diomede, people unloading supplies from an umiak onto the shore on Little Diomede, and then some footage is repeated. The footage also features foxes playing in brush; the Kotzebue waterfront, fish drying on racks, children, the post office, the trading post, the Wien Arctic Hotel, a whalebone, and Alaska Native women and a man with closeup views of their faces; a Native dancing in Nome with King Island Chief Aulaġana (John Olarana or Olaranna) and others, a blanket toss, and fish drying on racks; the Unalakleet waterfront with kayaks and an airplane on floats, kayak races, and a demonstration of a kayak roll by a man wearing a gutskin parka; arctic ground squirrels or parka squirrels, a man feeding squirrels, a pika, a marmot, and seals on a beach and in water. Persons and locations identified in 2015 by a person who once lived in the Nome area include: Belmont Point, Snake River, Bering Sea Hotel, Sam Mogg, Charlie Dickson (?), Olaf Piscoya and persons from the Ozenna family, Big and Little Diomede Islands, and Aloysius Pikonganna. This film is made from five shorter reels of film spliced together. The original boxes and cans are labeled as follows: 1) Walrus Hunt - $131.25 [on leader = Color Reproduction Company – Hollywood, California]. 2) Walrus Hunt Reel 1 - $73.00. 3) Reel #19 Foxes – 220’ @ .29 $63.80. 4) XXVIII – 400’ – Kotzebue: tents, homes, post office, trading post, Wien Arctic Hotel, old Eskimo woman in sun on beach, older Eskimo woman and son – Nome: informal Eskimo dance with King Alarna, blanket toss – Unalakleet : 4th of July kayak races, rolling kayak over to upside down then to right side up. 5) #67 Parka Squirrels – Alaskan Parka – 100’ $30.00.
[Whittier earthquake cleanup, Lake George glacier breakup, wildlife]
[Whittier earthquake cleanup, Lake George glacier breakup, wildlife]
Footage includes foxes playing in brush; men working to repair railroad tracks, damaged buildings and burned out fuel storage tanks in Whittier following the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964, rubble along the shoreline, Lake George glacier breaking up, bears fishing in a river and playing onshore, aerial views of a volcanic crater, seals on a beach, closeups of young seals, and bears and cubs eating and fishing. The film is made from six shorter reels of film spliced together. The original boxes and can are labeled as follows: 1) Foxes - #60013 – 100’ $30.00. 2) R-58 Whittier Earthquake - $15.00. 3) #41 Lake George Glacier Breakup - $15.00. 4) #49 Close-up Brown Bears - $15.00. 5) #39 Fur Seals - $15.00. 6) #44 Bear and cubs - $15.00.
[Yukon River travel, Nenana and Eagle, seal skinning, sport fishing, commercial fishing, Unalakleet, gold dredge]
[Yukon River travel, Nenana and Eagle, seal skinning, sport fishing, commercial fishing, Unalakleet, gold dredge]
Part 1 (AAF-980) footage includes a dog team crossing ice, a riverboat on the Yukon River in autumn, a river pilot in a small boat checking water depth, a school in Nenana, people in Eagle Village, riverboat workers, a Dawson City street, going through Five-Finger Rapids, Alaska and Canada flags, Whitehorse, Skagway, Miles Canyon Rapids, and Lake Bennett. Part 2 (AAF-981) footage includes an Alaska Native woman wearing a parka, drying sea mammal intestines, whale butchering in Kotzebue, river scenery, sod houses, a cemetery at Pt. Hope, a gold dredge operating in Nome, a man speaking to an audience, Alaska Native dancers, a Ladd Field hangar, Athabascan men and women in Eagle, the Mission School in Nenana, Gren Collins float plane at a dock with people crowded around, and men trading furs in Canada. Part 3 (AAF-984) footage includes an Alaska Native woman skinning a seal at Pt. Hope. Part 4 (AAF-985) footage includes people at a picnic, small boats on the ocean, fly fishing on a creek, men catching salmon and flounder, the fishing boat "Radar,” a glacier, a flower garden, Sara Machetanz and a man with dogs pulling a three-wheeled cart in Nome, women in parkas, and Sara Machetanz with children eating ice cream. Part 5 (AAF-986) footage includes Sara Machetanz fishing, unloading salmon from a commercial fishing boat, a fishing fleet, crabs on a dock, totes of fish, emptying nets on fishing boats, salmon swimming upstream at a waterfall, Sara Machetanz with girls at a Girl Scout Camp near Ketchikan, women in parkas putting on mukluks, and boys playing on a rubber raft in a gravel pit. Part 6 (AAF-987) footage includes scenery around Unalakleet. Part 7 (AAF-988) footage includes men driving thaw points for a mining operation, men working hydraulic giants, and a large dredge in operation in Interior Alaska.