The Alaska pipeline photographic-history project extended from 1974-1977. The objective of the project was to record on photographic film and on audio tape the history of Alaska during construction of the Alaskan pipeline. The focus was people : those directly involved with the construction and those whose lives were affected significantly by the new pipeline. It was envisioned as a record of the social consequences of the construction of the Alaska pipeline rather than a documentation of the actual construction. Although there are construction photographs, a greater emphasis is placed on images of individuals, businessmen, workers, trainers, services catering to the pipeline, and government, hospital, and social welfare officials. Photographic essays, for example, follow the truckers as they head north on the haul road, look at living conditions and visit a mobile home park, capture images of Alyeska employees being trained in Valdez or at work in the remote camps and at Prudhoe Bay, show the cross section of human activity in Fairbanks and Anchorage, or feature women who work on the pipeline.

Contents include over 9000 slides, over 250 (estimate) black and white photographs, contact sheets with negatives, 172 cassettes, miscellaneous documents, including short subject essays on selected groups of images, indexes and lists of images, 26 typed interviews and datasheets on women who worked on the pipeline.