Current Episodes

1818: Year of the Insurgents

During a pirate attack near Santa Barbara, Guadalupe Ortega and Joseph Chapman meet, fall in love, and later marry. A true story from Spanish California filmed at La Purisima Mission and Refugio Beach State Parks.
Length: 12:00 - $39.95

Voices of 1846

Explorer John Fremont promises to leave Mexican California after resupplying his expedition. Instead, he digs in above the town of San Juan Bautista. Told through the eyes of a young Californio, Platon Vallejo. Locations: San Juan Bautista and Fremont Peak State Parks.

Length: 44:00 - $39.95

Rag City Padre

Cholera grips Sacramento in 1850, killing or driving out two-thirds of the city's population. One person stands out, pioneer missionary Peter Anderson. In the moving scenes of this vignette, saints and charlatans confront their fate. Locations: Old Sacramento and Sutter's Fort.

Length: 25:00 - $39.95

Fountains of Columbia

"Gold!" the miner shouts, "the only way to get it - with water!" Water is for drinking and fighting fire too, adds another. But in the Gold Rush town of Columbia, a shortage means water is for fighting, period. Told by 14 year-old Mary Leary, an historical character from 1857. Location: Columbia State Historic Park.

Length: 22:00 - $39.95

Mr. Bourn's Gold

Miners wary of a new invention - dynamite - and an orphanage threatened with closure: these are the threads of a true story set in the mining town of Grass Valley in 1872. Location: Empire Mine State Historic Park. FIRST PRIZE TELLY AWARD.

Length: 44:00 - $49.95

Now and Forever

Karuk, Yaruk, Miwok, Mono, Pomo, Paiute . . . If you think they have disappeared, you are wrong. In the forests and public lands of California, California Natives are living their heritage. This documentary style program shows native plant gathering and replanting, acorn food preparation, basket weaving, archeology, story, song and dance. Taped on location in the Stanislaus, Six Rivers and Trinity National Forests in Northern California. Narrated by Peter Coyote.

Length: 23:00 - $39.95

The Mansion Remembers

Will a house tell the story of those who lived in it? It will if you’re Jane Stanford, wife of the famous railroad baron and founder of Stanford University. In 1900, Jane returns to her family’s Sacramento mansion one last time, in order to donate the house as an orphanage. During her brief stay, the house triggers flashbacks to Jane’s sometimes glorious, often tragic past, while also restoring her faith in the future. Filmed on location at Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park. TRT = 17 minutes ... $39.95

BONUS - Build the Railroad! The Mansion Remembers DVD contains a bonus “Build the Railroad” quiz, in which students’ correct answers about California railroad history garner them segments of the historic Central Pacific Railroad route from Sacramento to Promontory Summit Utah. After this timed quiz, the teacher can play one of two videos: the driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit for successfully-completed railroads, or a train crash video for the others. (Actually, play both just for fun!)

The Butter Dish

In 1909, barely 50 years after slavery, eight African American families found a brand new town called Allensworth on the flat, dry plains of Tulare County, California. Their leader is Colonel Allen Allensworth, a retired US Army Chaplain. Born a slave, Allensworth leads his followers into the sun-baked San Joaquin Valley in search of an earthly paradise. For the children of these brave pioneers, Allensworth is the adventure of a lifetime – provided they don’t all melt. TRT = 17 minutes ... $39.95