About
Murphy Library has several subject-specific video collections available from Alexander Street. These are purchased collections whose content does not change, with the exception of the PBS Video Collection, access to which was funded by UW-Colleges and will expire at the end of 2020.
Accessibility
Interactive transcripts are available for almost all titles on the Alexander Street platform, and closed captioning is available for many titles.
Sharing Content
Please see this page of our website for information on how to create persistent links for Alexander Street videos.
Public Performance Rights
Alexander Street films are for educational use only. No public performance rights come with this resource.
Available Collections
The following video collections are available from Alexander Street:
- American History in Video (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new windowAmerican History in Video provides a collection of video available online for the study of American history, with 2,000 hours and more than 5,000 titles on completion. The collection provides access to commercial and governmental newsreels, archival footage, public affairs footage, and documentaries.
- Black Studies in Video (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new windowThis collection features documentaries, newsreels, interviews, and archival footage surveying the evolution of black culture in the United States. Includes California Newsreel's African American Classics collection that includes films covering history, politics, art and culture, family structure, social and economic pressures, and gender relations. This current release includes 145 videos totaling 141 hours.
- Ethnographic Video Online (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new windowThis resource brings together a wide range of streaming video, written ethnographies, field notes, seminal texts, memoirs, and contemporary studies, covering human behavior the world over. The database contains more than 1,800 documentary films and over 100,000 pages of full-text material, including tens of thousands of pages of previously unpublished material from major archives. Includes Volumes 1 & 2 Second Edition.
- Filmakers Library Online (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new windowThis resource presents points of view and historical and current experiences from diverse cultures and traditions world-wide. This release now provides 1,019 titles, equaling approximately 806 hours.
- LGBT Studies in Video (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new windowA cinematic survey of the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people as well as the cultural and political evolution of the LGBT community. Features award-winning documentaries, interviews, archival footage, and select feature films exploring LGBT history, gay culture and subcultures, civil rights, marriage equality, LGBT families, AIDS, transgender issues, religious perspectives on homosexuality, global comparative experiences, and other topics.
- The Film Platform Collection (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new windowStreaming documentary films from around the world.
- The PBS Video Collection: Fourth Edition (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new windowOver 1200 PBS titles, including familiar series such as NOVA, Nature, American Experience, and Frontline.
