Alaska Film Archives
- This footage shows a Wien Stinson airplane landing on ice in Anaktuvuk[?], Eskimo men ice fishing, and a Wien airplane departing. Footage featuring Eskimo life in Barrow includes school children in a Barrow classroom, elders weaving baleen baskets, a dog sled, an early tracked vehicle made from a truck, a Wien airplane arriving, hunters pulling umiaks across the ice using sled dogs, a whaling festival, a woman demonstrating how she carries a baby on her back under a parka, a dog sled hauling freight, a sod house on the tundra, people trading fur and baleen baskets for goods in a store, village scenes, a woman making dolls, women setting nets along the shore and pulling in a catch of small fish, young boys with puppies, and hunters in umiaks taking seal and walrus. Notes on the original film and can say "Barrow 1 and 2."
- The original film is labeled, “Antarctic B&W Part 1 Roll 1.” The film contains aerial shots of vast ice fields, various tracked vehicles driving across the snow, a field camp, a man patting a penguin on the head, a person skiing, a U.S. Navy airplane, and scientists using various instruments to take measurements.
- A documentary about the spread of air pollution into the Arctic from Europe and the Soviet Union. Scientists from around the world work to understand and solve air pollution problems in Alaska and across Northern regions that are caused by industrialization thousands of miles away. Those interviewed include: Matthew Bean of Bethel, Dr. Glenn E. Shaw of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska bush pilot Dennis Miller, Dr. Kenneth A. Rahn of the University of Rhode Island, Dr. Daniel Jaffe of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dr. Brynjulf Ottar of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Dr. Tom E. Osterkamp of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dr. Juan G. Roederer of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, and others. Air pollution, acid rain, ozone depletion, the greenhouse effect, global warming, and climate change are all terms that are discussed. The program includes views of tundra regions, research laboratories, and a government observatory for monitoring climatic change located at Barrow.
- This notes on this film say “Anne leaving for Norway, trip on Livengood Road high water, bear hunting, Manley hot springs, Christmas at home, Oslo slab[?], Moss Pery[?], Akers Lees, Snirre.” The film contains footage of a family with a red car, an overview of an Alaska placer mine in a river valley, a summer celebration in downtown Fairbanks with couples dancing in the street as a replica steam train drives by and a KFAR-TV cameraman films the action, an Alaska Airlines airplane landing and taking off again, interior Alaska hillsides in summer and fall, a sluice box and mining operation, high water on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks, a hunter with a dead bear, Manley Lodge, scenic Alaska landscapes and skies, winter in Fairbanks, a Fairbanks home and trees covered in frost, snowy hillsides, an aerial view of the Alaska Range mountains, passenger airplanes at an airport, and sites in northern Europe.
- This film is labeled “Alaska Steamship, Alaska RR, Ice Carnival Chatanika 1942, Fisher[?], Eldorado and skiing in Fairbanks.” A note inside the film can says “AK Steamship Port of Seattle to Valdez?, Alaska Railroad - Nenana, Weeks Field Fairbanks, Mother and Dad skiing, Winter Carnival, dog racing, parade, Leonard Seppala, Second Avenue, mining - gold dredge, Dad Guri[?] Lealand, Fairbanks Creek.” Writing inside film can says “Drilling and hauling ice Chatanika Birch Lake, Alaska steamship from Seattle, ARR Seward to Fairbanks, skiing in Fairbanks, Carnival 1940, Fish Creek, Cleary Creek, Eldorado.” The film contains images of the Alaska Steamship Company dock in Seattle, the Seattle waterfront as seen from aboard a ship, a Port of Seattle sign, Alaska Pacific Salmon Company buildings, the Alaska Steamship Company dock in Juneau, the AJ Mine in Juneau, a small vehicle on railroad tracks in winter, snowy mountains, Alaska Railroad steam engine 614, scenic views from travel via the Alaska Railroad, the train station in Nenana, the Nenana Bridge, a couple skiing, a musher and dogs, Pollack Flying Service hangars in Fairbanks, ice hockey in downtown Fairbanks, a Pacific Alaska Airways Lockheed Electra airplane, crowds of people watching dog mushers on the Chena River, the 1940 Winter Carnival parade with floats, a dog yard, a sign for the 1940 Fairbanks Dog Derby, a welcome sign over downtown Fairbanks, Leonhard Seppala, a panorama of downtown Fairbanks in winter, Pollack Flying Service, men driving thaw points for a dredge mining operation, a mining camp, hydraulic giants being used to clear muck, men testing the ground with a drill rig, a mining camp, tailings piles, an old wooden mine shaft revealed as muck is cleared away by hydraulic giants, a dredge in operation, ice being removed from a dredge pond, a drilling rig in operation, small log cabins, a group skiing, a mining operation with buckets emptying onto a large pile of pay dirt, a sluice, a mining camp, a bulldozer, and a building at Chatanika Gold Camp(?).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- This film is labeled "San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Alaska Hiway [Highway] to Fairbanks” and notes with the film say “Might be Arne Larsen film, Hiway driving Chevy, 1950s Chevy, Fairbanks, Dave Larsen?, Birch Hill, Dragline, Jergen mining, Gold Dredge Ester or Fox, Circle Hot Springs, Jergen and Guri Lealand, San Diego shipyard, zoo, SFO, LAX.” The film contains footage of Alaska Highway travel, the Riverboat Nenana in a dry dock, Aurora Lodge, a panoramic overview of Fairbanks, mining activities, a gold dredge at work, a dragline in operation, a power plant building, a gold dredge in a float pond, a dragline, hydraulic giants, a conveyor belt, a Circle Hot Springs lodge, the Circle Trading Company building, and scenes outside Alaska.
- This film is labeled “Gold Hill from the beginning, Gold Hill Dredge moving from the start” and “Fairbanks Alaska, Arnie Larsen, Dredge No. 6 moving 1958, Moving dredge at Gold Hill.” The film contains scenes of bulldozers moving Dredge 6 from Gold Hill to Sheep Creek near Fairbanks in 1958, the dredge on wooden cribbing in its new location, and the dredge pond being filled with water via a pipe.
- Notes with this film say “1949 Charlotte Ames and Bob, Don, Mrs. Wiener, and Lee Family at Airport, Pan Am DC4; 1949 Norman and Ingrid at Badger Road cabin, 1962 Boat Races, Chena River in Fairbanks, Christmas 1961 Arne Jergen; 1962 Boat Races in Chena Rover; 1962 Norman’s second car 1956 Pontiac; 1962 Hydraulic mining Ester Alaska; 1962 Cleanup at Hassel’s Mine; 1962 Golden Days Fairbanks and Ingrid home in 1972; 1962 Arne and Arnold Nordale, Ferry at Nenana.” The film contains footage of a Pan American World Airways airplane, children playing, children hoisting one another with a rope and pulley system, children skiing, a Christmas tree in a home, a family meal in a home, the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks, power boats on the river, crowds gathered along the riverbank to watch boats, a Fairbanks home, hydraulic giants and a mining operation, men cleaning up a sluice box, dancing in downtown Fairbanks, Monty’s Department Store and Lacey Street Theater signs, views from aboard the Sternwheeler Yutana, the Nenana bridge, a fishwheel, highway travel, and Fielding Lake.
- This video is composed of footage from four film reels. AAF-16334 is from a film likely shot by Lee family friend Fred Torsak. It is labeled “1936?, Weeks Field airplanes, Cushman Street Bridge, Dad, dog team, polar bear.” (a post office date stamp on the film box says July 26, 1937). The film contains footage of airplanes at Weeks Field in Fairbanks, a Pacific Alaska Airways hangar, Cushman Street in Fairbanks, the Samson’s hardware store building, Cushman Street bridge over the Chena River, a polar bear in a cage, and people riding in a dog sled. AAF-16335 is from a film likely shot by Lee family friend Fred Torsak. It is labeled, “Fairbanks Alaska, Gold Dredge mining.” (The post office date stamp on the film box is April 2, 1938). The film contains footage of a large placer mining site, hydraulic giants at work, a man with a camera filming the mining operations, an overburden being blasted or falling in large chunks, a mining camp, a man walking along the pipeline (Davidson ditch or siphon?), a dredge at work, and tailings piles. AAF-16336 is from a film likely shot by Lee family friend Fred Torsak. It is labeled “Gold mining with great cleanup gold.” (The post office date stamp on the film box is February 13, 1939). The film contains color footage of hydraulic giants and a bulldozer at work, a man in a large sluice box, a man holding a large pan full of gold, people working a smaller sluice box, and Main School in Fairbanks. AAF-16337 is from a film likely shot by Lee family friend Fred Torsak. It is labeled “Weeks Field, dog team, Main School.” (The post office date stamp on the film box is also February 13, 1939). The film contains color footage of a dog team next to an airplane, a woman taking photos of a dog team, an airplane flying overhead, Main school in Fairbanks, and the wooden Fairbanks Airplane Corporation hangar on Rickert's field situated across from Weeks Field on Cushman Street in Fairbanks.
- Film contains scenes of a classroom full of artists sketching and painting as a male model sits in a chair at the front of the classroom. Fred Machetanz sketches and paints, and he instructs other artists at their easels or as they look over his shoulder. Fred Machetanz looks at and talks about a display of sketches, swatches and paintings with labels such as “1935 Alaska Unalakleet” and “Materials, Pigments, Glazing,” etc.
- 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.
- 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.”
- 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.
- KAKM-TV interview with filmmaker Bill Bacon on the program "Something to Say." Program 110. Recorded on November 24, 1980. Air date was December 18, 1980. Produced and hosted by Carroll Hodge, and produced and directed by Ron Eagle. Copyright 1980 KAKM. Bacon talks about filming wildlife, Walt Disney, overcoming camera challenges, doing stunt work, working on Mount McKinley (Denali) with dog teams, his early life in Pennsylvania, his experiences after being in the Navy during World War II, meeting pilot Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan, his arrival in Alaska, learning the art of filmmaking, being a freelance filmmaker, operating cameras in cold weather, working for the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, communicating between Alaska Natives and oil companies, filming scenes of whaling for the Eskimo Whaling Commission, his support of subsistence hunting, and being stranded on the St. Augustine volcano.
- Bank president and community leader William G. Stroecker (1920-2010) of Fairbanks, Alaska, speaks to students at Monroe High School in Fairbanks on May 3, 2007, after first being introduced by instructor Pat Doogan (James P. Doogan, Jr.). Stroecker talks about his family's background in Alaska going back to the days of the gold rush, being born in St. Joseph's Hospital in Fairbanks in 1920, graduating from Main School in Fairbanks in 1938, attending military school in New Mexico, graduating from the University of Alaska, U.S. Army service during World War II, and joining the First National Bank of Alaska in 1947. He discusses the importance of basketball in his life. He mentions Charles Creamer, Dyea and the Chilkoot Trail, Noyes Slough, Loomis Security, gold exploration in the Fairbanks area, the Spanish Flu, Creamer's Dairy, Richard "Dick" Wood, E.T. Barnette, Ben Eielson, W.F. Thompson, the Fairbanks Daily News Miner, the Fairbanks Airplane Company, Noel Wien, and Joe Crosson. He talks about being a bank president until 1978, Alaska Pacific Bank, Key Bank, and knowing prospectors as he was growing up. He tells students about the importance of getting outdoors and exercising, and lists the locations of his cabins scattered throughout the state. He says that music is a big part of his life, and talks about playing trumpet, and about the swing era of music. A student asks him about Roswell, New Mexico, and UFOs. He talks about the North Slope being a godforsaken place and about the importance of the oil industry to the state. He talks about Atlantic Richfield and Exxon. He shares his philosophy that tomorrow is gone forever and so today is a good day. He talks about his house at Fifth and Noble Streets in Fairbanks and periodic flooding of town. He talks about Piledriver Slough, the Chena River, ice from the Tanana River flowing through town, and Moose Creek Dam. He says that he loves everything about living in Alaska and doesn't mind the cold. He talks about hiking on snowshoes. He talks about mosquitoes on the North Slope. He talks about boating and camping, and hunting for moose, sheep and deer. He talks about duck hunting with his black Labrador Retrievers at Healy Lake. He talks about marrying in 1957. He mentions Ted Stevens. He discusses his love for birch trees and talks about trimming birch trees near his home to a height of 14 feet so that they look like large shrubs. He talks about Main School, how everyone walked everywhere in Fairbanks because there weren't many cars, basketball, and dog mushing. He goes into detail about his first job as a teenager getting paid 60 to 90 cents per hour at Independent Lumber Company, and about wood products being locally milled after being floated down the Chena River. He discussed getting hazed as a new cadet at military school, and at being good at wrestling due to the strength he gained from working the lumber mill job. He talks about the importance of getting involved in activities in school, and says he is a strong proponent of sport, including sports for women, because it teaches people to get along.
- This reel is made from three smaller reels of film. The original cans are labeled: “Retrieve[?]; Log house[?]; earthquake, Fraiser Canyon, ferry, Alcan.” Footage includes dogs receiving retrieval training and perhaps being judged at a competition, the 1962 Golden Days Parade in Fairbanks, bridge construction at an unknown location, Astoria Column in Astoria Oregon, a Sitka spruce sign on the end of a large log, a large log building and a train display, waves along a beach, a sign for the end of the Lewis and Clark trail, waterfowl, a steam engine train display and other equipment at a museum, Anchorage buildings and homes showing severe damage from the 1964 earthquake, a sign that says "I knew it was tough to make a living in Alaska but I didn't think we'd go 'in the hole' this bad!,” mountains in winter, a car with a flat tire on an icy road, a tire being changed, a man dip netting for small fish, a coastal town and harbor, and scenes from aboard ferry.
- 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).
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.”