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.

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: Alaska Division: Great Falls to Fairbanks; This is an Army Air Corps training film for crews ferrying aircraft from Great Falls, Montana to Fairbanks, Alaska, where Soviet pilots then took possession of the airplanes. The aircraft were part of the Lend-Lease program in which the United States sent war supplies to the Soviet Union during World War II. Footage includes graphics showing the route, aerial views of runways along the route, views of runways during landings, and graphics advising pilots of procedures for aborting flights. During the life of the Lend-Lease project, nearly 8,000 planes flew along this route, also known as the Alaska-Siberia (ALSIB) route, from Montana to Alaska then on to Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. The film was made by the U.S. Army Air Forces Air Transport Command Overseas Technical Unit.

: [George Steck collection 16]; Footage includes sled dog races at the Alaska Dog Mushers Association track on Farmers Loop Road in Fairbanks, Alaska.

: [Lou and Ruth McCoy collection 3]; Footage includes the Maclaren River Lodge on the Denali Highway as well as a parade and sled dog races in Fairbanks.

: [George Steck collection 20]; Footage features Fairbanks, the Cushman St. bridge, A-67 Exposition, and a Turtles concert at Bartlett Plaza.

: [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.

: [Stenberg films 3]; This is a film that was developed in August 1961 and September 1962 and is labeled, “Mitkoff Job 75 Reel No. 1.” The film contains scenes of a human skull, a Caterpillar tractor and operator, a tug boat, chainsaw crews and bulldozers clearing land, travel along a shoreline in a boat, a tree being felled, large construction equipment moving rocks, a welder repairing a broken crane, a man climbing and topping a large tree, a man standing on top of a tree cut, men standing on floating logs and forming a timber raft, a man in a work camp, a twilight sunrise or sunset, road construction activities along a shoreline, a blast warning sign, and construction crew housing and cars.

: [Annabeth Hanlon collection 2]; Footage includes people panning for gold, a B-17 flying overhead, men cutting firewood with a truck-mounted saw in downtown Fairbanks, downtown buildings, Wien Alaska Airlines operations at Weeks Field, an airplane taking off, Jim Dodson's airplane, hangars on the field, fire, children ice skating, dog sled races on the Chena Rive, men launching a small barge, travel in an outboard motor-powered riverboat, the tug M.S. Otter of Fairbanks pushing a barge, a grouse on the road, men working on a cabin, a small boat being launched in a lake, men cutting ice for drinking water with a hand saw, a car pulling a sled with blocks of ice, a fire in a Fairbanks Laundry building, and a formation of military airplanes. Notes accompanying the film say: view of McKinley, Deadwood and Dr. Schiable, around Fairbanks, sawing wood, around 2nd Ave., Wien Airways & Jim in planes, old Pan Am, Dorothy's house, skating in Main School yard, my 8th, dog team races at end of 2nd, K9 team won, youngster falling down, Albas trip, grouse, McKinley, ducks, Hanlon, building at lake, kids, lake boat, Albert Martin, Bob Harwood, geese, cutting ice, Bud Shaw, (?), fire at laundry, Russian DC-3, P-63 to Russia led by B-25.

: [Seppala family film 2]; Footage includes Leonhard Seppala mushing dogs outside of Alaska, log dam repairing washout on Davidson Ditch, slow-motion of Leonhard mushing in Ottawa Dog Derby in 1930, and Fairbanks Winter Carnival dog races on the Chena River. Additional footage includes Seppala's cabin and Leonhard mushing dogs at Chatanika, a small car ferry, the sternwheeler Casca traveling on the Yukon, Seppala's cabin with flowers in summer and Leonhard and Constance with puppies and dogs, Seppala's cabin at Chatanika in the fall, Leonhard working on the Davidson Ditch, sternwheeler travel, road travel, another small car ferry, Leonhard in Dawson City, the Fairbanks Winter Carnival, Leonhard mushing dogs and with dogs in a dogyard, flowers, Nome streets, lightering people to a ship in Nome, a Wien Detroiter airplane in Nome, a reindeer herd, hides hanging by a cabin, and people along streets in Fairbanks during the winter carnival.

: [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.

: [Senator Gruening talks with James W. Wilson]; Alaska Senator Ernest Gruening interviews Alaska Director of Agriculture James Wilson about the ongoing development of agriculture in Alaska.

: [Golden Days, Fairbanks, Haul Road, snow, wildlife 2]; AAF-10408 is made up of several smaller reels of film. Handwritten notes on original film boxes are as follows: “Buffalo.” “Plane taking off mi 101 Steese Hi 182 Atigun Pass, bull moose in Park, plowing Atigun Pass going up after storm, Atigun Pass slide, 1980, Mt. McKinley.” “Prudhoe, Bev and I at P Bay, good summer shots of caribou, air show at Eielson.” “Snow bound blizzard, snow bound at Prudhoe blizzard, geese and swans springtime, ptarmigan.” “Wide building moving at P Bay, rest trial run with camera.” “Sheep.” “Great Denali Trespass, [?].” “Grizzly, air show, sheep, Haul Rd.” “Driving to and around Prudhoe, cam breakdown 2 mi TAPS, Teglar, S end [?], [?] king.” This film contains footage of bison and fall trees, a large raft on rapids, an airplane taking off on a road, moose, caribou, snow being cleared from a road, caribou, permafrost along river, a caribou and the pipeline, an airshow with a short takeoff and landing demo, ptarmigan, a storm on the Haul Road, trucks snowed in on the Haul Road, a helicopter and swans and waterfowl along a roadside, pump station facilities, city streets, dall sheep, a bear and the pipeline, a bear with three cubs, Cantwell, the 1979 Great Denali-McKinley Trespass event near Cantwell, a bear alongside a truck, construction, a truck off the road, and wintery road scenes.

: [Fort Yukon, people and activities]; This is a reel of 16mm film made up of seven smaller reels of film. Reel 1 is labeled “Rube & Bill Mason” and contains footage of a number of individuals carrying items out of a cabin and loading them onto a boat as well as a man and a woman carrying bags, boxes, and miscellaneous household items across the shore to the boat. Reel 2 is labeled “Emil Bergman & Mrs. Burk” and contains footage of two or three individuals looking at large ice floes and ice jams on a river. It also contains footage of a town and buildings with water in front of them (possibly flooding). Reel 3 is labeled “John Thomas 9” and contains footage of a large group of adults and children standing on the edge of a large river, scenic views of the river, and two women walking up to the river. It also shows ice flowing on the river, three children playing by the water, an Alaska Native woman with a small child on her back and two older children, ice floes in the river, two men looking at the river, a small girl looking at the camera, and a group of children playing. Reel 4 is labeled “John Thomas” and contains footage of a child paddling a canoe, children playing with the canoe in the water, children swimming in the water, children playing on the beach next to the water, a person in a bathing suit paddling a canoe, a person paddling the canoe standing up, and two men in another canoe. Reel 5 is labeled “Muskrat Hunting” and contains footage of a man leading a group of large sled dogs, dogs pulling a dogsled from the perspective of the sled driver, a man and a boy with guns evaluating the tundra closely and setting a trap, a man being pulled on a dogsled, a man standing with the sled dogs, a man and boy walking through the snow in the woods, a man and boy checking the traps, the boy showing the camera his catch, and a man and boy striking an animal (likely a muskrat) with a stick and holding it up by the tail. Reel 6 is labeled “1930-1940 Doctor Burke’s 4th of July” and “Dr. Burk’s Pictures 4th of July.” It contains footage of a man walking up a dock, two men paddling a canoe (possibly through flood waters), two men walking past a building, two men getting into a canoe and paddling a canoe, a large number of well-dressed children playing in a field with adults looking on, children engaged in wheelbarrow races, children engaged in three-legged races, and a large group of adults watching as other members engage in an unidentified game. Reel 7 is labeled “Steamboat” and contains footage of well-dressed women walking, priests and men in suits talking next to a body of water, people on a large riverboat with a sign that says “U.S. Mail,” well-dressed people on a beach in front of the riverboat, a number of people shaking hands with what appears to be the captain of the riverboat, people standing on the shore next to the riverboat and waving as the ship departs, and people milling around on the shore.

: [Kermode bears]; The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has film AAF-20352 numbered as Bacon 87-01 and titled “Kermodei Bear.” Reed Bovee interviewed filmmaker Bill Bacon in 2010, and the following information about this film is based on Bovee's notes from that interview: “Kermode bears are all white at the San Juan Islands off of Canada - This is the only place in the world where you can find these bears - It’s a white black bear - Bill spent days looking for them and finally a guy said what are you looking for - Bill told him the Kermode Bear - The guy said, ‘Oh go to the dump they are there every night,’ and sure enough that’s where he found them - Great story - Reel 1 contains very rare footage - Valuable - There is only one other guy who has film of these bears.” Notes on the film box are as follows: “Kermode Bear – black bear mother with cubs/cave” and “Reel 1: Original, ECN, Kermode bear.”

: [Aleutians travel, Old Town Valdez]; The original film is unlabeled. The film contains scenes of ocean waves crashing against a rocky shore in the Aleutian Islands – likely Amchitka, a large abandoned building, a man with a sign that says “Amchitka forest,” a sea otter in ocean waves, otters playing in an enclosed pool, military buildings and Quonset huts, a man fishing, grave markers, a barbed wire fence, wrecked military airplanes, a large airplane hangar, a gun turret, a Reeve Aleutian Airways DC-6 airplane landing, aerial views of clouds and a volcano, grebes in water, a man with a string of fish, John Baker with a string of fish, a road sign for New Valdez and Old Valdez, homes and buildings in Old Valdez that were abandoned following the 1964 earthquake, Pioneer Hall, the oldest building, an old cable office, Hotel Valdez, an abandoned vehicle, old oil tanks along the shoreline, the wrecked boat “Gulf King,” Valdez sheet metal works, a Gilson’s sign, a church, a boy with a bicycle, and pickup truck driving out of town.

: [Waymon Vest collection films 1]; This film was identified by the filmmaker as North Sea and Denmark, circa 1967-1969. The full 25-minute reel was made from eight smaller reels labeled by the filmmaker as follows: 1968 helicopter, North Sea, Denmark; air jump and pick up by chopper; air show, Esbjerg Denmark 1969, hovercraft glider; Denmark Germany ferry; Zapata jackup North Sea 1968; Denmark [illegible]; Denmark King’s summer house; hovercraft, Peder Iversen Denmark, Hanna and Peder. The film features scenes of an oil platform in the North Sea, people boarding a large helicopter and taking off from a platform, supply boats in rough seas, oil workers on a platform, parachutists jumping to water from an airplane and being retrieved by a helicopter (as part of a Danish military exercise, according to filmmaker), aircrafts flying in formation, a hovercraft demonstration, people shoveling snow, a ferry, aerial views of farmland and an oil platform from a helicopter, family scenes, an aerobatic airplane, a balloon, and travel and site-seeing scenes in the Denmark area.

: [McKinley Park Hotel, Curry Hotel, Alaska Railroad, Anchorage]; This film features footage the interior of a hotel lobby, exterior footage of the Denali Park Hotel, an Alaska Railroad train departing a station, the Healy train station and hotel, fall colors, a footbridge over a river to a red building, interior black-and-white views of people playing cards at a table and man hand propping a Piper Cub airplane on skis, an airplane taking off and landing on snow, a bear on a hillside, people in a hotel lobby, scenic sky and mountain views, Mt. McKinley, a rainbow, Denali Park caribou and bears and a porcupine, the Curry Hotel with many skis in snow in front of the hotel, people posing for the camera, a boy climbing tree, a boy and woman walking through tall ferns, a lake and wildlife, a dog or wolf pup tied up, a fox, scenic views of mountains in Denali Park, a woman feeding an arctic ground squirrel, people sitting on a porch in front of a building labeled "Dining Room," views from a train, women and men posing for the camera, Denali Park Hotel, a Beech 18 airplane taking off, a flower garden, a woman and children on horseback, several horses, women and children posing for the camera, a squirrel eating a pancake, wildlife, a family posing and waving, children feeding arctic ground squirrels, a fox, people posing in front of a log cabin, views of Mt. McKinley and a park road, wildlife in the distance, bears, Mt. McKinley, a bear on a park road, Dall sheep, caribou, more views of mountains including Mt. McKinley, more people posing for the camera, women in a garden, men in military uniforms posing in front of a military airplane (c-45?), a man wearing a parachute(?) in front of a military aircraft, aerial views of Anchorage, crowds of people and photographers gathering around an Alaska Railroad engine and train, a train car labeled "The Aurora," people standing on a rooftop (of a train station in Anchorage?) to watch a train, a train pulling away from a station, military airplanes flying in formation overhead, an older steam engine on tracks (Alaska Railroad Engine No. ?), children in costume for a parade, military bands and soldiers in a parade in Anchorage, floats in a parade, children's races, a short bit of a parade in a large city (possibly New York City??), an airshow in Alaska with several aircraft and a helicopter (Sikorsky H-5?), a parade with military from several branches, military airplanes flying low over the parade, more airshow scenes, more Anchorage parade scenes with military vehicles and aircraft, a family posing, girls posing at a school graduation, a family posing in front of a car, more airshow scenes of a helicopter, a family in a car, children in a parade, girls posing with a doll, a family and a dog at home, a large dam outside of Alaska, women with a horse, a young baton twirler leading a parade in an unknown location, family scenes at unknown locations (one of which includes Quonset huts in the background), and wildlife (in Denali Park?). The reel is made up of 13 smaller reels of film. Handwritten notes on the original cans, boxes, and film leaders include the following: 1) #2 Mt. McKinley, fox, bear, moose, Curry and McKinley Hotel, airplane. 2) #1 Moose, [??], McKinley, trail ride, Curry[?], McKinley Park - Eklutna Flats, McKinley Park Hotel and Flowers. 3) #1A McKinley Park, airplane (Dad), 4th Parade, Elks Parade - July 4, 1947 Anchorage, Mac at McKinley in Beechcraft and Anchorage from air. 4) #1B Air show 1948 – starts with helicopter. 5) #2 1950 Armed Forces Day Parade and air show – starts with downtown parade. 6) #3 1950 Armed Forces Day – Kastermans and us with Bos’n. 7) #4 Kay’s 8th grade graduation, Ted[?] and family and air show – starts with back porch. 8) #7 July 1950 – 1950 Peters Creek, 4th of July, Swifts – starts with dark hair person in red in woods. 9) #8 April 1951 – starts with woman in red tailored suit, white house with picket fence – Kay before she left for Holy Names, Gram and her new hair-do. 10) #9 October 8, 1951 – starts with blue lake and mostly unforested hills. 11) #10 October 8, 1951 – starts with baton twirler in parade. 12) #13 July 24, 1952 – Kathy Kay, Ray and Peg in Anchorage - starts in a garden, women in dress and straw hat, woven brown fence. 13) [Unlabeled and mostly very dark – only useable parts maintained].

: [Adler-Tollefson Family films - 4]; This film shows people skiing behind a truck as seen from the truck.

: [Stenberg films 4]; This is a film that was developed in August 1962 and is labeled, “Mitkoff Hiway No. 2.” The film contains scenes of road construction along a shoreline, crews removing trees and blasting rock, a coastal Alaska town (Petersburg?), and men washing clams.

: [KTVF news stories, tankers at Valdez, Yukon 800 boat race, Golden Days parade]; Some segments of this film have sound, and others are silent. Specific dates are noted in parentheses when available. The footage features Amanda Blake and other celebrities from the television show "Gunsmoke" touring the musk ox farm at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the celebrities watching moose and bears in Denali National Park (silent), Valdez port facilities, a ceremony on a dock, the ARCO tanker "Juneau" leaving the dock (sound), trucks on the Haul Road in the Atigun Pass region, pump stations in the evening and at night (silent), scenes from the Yukon 800 boat race, boats on the Yukon River, boats arriving in Fairbanks, a trophy being awarded to a man (1974) (silent), the construction of Hamilton Elementary School and a shopping complex (June 21, 1974) (sound), water carnival scenes, kids playing in water, kids and adults near a river (June 30, 1974) (silent), the Golden Days parade in downtown Fairbanks, a kids' football competition (silent), motorcross bike races, a ceremony in Valdez aboard the ARCO tanker "Fairbanks," a helicopter flying over Fairbanks, and Fairbanks flight school (silent).

: [KTVF news stories, Ester, phone booths, bars, Fairbanks housing]; Specific dates and other information noted on the original film are given here in parentheses. The film features bullet holes in the walls of a police department office, United States Air Force jets with bicentennial logos on display, the Chena River and downtown Fairbanks, Ester buildings, Cripple Creek Cache, the Malemute Saloon, Cripple Creek Hotel, Chilkoot Charlie's, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, a street torn apart, men working on damaged utility pipes, black smoke spewing from a power plant stack, people gathering in front of the Bunnell Building at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, cars parked along a roadside, people walking into the brush (title of segment is "Where's Harry?") (August 5, 1976), flower beds and water sprinklers in downtown Fairbanks, phone booths in downtown Fairbanks, people using phone booths, trees that have been marked and cut, slash piles, traffic and parking lots in downtown Fairbanks, workers welding Trans-Alaska Pipeline sections, people riding on a bus, Governor Jay Hammond being presented with a medallion, views of Diary Queen and Alaska National Bank on University Avenue in Fairbanks, building construction, the construction of the Federal Building in Fairbanks, reserved parking spots in a parking garage, a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a bike path, Governor Jay Hammond on a bicycle, various trailer parks, construction in downtown Fairbanks (title of segment is "NOW UC Borough"), landscaped lawns and flower displays throughout Fairbanks, downtown Fairbanks bars and liquor stores, the Elbow Room, the Savoy Bar, the Flame Lounge, Mecca Bar, the Persian Room, the Roustabout (title of segment is "Closure"), an overview of downtown Fairbanks, and views of apartment buildings and houses in the area.

: [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.

: [Chatanika, narrow-gauge, Gilmore]; AAF-784 images include F.E. gold camp at unidentified location, Jess Bryant with glasses, hat and cigar, Joseph Romig in dark suit with cigar, Davidson Ditch, Chatanika River, Chatanika siphon, Ella Romig next to pipe, hydraulic giants, Dredge Number 6 under construction at Gilmore, Alaska Railroad narrow-gauge train on original track from the Tanana Valley Railroad at Chatanika, unidentified people, and completed dredge at work.

: [Haines, totem poles, etc. 1]; The filmmaker's original labeling scheme has AAF-20,055 numbered as Bacon 12-2 and titled "Haines, Sue Silver Carver: 50 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 12 - 9 Reels, 1 black & white picture - Picture in box of Carl Heinmiller dancing. Picture doing the bear dance... 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..."

: [Adler-Tollefson Family films - 8]; This film contains scenes of family activities that appear to be mostly outside the state of Alaska.

: [Alaska travel, Healy, Valdez, Gulkana, Ski Boot Hill, travel outside 2]; This film is made up of several smaller reels labeled "Salcha and Texas 1973," "Healy, Salcha, Chena, Gulk [?], Tex," "Healy Lake," "Healy Coal, Home," "Healy Lake, Home Fbks, Xmas, Old Shop," "Healy Lake, Rich, Snow Mach, Ski Boot Hill," and "Ski Boot Hill, Downtown." The film contains footage of an Alaska cabin and tracked cart, a neighborhood and Baptist church, a family fishing, canoeing on a lake, a family at home, a school bus in Healy during winter with a group posing near the bus, a cabin and hunting scenes, Christmas and home scenes, men in a shop, a large building in winter, camping scenes, snowmachines, a highway, skiing, a ski hill tow rope, and downtown Fairbanks.

: [Dog sled races]; This film contains footage of people with a dog team, the start of a dog sled race, a dog team on a trail, a dog team on a city street, the North American Championship races, scenes along a trail, an interview with a musher, a children's game, a small parade, a blanket toss, and a trophy ceremony.

: Wheels from the Arctic; Original film taken by John Logan of travel with Slim Williams from Fairbanks to Washington State overland in 1939 on BSA motorcycles. The two men were promoting the idea of a highway connecting Alaska to the Lower 48 states. Footage includes their departure from Fairbanks, Tanana River travel, visiting the RCMP in Dawson City Yukon Territory, difficulties encountered along the trail, constructing a boat to cross the Klappan River, travel with the horse pack train of Alfred and Elma Milotte, arrival at the Canada - U.S. Border, and travel in Washington state.

: [Eyth Family collection films 3]; This film contains aerial views of mountains as seen from a small airplane as well as scenes featuring men talking, homemade rafts on a river, moose, children playing in a river, mountains and a glacier, waterfalls, ice, and seals.

: [Harry Leonard’s Wiseman films]; These films were made by prospector and miner Harry Leonard primarily during the 1930s and 1940s at Fairbanks, Alaska, and at or near Wiseman, Alaska, a small mining community along the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River in the Brooks Range about 270 miles north of Fairbanks. In 2019, the original films were preserved through funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF); Reflex Technologies of Burbank, California, scanned the reels of original 8mm film and created digital DPX files, which were then output to new 16mm internegative and answer print film stocks by Video & Film Solutions of Rockville, Maryland. The original films, new internegative and answer print films, and digital files are all being preserved by the Alaska Film Archives at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Many of the following identifications are from film donor George Lounsbury. AAF-1865 scenes include a fire in a Fairbanks building, Harry Leonard’s wife Savannah Leonard standing near car, Harry Leonard approaching the camera, cabins and sled dogs, Savannah Leonard with a broom and with snowshoes at the Leonard home on Dunkel Street in Fairbanks, and Harry Leonard waving. A pilot starts a Stearman bi-plane airplane on skis, followed by aerial views of Wiseman and mountains. Images back at Fairbanks include fire at the Hotel Alaska. Koyukuk region images include a small dam, large pump and pipe, and Harry Leonard with hydraulic giant moving material at Archibald Gulch on Nolan Creek. AAF-1866 scenes include a dog team on the Chena River at Fairbanks, Soviet aviator Mavriky Slepnyov walking to camera with unidentified men, with Savannah Leonard, and with Harry Avakoff (in dark suit). Harry and Savannah Leonard and other men pose with airplanes at Weeks Field in Fairbanks, and then an airplane on skis takes off. In the Koyukuk region of Alaska, men at the Wiseman Roadhouse include (left to right) unidentified, Phil Sundquist, Ace Wilcox, Poss Postlethwaite, Albert Ness, Martin Slisco and unidentified. On the final pan of the men, Harry Leonard is the last man on the right. Next are images of Wild Lake, Phil Sundquist with rifle, and the Hope Family at camp, including Ludi Hope and her adopted son Henry, who was the son of Japanese whaler and miner James Minano. Following scenes of a lake are men including Ace Wilcox and Vern Watts at sluice box, Biner Wind’s mining camp, Biner Wind on the runners of a dog sled, Harry Leonard with dog in front of tent, Phil Sundquist sharpening a saw, spring breakup on the Koyukuk River, miners shoveling ore into sluice boxes at Biner Wind's mining operation on the Hammond River, Ike English by sluice box, and people gathered around an airplane at Wiseman. Next are scenes of Roshier H. Creecy panning a sample in a washtub over a campfire and standing by a cabin during the winter at Gold Creek. Roshier Creecy, born just after the Civil War ended, was one of the few known African Americans who made their living by prospecting and mining in Alaska in the early 1900s. Following this are scenes of Roshier Creecy pulling a sled over ice and then dogs pulling a sled on snow, Harry Leonard waving to camera, Roshier Creecy waving to camera, Wiseman as viewed from the hillside, a dog yard, a log church (possibly at Allakaket?), and aerial views during a winter flight in a biplane. Images at Fairbanks include the Chena River breaking up downtown, and airplanes at Weeks Field. After scenes of people posing for the camera, are images from the Wiseman area including Tishu Ulen and Joe Ulen and their family, self-tripping dam on Gold Creek, a snared black bear, moose, and Harry Leonard prospecting with pack dog. Next is a scene of people posing by an airplane on floats flown by Wiley Post with Will Rogers while it is parked on the Chena River at Fairbanks. This is followed by scenes of a grouse, mountains near Wiseman, hunters with caribou antlers and meat, and Harry Leonard with a sled hauling firewood in winter. AAF-1867 images from the Wiseman area include high water running over Harry Leonard's Gold Creek dam, mining camp with small sluice boxes and prospect boiler, man shoveling ore into sluice boxes, and Harry Leonard at hunting camp with three moose heads. Images at Fairbanks include people at Weeks Field getting into single engine Wien Alaska Airlines airplane piloted by Herman Lerdahl, Richard Wien as a boy running toward the camera, and a Mirow airplane on skis. Images outside of Alaska include a United Airlines Mainliner and travel to cities at several locations. Scenes of travel across the United States from Key West, Florida, to New York City and El Paso, Texas, were possibly filmed by a friend of Leonard’s borrowing his camera.

: [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.

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