LibGuides: Genealogy & Family Research: Media

Databases

DVDs and Streaming Video

Genealogy is a very popular hobby and there are some excellent television shows, documentaries, and movies that focus on the lives of other people seeking to know their family story. These stories may provide some inspiration to continue on with or ideas to use with your research.

Discovering Your Roots: An Introduction to Genealogy Genealogy is a journey of self-discovery that can teach you as much about yourself as about those who came before you. But what holds many of us back from unearthing our family history is uncertainty about how to go about it. Discover which resources you should use and trust, how you should make your way through tangles of public records, and so much more (15 videos total, 473 minutes total).
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Kanopy" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Finding Your Roots - Season 1 Presented and written by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this series journeys deep into the ancestry of a group of remarkable individuals and provides new understanding of personal identity and American history.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Kanopy" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Finding Your Roots - Season 2 Since the premiere of his groundbreaking series African American Lives (2006), noted scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has been helping people discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees. Now, in the second season of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Professor Gates continues that journey, utilizing a team of genealogists to reconstruct the paper trail left behind by our ancestors and the world's leading geneticists to decode our DNA and help us travel thousands of years into the past to discover the origins of our earliest forebears. Each of the 7 episodes highlights three celebrity guests, as Gates guides them through layers of ancestral history, uncovering secrets and surprises of their family trees and sharing life-altering discoveries.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Kanopy" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Finding Your Roots - Ancient Roots Trace the histories of these three guests. Tina Fey's fifth great-grandfather survived a terrible massacre and became a hero in the Greek War of Independence. David Sedaris' ancestors were also touched by the Greek War of Independence. George Stephanopoulos' family was willing to sacrifice themselves in the struggle against the Nazi occupation of Greece during World War II.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Kanopy" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Finding Your Roots - Decoding Our Past Deval Patrick is the first African American Governor of Massachusetts, and Jessica Alba is an actress who proudly embraces her Mexican American heritage. But cutting edge DNA analysis reveals that their family trees in fact contain a far more diverse range of cultures and races.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Kanopy" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Tracing Roots Tracing Roots is a portrait of an artist and a mystery. The film follows master weaver and Haida elder Delores Churchill on a journey to understand the origins of a spruce root hat found with Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi, the Long Ago Person Found, a 300-year-old traveler discovered in Northern Canada in a retreating glacier. Delores's quest crosses cultures and borders, involving artists, scholars and scientists, raising questions about the meaning of connection, knowledge and ownership.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Kanopy" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
6 Generations Ernestine De Soto is a Chumash Native American whose mother Mary Yee was the last speaker of her native Barbareno language. In 6 Generations, her family reaches back to the days the Spanish arrived in Santa Barbara and made first contact. Ernestine tells this history from the perspective of her female ancestors, making her a unique link with the past.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Kanopy" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
How to Trace Your Native American Heritage "How To Trace Your Native American Heritage" is a valuable resource for anyone looking to discover or establish their Native American ancestry. The film provides both the basics for genealogical research and unique points for Native American research. The viewer will learn: How to contact your tribe; where to find government information; how to obtain tribal membership, enhancing one's sense of belonging and heritage; how and where to research the Dawes Rolls; benefits offered through official Native American status; how to participate in tribal elections; valuable internet sites; and listings of over five hundred US federally recognized Native American Tribe. This film was narrated by Gregg Howard and was a winner of the 1997 Telly Award and two Crystal of Excellence Awards.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Kanopy" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Adopted: The Documentary Adopted reveals the grit rather than the glamor of trans-racial adoption. Director Barb Lee goes deep into the intimate lives of two well-meaning families. One family is just beginning the process of adopting a baby from China. The other family’s adopted Korean daughter is now 32 years old. Prompted by her adoptive mother’s terminal illness, she tries to create the bond they never had. Part of the series: Adopted.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Films on Demand" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Made in Taiwan: Genes, Culture, and the Peopling of the South Pacific DNA testing has become a standard tool in genealogical research, but it takes more than saliva swabs and lab reports to truly understand one’s ancestry. In this program, two young New Zealanders of Polynesian descent undergo DNA sampling, wrestle with the surprising results, and then embark on a journey of discovery, searching for their roots across the Pacific and into Asia. Their voyage—by land, sea, and air—traces in reverse the steps their ancestors would have taken thousands of years ago, passing through the Cook Islands, Samoa, Vanuatu, and ending eventually in Taiwan. For studying the overlap between genomic research and the cultural aspects of human migration, this is a moving and highly relevant odyssey. (46 minutes)
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Films on Demand" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Secrets of the Sequence Video Clip Collection Series Ideal for launching lectures and discussions, this four-part series of video segment compilations provides an inside look at progress in genetic science. Through case studies and interviews with many of the field’s most respected authorities, the series explores medical, biological, and agricultural research—while reporting on the profound moral, ethical, and legal questions this research raises. Produced in collaboration with Harvard University, The Medical Research Council/Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of California San Francisco, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Virginia Commonwealth University. 4-part series, 60-73 minutes each.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Films on Demand" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Population Change: Migration in the U.K. Every new migrant has a different story to tell, but most of those stories are based on the desire for a better way of life. Through the experiences of several newcomers and their families, this program explores the history, causes, and impact of migration in the U.K. Viewers meet a former nurse who left West Africa to help support more than 30 family members back home, a Latvian farm worker doing labor-intensive chores that native Britons shunned, and a Kurdish journalist who fled Iran due to the threat of imprisonment. The video looks at the problems faced by the migrants and sheds light on why people would endure so much to earn wages in a foreign land. Part of the series Populations. (35 minutes)
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Films on Demand" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
The Human Family Tree Astoria, Queens, New York is the melting pot of melting pots, with a range of skin tones, heights, weights, hair types, and eye shapes, to say nothing of their beliefs, cultures, languages, and trades. But just how different are we? At a street fair in the heart of Astoria, on a sweltering July day, geneticist Spencer Wells and his team take DNA samples from this amazingly diverse group. These samples will show how a selection of New Yorkers: a waitress, a teacher, a councilman, a fashion model, and a mother, among many others, with ethnic origins as diverse as Thai, Puerto Rican and African—are all connected; that they, like everyone else on the planet, can trace their ancestry back to the same small group of Homo sapiens who began eking out a living in Africa less than 200,000 years ago. A National Geographic Production.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Films on Demand" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Who Do You Think You Are? (Australian Version) Australian version of the popular cable TV show. Taking us to all corners of Australia and the globe are six stories of individuals seeking to find the definitive answer to where they came from. Along the way secrets are uncovered and histories are revealed--from adultery and madness to children born out of wedlock and even the whiff of a right royal scandal--with each individual discovering that their ancestors form an integral part of not only their own identity, but that of the nation. NOTE: The American version is available for streaming on Hulu and YouTube ($).
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Kanopy" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Tracked Down by Our Genes In 2003 the Human Genome Project, culminating a 13-year effort, announced that they had succeeded in identifying the more than 20,000 genes in human DNA. Having decoded the 'book of life,' scientists would now be able to understand better how the human organism works, paving the way for improved treatment of diseases and the development of new medicines and healthcare techniques. TRACKED DOWN BY OUR GENES shows how this scientific breakthrough, which has provided a map through the labyrinth of heredity, allowing us to trace our ancestors' footprints, has ushered in a new age of genetic awareness, with hundreds of companies offering tests to determine ancestry, paternity, and hereditary diseases.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Docuseek2" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Sin Nombre Three teens from Central America trek through Mexico to get to the U.S. Paulina Gaitan, Edgar Flores, Kristyan Ferrer, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Diana Garcia. Directed by Cary Fukunaga.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Swank Digital Campus" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Loyalties This is the poignant story of two women who discover they share two halves of a common past in the painful lineage of slave and slave holder.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Filmmakers Library Online" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
The Only Image of My Father Monica has never met her father. She knows only that his face was once on a Swedish stamp and that he was a Sami reindeer man, an indigenous Scandinavian. But who was her father? Why was he put on a stamp? And is he still alive? After decades of ignorance, she decides to track him down.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Filmmakers Library Online" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Motherland, 2, Moving On Motherland: A Genetic Journey followed three people of African descent who traced their roots through DNA testing. This new film picks up their story two years later. Shot in the UK, USA, Africa and Jamaica, this very moving film continues their soul-searching journeys, raising fundamental questions about who we are. Mark discovers that his ancestors belonged to the Kanuri tribe. When he connects with them, he cannot communicate since there is a language barrier. He goes through an emotional 'naming ceremony' but finds that he has mistakenly chosen a name that belongs to the slave catchers that oppressed his people. Beaula learns that she has ancestors that belong to more than one tribe and some of the tribespeople are only interested in what gifts she can offer them. Jacqueline visits English cousins who are white who accept her as part of the family. All three participants feel enriched by their new discoveries but understand that DNA tracing may lead to complicated emotional discoveries.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Filmmakers Library Online" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
Keep on Walking Filmed on location in Newark, St. Louis, Stockholm and Jerusalem this film is a celebration of an exceptional young man, Joshua Nelson. Joshua, an African American who is Jewish, transcends the differences between races and faiths through his music. He is both an up-and-coming gospel singer in the tradition of Mahalia Jackson and a Hebrew teacher. Joshua began singing at 13. His mother remembers him as an eccentric youth, displaying leadership qualities from an early age. In this film, he participates in jazz sessions, concert performances in this country and abroad and religious observances. Through his composing, gospel singing and chanting Torah, Joshua is the musical embodiment of cultural harmony. His rich voice, charismatic personality, and singular ideas make this a powerful and inspiring film for all audiences.
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Filmmakers Library Online" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.
The Living Tree: Chinese American Identity Red China. Because of her family's efforts to avoid scrutiny during the Cold War era of the 1950's they tried hard to blend in with their surroundings and little mention was made at home of their Chinese past. Light -hearted letters which would pass the scrutiny of censors on both sides of the Bamboo Curtain were the only way family ties were maintained. It was not until Flora's Aunt Ping immigrated to America in the late eighties that Flora learned about her ancestors and the intertwining of Chinese history and family history. She also learned about the recent past, when her "capitalistic" family was subject to attack during the Cultural Revolution. The silence her parents had maintained about their past hardships and the loneliness experienced as immigrants was finally revealed. The thoroughly westernized Flora Moon once identified with ancient Rome, not ancient China. She had been labeled a "banana" -- yellow outside but white inside Now a new dimension--her Chinese roots-- has been revealed and absorbed .
more...less...
NOTE: If you are off-campus and the documentary does not play from the URL, go to the UW Libraries website and go to the Databases page. Locate the "Filmmakers Library Online" database in the "Media" subject listing. Type in the title of this film in the search box. Sign in with your UW username and password. Public patrons will not have access.