Traveling in Alaska
Angela Schmidt with UAF’s Alaska Film Archives, sharing stories from KUAC’s television history in celebration of National Library Week.
This National Library Week, we invite you to take a look back at traveling in Alaska.
For more than 50 years, KUAC has been there… capturing the journeys, the routes, and the stories that connect communities across this vast state.
In Steamer Nenana: Last Lady of the River, we’re reminded of an earlier era… when sternwheelers were a lifeline, carrying supplies, mail, and passengers through the heart of the state.
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In Klondike & Alaska: A Rail History, we trace the story of Alaska’s trains, and the role they’ve played in opening pathways across rugged terrain.
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And in Over the Heart of Alaska, we take to the skies… exploring aviation and hearing from the pilots who flew across the state, connecting places that roads can’t reach.
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These recordings remind us that Alaska’s geography isn’t just a backdrop… it’s a way of life.
Today, these recordings are all available for viewing online.
Through a partnership between KUAC and the Alaska Film Archives at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Rasmuson Library, these programs have been digitized and preserved.
The project is part of the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, a national effort supported by the Mellon Foundation, GBH in Boston, and the Library of Congress.
To start exploring, visit americanarchive.org and search for “KUAC Alaska.” Or visit KUAC.org for links.