Archive Watch

Northern Alaska Today (1927)

1927 · Silent film · 10 min

Watch now On the Internet Archive

Synopsis

(1927) is a silent, black-and-white 16mm newsreel film by Fox Film Corporation and Kodascope, likely part of a larger educational film series called “The World We Live In.” The film tells the story of the Alaska Purchase where, in 1867, the Russian empire sold the Untied States the territory of Alaska for a sum of $7.2 million. The deal was initiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward and was largely criticized by the American public as “Seward’s Folly” as people’s perception of the territory was that it was a useless land of ice and snow. The film charts the history of Alaska from the time of purchase through the end of the 19th century and discusses changing popular opinion as Alaska is discovered to be an “untapped” land of precious resources from gold and other ores to salmon and seal skins. Nonetheless, the film does take on a propagandized view point largely claiming that the quality of life for the indigenous Eskimos is steadily increasing due to the presence of American settlers and resources. Film opens, Kodascope projection message (0:07). Title page (0:10). Text page, history of US purchase of Alaska from Russia, public perception of new territory (0:17). View from passenger ship of snow covered mountain tops, glaciers, ice chunks floating in water; Women in dress jackets and hats huddle together on ship’s upper deck (0:29). Text page, criticism of Secretary of State William H. Seward’s purchase of Alaska “Seward’s Folly!” (0:41). View from upper deck of…

Uploader's description on archive.org

Details

Running time
10 minutes
Collection
Ephemeral Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

More like this