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Aural History Productions
Talking History, based at the University at Albany, State University of New York, is a production, distribution, and instructional center for all forms of "aural" history. Our mission is to provide teachers, students, researchers and the general public with as broad and outstanding a collection of audio documentaries, speeches, debates, oral histories, conference sessions, commentaries, archival audio sources, and other aural history resources as is available anywhere. We hope to expand our understanding of history by exploring the audio dimensions of our past, and we hope to enlarge the tools and venues of historical research and publication by promoting production of radio documentaries and other forms of aural history. In addition to our weekly radio program, we are engaged in numerous educational efforts, from running and sponsoring workshops to offering full-semester courses on radio production and oral history. Some of the most talented radio producers and engineers currently working in public and non-commercial radio now contribute to Talking History—both to our programming and to our educational efforts through production workshops. Here, you'll also find digital archives of their enormously creative and captivating works. Our weekly broadcast/internet radio program, Talking History, focuses on all aspects of history. Follow the link to the left, "The Radio Show," for more information on the program and to access the live WWW broadcast. Below you will find our latest archived shows; to enjoy more, make use of the pop-down menu to the left; it will give you access to our full radio archive.
Jan. 28, 2010Segment 1 and 3: "A Small Southern Town: The Nation's Capital in Slave Times ~ Escape to the Pearl (1999)"
PART 1:
Real Media. [MP3 unavailable] Time: 31:28. PART 2:
Real Media. [MP3 unavailable] Time: 21:02.
"A Small Southern Town: The Nation's Capital in Slave Times ~ Escape to the Pearl," combines dramatic readings of personal accounts and contemporary commentary to tell the story of the "largest mass escape of slaves in American history." Produced by Richard Paul and WAMU (American University), this program explores one family's response (to slavery in Washington D.C. and their participation in a flight from bondage. Paul is joined by freelance writer Mary Kay Ricks as the documentary weaves its way through dramatic readings and reconstructions based on 19th century sources and contemporary commentary. In part II of the production, Paul is joined by James Horton, Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies and History at George Washington University. Horton is the co-author of In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Protest, and Community Among Northern Free Blacks, 1700 1860. For more information about the events explored in this production, see: William Lee Miller, Arguing About Slavery (Alfred A. Knopf, 1996); Personal Memoir of Daniel Drayton: For Four Years and Four Months A Prisoner (For Chairty's Sake) In Washington Jail including A Narrative Of the Voyage and Capture Of The Schooner Pearl (Negro Universities Press, 1855); John Paynter, Fugitives of the Pearl (Associated Publishers, Inc., Washington, DC, 1930); Josiah Henson, The Life of Josiah Henson, Formally a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, (1849). Segment 2: From the Archives: "Gov. Orval Faubus and Desegregation (1957)."
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Time: 3:21Here is a short edited selection from a Mike Wallace interview with Orval Faubus (conducted on Sept. 15, 1957). Faubus, governor of Arkansas, spoke to Wallace in Little Rock in the midst of his standoff with Eisenhower over the integration of Little Rock Central High School. For the full interview, go to the Harry Ransom Center's on-line collection of Mike Wallace interviews. Here is a direct link to the Faubus interview: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/faubus_orval_t.html.
Jan. 21, 2010Segment 1 and 3: "The Story of the Haitian Revolution. (2010)"
PART 1:
Real Media. MP3. Time: 27:56. PART 2:
Real Media. MP3. Time: 22:42.
From Pacifica Radio's Against the Grain series, we bring you this discussion of the Haitian Revolution of 1791 -- a conversation with Historian Laurent Dubois: "It was a cataclysmic event, the first and only successful slave revolution in the Americas. In 1791 brutally exploited slaves on a small Caribbean island rose up and eventually won emancipation. Their story, a legacy that has inspired and instructed people and nations for centuries, is told in Laurent Dubois's Avengers of the New World." Segment 2: From the Archives: "Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt ~ Roosevelt at NYS Governor."
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Time: 3:52With all of the turmoil in New York State today between the Governor and the legislature, we thought we would look back to another period of turmoil in New York State government. Here is a LibriVox (www.librivox.org) reading of a portion of Theodore Roosevelt's autobiography, in which Roosevelt recalls some of his trials and tribulations as Governor of New York from 1899 to 1900.
Jan. 14, 2010Segment 1 and 3: "Project 62: Martin Luther King Jr. Documentary (1962)"
PART 1:
Real Media. [MP3 unavailable by request of the producer]. Time: 31:07. PART 2:
Real Media. [MP3 unavailable by request of the producer]. Time: 22:36.
Here is a 1962 documentary on the life and philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr., produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and originally aired on the CBC Radio program “Project ’62.” It was recently re-broadcast on CBC's radio series "Rewind." We present it here in its entirely. Segment 2: From the Archives: "Sweatt v. Painter."(1950).
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Time: 3:52Here is a LibriVox (www.librivox.org) reading of a portion of the unanimous 1950 Supreme Court decision that helped pave the way for Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. It concerns a challenge to segregated higher education policies of the University of Texas and specifically to its Law School. The challenge was initiated, with NAACP support, by Herman Marion Sweatt, an African American who was refused admission to the School of Law of the University of Texas and who then sued the School's president, Theophilus Painter, for admission. At the time, integrated schools were prohibited by Texas' constitution. Here is a brief summary of the case: "The Texas trial court, instead of granting the plaintiff a writ of mandamus, continued the case for six months. This allowed the state time to create a law school only for blacks, which it established in Houston, Texas, rather than in Austin. The 'separate' law school and the college became today's Texas Southern University; the law school is known as the Thurgood Marshall School of Law. The trial court decision was affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court denied writ of error on further appeal. Sweatt and the NAACP appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. W.J. Durham and Thurgood Marshall presented Sweatt's case. The Supreme Court reversed the lower court decision, saying that the separate school failed to qualify, both because of quantitative differences in facilities and intangible factors, such as its isolation from most of the future lawyers with whom its graduates would interact. The court held that, when considering graduate education, intangibles must be considered as part of 'substantive equality.' The documentation of the court's decision includes the following differences identified between white and black facilities: the University of Texas Law School had 16 full-time and 3 part-time professors, while the black law school had 5 full-time professors; the University of Texas Law School had 850 students and a law library of 65,000 volumes, while the black law school had 23 students and a library of 16,500 volumes; the University of Texas Law School had moot court facilities, an Order of the Coif affiliation, and numerous graduates involved in public and private law practice, while the black law school had only one practice court facility and only one graduate admitted to the Texas Bar." [Wikipedia / "Sweatt v. Painter"]
Jan. 7, 2010Segment 1: "Divorced Kid. (2009)"
PART 1:
Real Media. MP3. Time: 27:25. PART 2:
Real Media. MP3. Time: 24:26.
"Award-winning former American RadioWorks’ producer Sasha Aslanian explores the "divorce revolution" of the 1970s through the perspective of kids--like herself--who lived through it, and experts who have had three decades to make sense of it. This program debuted on Minnesota Public Radio. . . . Using a lively blend of first-person storytelling, (surprising scenes like playing the reel-to-reel audio of her own parents' wedding vows back to them), interviews with Avery Corman, the author of Kramer vs. Kramer, and revisiting the now-grown kids who wrote "The Kids Book of Divorce" in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1979, the first half of the documentary reports on the lessons learned from the 1970s. The second half of the program examines how the experience of divorce has changed for kids since the 70s." For more information, see: http://www.americanpublicmedia.org/divorcedkid. Segment 2: From the Archives: "Dustin Hoffman on Kent State and the Weather Underground."(1970).
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Time: 3:15This is a selection from a 1970 Pacifica Radio interview with the actor Dustin Hoffman: "Most people have a sense of who Dustin Hoffman is both on film and as an advocate for the acting profession. In 1970, when this conversation was recorded, He was receiving accolades for his work, including his 1967 breakthrough performance in Mike Nichols’ The Graduate, John and Mary with Mia Farrow (1969), and his iconic role as “Ratso Rizzo” in Midnight Cowboy. His film Little Big Man was in theaters and he had already signed on to be the lead in Sam Peckinpah’s current project Straw Dogs. What we love about this recording is its informality. It isn’t about selling a film… it’s not part of a film press junket… but simple conversation about the craft and experience of acting. In addition to talking about the cinematic art form, being a Pacifica station, the conversation always includes the politics of times… which in 1970 included the Vietnam War, the Kent State killings, the youth movement in general and the role of social/political movements such as the Young Lords and The Black Panthers. Hoffman also comments on the Black Panther Party and Young Lords, who designed breakfast programs and education and health centers to help their community. Dustin Hoffman and his wife survived living next door to a Weather Underground stronghold in Greenwich Village. On March 6, 1970, just before this interview, The Weather Underground members were assembling bombs when they accidentally set them off killing 4 and completely destroying the townhouse." This is a short selection from that interview.
December 31, 2004[Last week and this week, Talking History was on vacation. We offer you a selection from our past broadcasts here, a 2004 program]
Segment 1: "White Boy: A Conversation with Historian Mark Naison (part 2 of 2)."
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Time: 32:15.This is part 2 of an interview of historian Mark Naison conducted by Talking History's Gerald Zahavi The interviews reviews his life and career as a specialist in African American history -- and his participation in some of the most significant social and political movements in recent American history: the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-War Movement, SDS, and the Weathermen. See last week's entry for more details. This interview was originally conducted for the Journal for MultiMedia History and will appear in the next issue of that on-line journal. Segment 2: From the Archives: "David Ben Gurion on the Jews and Palestine" (1947).
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Time: 6:17London Speech by David Ben Gurion (1886-1973), probably delivered before the Jewish Agency for Palestine, and used on the jointy produced ABC/Town Hall New York radio forum titled "America's Town Meeting of the Air" (it migrated to television in 1948). This address was broadcast on June 12, 1947, as part of series of broadcasts on the "Palestine problem." In his address, Ben Gurion argues the case for a Jewish homeland. The following year, the state of Israel was established. At the time he delivered this address, Ben Gurion was the Chairman of the Exectuive Committee of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, an organization founded in 1929 and devoted to promoting and protecting the rights of the Jewish community in British-occupied Palestine. When Israel became a nation in 1948, many of the leaders of the Jewish Agency became overnight leaders of the new state. For a short biography of Ben Gurion, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ben-Gurion. For more information about this recording contact Talking History/University at Albany, or the National Archives' Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Records LICON, Special Media Archives Services Division, College Park, MD. Segment 3: "Federalism and the Founding Fathers."
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Time: 16:32Talking History/OAH Bryan Le Beau begins a four-week series on "The Founders and the Constitution," with an interview with David Marion on the early history of U.S. federalism. "The Founders and the Constitution" series is a collaborative effort with the Bill of Rights Institute. Produced: September, 2004.
December 24, 2009[This week and last week, Talking History was on vacation. We offer you a selection from our past broadcasts here, a 2004 program]
Segment 1: "White Boy: A Conversation with Historian Mark Naison (part 1 of 2)."
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Time: 30:17.Mark Naison is Professor of African and African-American Studies and Director of the Urban Studies Program at Fordham University. He is the author of White Boy: A Memoir (Temple University Press, 2002), Communists in Harlem During the Depression (University of Illinois Press, 1983), co-author of The Tenant Movement in New York City, 1940-1984 (Rutgers University Press, 1986), and the author of several articles on African-American culture and contemporary urban issues, including "Outlaw Culture in Black Culture" (Reconstruction, Fall 1994). Naison's study of Buffalo's African-American community appeared in the Urban League's anthology, African-Americans and the Rise of Buffalo's Post-Industrial City (1990) and he was one of the historians asked to contribute his story to Historians and Race: Autobiography and the Writing of History (1996). He is now working on a major study of the history of African-Americans in the Bronx, in collaboration with the Bronx Historical Society. For much of his life, race has been a major concern for Naison both academically and personally. In this interview, conducted by Talking History's Gerald Zahavi, Naison reviews his life and career as a specialist in African American history -- and his participation in some of the most significant social and political movements in recent American history: the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-War Movement, SDS, and the Weathermen. This is part 1 of a 2-part interview. We will air part 2 next week. This interview was originally conducted for the Journal for MultiMedia History and will appear in the next issue of that on-line journal. Segment 2: From the Archives: "William Faulkner's Noble Prize Acceptance Speech (12-10-1950)." (1955)
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Time: 2:56William Cuthbert Faulkner, the winner of the 1949 Noble Prize in Literature, was born in New Albany, Mississippi on September 25, 1897. He is the author of several volumes of short stories and a number of novels firmly rooted in Southern region and culture, many set in a fictional place he named Yoknapatawpha County. aulkner's works include Sartoris (1929), The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Sanctuary (1931), Light in August (1932), Absalom Absalom (1936), The Hamlet (1940) and Intruder in the Dust (1948). William Faulkner died on July 6, 1962. This recording of Faulkner's Noble Prize acceptance speech was made on December 10, 1950, when he was awarded the 1949 Noble Prize in Literature (Bertrand Russell was awarded the Noble Prize in Literature for 1950 at the same time). For more information about this recording contact Talking History/University at Albany, or the National Archives' Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Records LICON, Special Media Archives Services Division, College Park, MD. Segment 3: "Bleeding Kansas."
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Time: 15:26Talking History/OAH Jim Madison discusses the ideological origins of the Civil War in the Kansas Territory with historian Nicole Etcheson of the Department of History, University of Texas at El Paso. Etcheson is the author of Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War (University Press of Kansas, 2004). Produced: September, 2004.
Segment 2: "Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801." (A LibriVox reading). December 17, 2009
Segment 1 and 3: "Backstory: Naughty & Nice ~ a History of the Holiday Season." (2009).
PART 1: Real Media. MP3. Time: 32:23.
PART 2: Real Media. MP3. Time: 17:37.
The American History Guys (Backstory) take a close look at how the celebration of Christmas (as well as Hanukkah) have changed over the years: "Christmas may be the big kahuna of American holy days, but it wasn’t always so. It used to be a time of drunken rowdiness, when the poor would demand food and money from the rich. The Puritans banned Christmas altogether. It wasn’t until the 1820s that the holiday was re-invented as the peaceful, family-oriented, and consumeristic ritual we celebrate today. In this episode, the History Guys examine the history of the 'holiday season' in America. Has Christmas grown more or less religious? How has the holiday evolved and changed here? To what extent was Hanukkah a reaction to Christmas, and how have American Jews shaped and reshaped their own wintertime rituals?" For more information about Backstory and the American History Guys, visit their Web site at: http://www.backstoryradio.org/.
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 12:01.
After a very contentious national presidential election in which Thomas Jefferson tied Aaron Burr in electoral votes, the House of Representatives, after thirty-six ballots, finally declared Jefferson President and Burr Vice President. Jefferson came into office on March 4th, 1801. In his inaugural address (and here we offer a recording of M. L. Cohen reciting it for LibriVox (http://librivox.org), he offered a summary of his political vision for the nation. For more details on the context, and the full text, of Jefferson's address, see: http://www.princeton.edu/~tjpapers/inaugural/inednote.html.
Segment 2: "Walter Reuther on Profit Sharing and the Post-War American Auto Industry (1-25-1958)." December 10, 2009
Segment 1 and 3: "Against the Grain: John Maynard Keynes ~ A Primer." (2009).
PART 1: Real Media. MP3. Time: 25:41.
PART 2: Real Media. MP3. Time: 21:15.
Here's another in-depth and sophisticated discussion from Against the Grain: a look back at the life and legacy of John Maynard Keynes. Keynes, as the producers of Against the Grain note, "died in 1946, but Keynesianism, in one form or another, is alive and well: the British economist's name has been invoked repeatedly since the global economic meltdown began in 2008. But how much do we really know about Keynes, and what did he really say and write? Peter Clarke has written a new book about Keynes's life and ideas." The discussion we present here revolves around Clarke's new book: Keynes: The Rise, Fall, and Return of the 20th Century's Most Influential Economist (Bloomsbury, 2009). For a brief biography of Keynes (with lots of links to many other on-line sources), see: http://homepage.newschool.edu/het//profiles/keynes.htm.
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MP3. Time: 5:30.
United Auto Workers (UAW) President Walter Reuther (and former head of the CIO), spoke to Mike Wallace in January of 1958 about his economic views and vision for reform in labor wage contracts. Reuther argued for a revision of the remuneration policies of modern corporations, particularly auto manufacturing firms, through a system of profit sharing that would reward workers for the increasing productivity and profitability of U.S. corporations. Here were present a short edited segment from Wallace and Reuther's discussion. For the full interview, see the following link to the Harry Ransom Center (where all of "The Mike Wallace Interview" collection is available): http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/reuther_walter.html. For a short biography of Reuther, see the AFL-CIO site: http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/history/history/reuther.cfm.
Segment 2: "Nixon and Rockefeller on Attica (September 14, 1971)."December 3, 2009
Segment 1 and 3: "Against the Grain: Frida Kahlo." (2009).
PART 1: Real Media. MP3. Time: 33:07.
PART 2: Real Media. MP3. Time: 15:12.
From Against the Grain we bring you a discussion of the life and work of Frida Kahlo -- one that focuses on "what has become of the Mexican artist's radical politics? Art historian Margaret A. Lindauer argues that Kahlo's artistic legacy has been done a disservice by those who would read the painter's works off her personal life, instead of looking at the complex intellectual and political processes that created them." Margaret A. Lindauer is the author of Devouring Frida: The Art History and Popular Celebrity of Frida Kahlo (Wesleyan U. Press, 1999). For more information on Kahlo (and links to other sites as well) see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo.
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MP3. Time: 4:56.
President Richard Nixon began secretly taping conversations and telephone calls in February of 1971 and continued to do so well into 1973. Among the 2,371 hours of tapes that were collected through July 1973 is this one, a phone call between Nixon and New York State Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller focusing on the September 1971 Attica prison uprising. This recording is not among those presently available on line at the Nixon Library Web site (http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/forresearchers/find/tapes/index.php. It was contributed to Talking History by Theresa Catherine Lynch, who obtained it from the National Archives in the course of her dissertation research. She completed her dissertation in 2007. See "Attica: A 'Monstrous Credibility Gap'" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of New Hampshire, 2007).
November 26, 2009 Thanksgiving 2009 ~ No Show.
We took the day off. If you're interested in listening to a program about the historical roots of our contemporary Thanksgiving celebrations, check out the Backstory ~ American History Guys' Web site at: http://www.backstoryradio.org/.
November 19, 2009
Segment 1 and 3: "Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold" (2009).
PART 1: Real Media. Time: 34:33. [MP3 Unavailable by request of producer].
PART 2: Real Media. Time: 24:24. [MP3 Unavailable by request of producer].
Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold, comes to us from Rob Rosenthal, WMPG, and Maine's Salt Insitute for Documentary Studies. "In 1912, the state of Maine evicted a mixed-race community of about forty-five people from Malaga Island, just off the coast of Phippsburg. It was an act of racism, eugenics, and political retribution. Eight islanders were committed to the Maine School for the Feeble-Minded. The rest managed as best they could. The state moved the island school to another island. Then they dug up the graves and reburied the remains in the graveyard at the Maine School. The Malaga community was erased. For generations, descendents feared to speak about what happened to their families because of the local stigma of mixed-blood and feeble-mindedness. Others in Phippsburg would rather forget the incident - a story best left untold, some say. This is that story." For more information on Malaga Island, see: http://www.malagaislandmaine.org/
Segment 2: "Margaret Sanger on Birth Control" (1957).
Real Media. MP3. Time: 1:56.
On September 21, 1957, feminist and birth control advocate Margaret Sanger, appeared on The Mike Wallace Interview. During their half-hour conversation, Sanger and Wallace discussed how and why Sanger became an advocate of birth control, her views on world over-population, the role and power of the Catholic Church, and various moral issues. Here we offer a few snipets of that interview; for the full video and audio interview, go to this University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ranson Center Web site: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/sanger_margaret_t.html.
November 12, 2009
Segment 1 and 3: "The Silent Generation: From Saipan to Tokyo" (2006).
PART 1: Real Media. Time: 28:02. [MP3 Unavailable by request of producer].
PART 2: Real Media. Time: 30:14. [MP3 Unavailable by request of producer].
Yesterday was Veterans Day. Today, we bring you Peabody Award-winning producer Helen Borten's superb documentary on the last year of World War II in the Pacific. Here is her description of the piece: "Eugene "Bud" Clark, a pint-sized scrapper from Macon, GA, mowed down Banzai warriors, watched mass suicide on Saipan, and was severely wounded on Iwo Jima. Howard Terry was traumatized by his accidental killing of an Okinawan boy, returned home angry, belligerent and unable to hold a job. Anthony Daddato lost his best friend to friendly fire,contracted dengue fever,malaria and tuberculosis, and spent three embittered years in hospitals before a feisty nun's advice changed his outlook. Giles McCoy went down with the Indianapolis in one of the worst naval disasters in history. These are just a few of the voices in "The Silent Generation", a one-hour documentary that follows more than a score of men through the definitive year of their lives. Men from all walks of life and all corners of the nation. Men who melted quietly back into civilian life and kept silent for decades. Men who, as time grows short, have been moved to speak with unflinching honesty of events that changed them forever. Their memories are not for the faint-hearted. Here is a view of war from the foxhole. A side of war as relevant today as in 1945. To listen is to understand why they, like tens of thousands of others, could not speak for so long. "The Silent Generation" closes with their unblinking, often wrenching remarks on how combat later affected their attitudes, identity and everyday lives. Producer/Narrator Borten knits their stories into a chronological whole, adding archival newscasts, live reports from the battlefield, and little-known historical details that, together with these unforgettable stories, bring a momentous, searingly brutal chapter in history to life." For photographs of the men interviewed for this documetnary, see: The Silent Generation - Photographs.
Segment 2: "Just Before the Battle, Mother" (1912).
Real Media. MP3. Time: 4:13.
Continuing with our theme on this day after Veterans Day, we bring you a 1912 recording (originally produced in 1910), an Edison 4-minute wax Amberol release of "Just Before the Battle, Mother. " The song was written back during the American Civil War by George Frederick Root (1820-1895), a noted U.S. songwriter and popular composer. Root wrote cantatas, songs, and church music. He is especially remembered for the many soldier songs her wrote, among which were "The Battle Cry of Freedom," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," and "Just Before the Battle, Mother." The latter became especially popular just before and during World War I, even though it was composed many decades earlier. There are several on-line recordings of the piece, some of them readily available on www.archive.org. This particular version was recorded by Will Oakland and appeard on Edison Blue Amberol #1516 in 1912. We have taken the liberty of cleaning up the wax cylinder audio a bit to make it more clearly audible for radio broadcast.
Just Before the Battle, Mother
Music and Words by GEORGE F. ROOT
Just before the battle, mother,
I am thinking most of you,
While upon the field we're watching,
With the enemy in view.
Comrades brave are 'round me lying,
Fill'd with thoughts of home and God;
For well they know that on the morrow,
Some will sleep beneath the sod.
Chorus:
Farewell, mother, you may never
Press me to your heart again,
But, oh, you'll not forget me mother,
If I'm number'd with the slain.
Hark! I hear the bugles sounding,
'Tis the signal for the fight,
Now, may God protect us, Mother,
As he ever does the right.
Hear the "Battle Cry of Freedom,"
How it swells upon the air,
Oh, yes, we'll rally 'round the standard,
Or we'll perish nobly there.
November 5, 2009
Segment 1: "The Opium Wars." 2009.
Real Media. MP3. Time: 25:37.
This segment comes to us from the monthly series History Counts, produced by Ken MacDermotRoe and Bonnie MacDermotRoe. The show originates at Pacifica affiliate WPKN in Bridgeport, CT. In this episode, Ken MacDermotRoe interviews Frank Sanello, author of The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another. They discuss the two 19th century wars that Britain (and other European nations) fought to "compel China to import opium. While opium addiction devastated China, British and American merchants reaped enormous profits." For more information on the Opium Wars, see Sanello's book; for a brief on-line overview of the two wars, see: http://www.victorianweb.org/history/empire/opiumwars/opiumwars1.html. For information about History Counts, go to: www.historycounts.org.
Segment 2: "From the Archives: Buchanan Campaign Song, 1856" (1999).
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 00:33 (Selection).
This is a selection from a 1856 U.S. presidential election campaign song written and sung in support of the (winning) Democratic candidate James Buchanan. That election, one of the most bitterly fought political battles since the 1800 election, reflected the growing divisions in the nation over slavery and immigration. The newly formed Republican Party ran John Fremont, who vowed to end the growing power of the slave states and to repeal the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Democratic Party rejected their incumbent, Franklin Pierce, and instead nominated Buchanan from Pennsylvania. Buchanan campaigned on a promise to maintain the balance of power between slave and free states. Millard Fillmore, the third-party candidate, ran under the banner of the anti-immigration Know-Nothing party. For a short summary of the election, see: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/message/campaignhistory-1856.html
Segment 3: "Darwin ~ The 1959 Centennial of On the Origin of Species" (2009).
Real Media. MP3. Time: 27:51.
From the Vault contributes two selections from a pair of 1959 recordings "on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's classic work on evolution On The Origins of Species.
This work, published in 1859, established Evolution as the dominant scientific explanation for the diversity in nature. Beginning in the early 1950's the American science community began planning the Darwin Centennial Celebration.
The effort resulted in a 5 day event from November 24th through the 25th, 1959 at the University of Chicago and featured lectures and panel discussions with many of the the days' great minds of Science, including Darwins' grandson, Sir Charles Darwin. Pacifica Station KPFA was present to record one of the other notable participants Sir Julian Huxley, who gave this Darwin Centennial Address a few weeks later at the Monterrey Peninsula College on December 18th 1959." The second selection, is of Julian Huxley's famous brother, "author and futurist Aldous Huxley, known for his novel Brave New World, moderating a Darwin Centennial panel on the impact of Darwin's theories in the modern world. The panel includes Dr. George Beadle winner of the 1958 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering the role of genes in regulating biochemical events within cells. Also on the panel were Garrett Hardin and James Walter. Our records show this event taking place on October 23, 1959, a month before the University of Chicago event."
October 29, 2009
Segment 1 and 3: "From the Vault: They Remember Dvorak." (1970; 2009).
PART 1: Real Media. MP3. Time: 30:55.
PART 2: Real Media. MP3. Time: 26:11.
This week we feature another contribution from Pacifica Radio's From The Vault series, a re-broadcast of part of Pacifica Radio's 1970 Award-Winning program, "They Remember Dvorak." Here is FTV's summary of the documentary: "Dvorak was more than happy living in Eastern Europe and presenting his grand Symphonies around Europe. But in 1892, he was invited to move to America, an offer which he originally scoffed at. Why would he put his family in harms way from the savage American Indians and the hostile seas? By the end of his 3 years living in America he befriended Algonquin Indians and African Americans and began cataloging bird and nature sounds. Indian singing, Negro Spirituals and sounds of nature would become recurring themes in Dvorak's music. The idea for this program came in 1967 when then-KPFK Music Director, William Malloch, met someone who actually knew Dvorak. It inspired William to look for more and would end up recording the reminiscences of 8 others who knew Dvorak and artfully wove these stories into a three hour special. On this program we will only cover the time Dvorak spent in America from 1892-1895, but first a little about Antonin Dvorak.
Born on September 8th, 1841 in The Austrian Empire now known as the Czech Republic, Dvorak would become one of the most prolific composers of all time. By the 1870's he was already considered a significant composer, ultimately gaining the respect and friendship of both Johannes Brahms and Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky. As his notoriety ascended to worldwide status he would be invited to Premiere his Symphony no. 7 in London in 1885. Then in 1892, American socialite Jeanette Thurber would invite Dvorak to be the Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. Our story today will deal with the 3 years Dvorak would spend in America and his music inspired by his exposure to the Native American culture and his experiences in The New World."
Segment 2: "From the Archives: Arnold Schönberg ('Pierrot Lunaire')." (1912; 1940 ~ selection).
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 7:01.
Here is a selection from another important composer, Arnold Schönberg. We feature as selection from Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire. This recording, released in 1940 on a 78 rpm record, features: Arnold Schönberg, conductor; Erika Stiedry-Wagner, recitation; Rudolf Kolisch, violin and viola; Stefan Auber, 'cello. Eduard Steurermann, piano; Leonard Posella, flute and piccolo; Kalman Bloch, clarinet and bass clarinet. Columbia 78rpm set MM-461 (XH 23 - XH 30). Recorded in 1940. Digital transfer by F. Reeder. Source: www.archive.org.
October 22, 2009
Segment 1: "Walt Whitman: Song to Myself" [Audio link direct to WNYC's on-line sound archive]
This week we bring you a documentary on Walt Whitman, originally produced by WNYC back in 2005 -- on the 150th anniversary of the publication of Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Here's the producers full desrcription of the piece: "One hundred and fifty years have passed since Walt Whitman first published Leaves of Grass, a collection of twelve poems that irrevocably altered the development of poetry and literature. His magnum opus shattered existing notions of poetry, breaking all existing conventions in terms of subject matter, language, and style. Leaves of Grass opened the door not only for poets, but writers, artists, musicians, and thinkers to break down barriers in their own work; despite never reaching a mass audience during the artist's lifetime, its tremendous impact is being felt a century and a half later. Today, we are still trying to understand who Whitman was, what he was saying, and what he was styling himself to be. Hosted by Carl Hancock Rux, "Walt Whitman: Song of Myself" explores how a 36-year old freelance journalist and part-time house-builder living in Brooklyn created his outrageous, groundbreaking work. We join Whitman on a walk through the urban streets, imagining the sights, sounds and music, from Stephen Foster to Italian opera, that profoundly affected him and indelibly shaped his poetry. The city transformed Whitman, and Whitman in turn transformed the wild diversity and intensity of the city into a radical, passionate vision for America. In his poetry, he refused to be censored: he celebrated the body and sexuality; he embraced the invisible and the disenfranchised, from women to slaves to prostitutes. His hopes to heal the country of its deep political divisions through his poetry were dashed by the Civil War, but his work lives on as a vital life-affirming force. In this hour-long special, Rux speaks with writers, poets, musicians, and scholars who tell the story of this extraordinary, self-styled celebrity. Guests include writers Michael Cunningham and Phillip Lopate; poets Martin Espada, hailed by some as a contemporary Whitman, and Ishle Yi Park, Queens poet laureate; composers John Adams and Ned Rorem; choreographer Bill T. Jones; Whitman scholars Karen Karbiener and David Reynolds; and many, many others. Actors including Jeffrey Wright and Paul Giammatti share readings of Whitman's poetry, which, one hundred and fifty years on, still astonishes."
Segment 2: "Ralph Waldo Emerson on Self Reliance (1841)."
Real
Media.
MP3. Time: 2:56
One who inspired and strongly supported Walt Whitman and his revolutionary literary work was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Here is a sampling of Emerson's writing, read by Robert Scott for LibriVox. For the full reading, go to: http://librivox.org/three-great-virtues-three-essays-by-emerson-by-ralph-waldo-emerson/. For a wealth of information on Whitman, go to: http://www.whitmanarchive.org/.
October 15, 2009
Segment 1: "Theodore W. Allen Interview on the Invention of the White Race, part 1. ORIGINALLY BROADCAST ON MAY 13 AND MAY 20, 2004; Talking History did not air today, hence we are posting a previously broadcast program."
Real
Media.
MP3.
Time: 31:37
Chad Pearson of the University at Albany, SUNY, interviews Marxist historian Theodore W. Allen, author of the The Invention of the White Race: Vol. 1: Racial Oppression and Social Control (London: Verso, 1994) and The Invention of the White Race: Vol. 2: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America (London: Verso, 1997). This is part 1 of a 2 part interview. See next week's show for part 2.
Segment 2: "Theodore W. Allen Interview on the Invention of the White Race, part 2."
Real
Media.
MP3.
Time: 28:34
Chad Pearson of the University at Albany, SUNY, concludes his interview with Marxist historian Theodore W. Allen, author of the The Invention of the White Race: Vol. 1: Racial Oppression and Social Control (London: Verso, 1994) and The Invention of the White Race: Vol. 2: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America (London: Verso, 1997). This is part 2 of a 2 part interview.
October 8, 2009
Segment 1 and 3: "Backstory: The History of U.S. Health Care." (2009).
PART 1: Real Media. MP3. Time: 31:47.
PART 2: Real Media. MP3. Time: 18:53.
In this segment of Backstory with the American History Guys, we examine the history of health care in America:"'What Germany has done in the way of old-age pensions or insurance should be studied by us, and the system adapted to our uses.' Thus declared Teddy Roosevelt in 1912, making him the first U.S. presidential candidate to advocate for a nationalized health insurance system. But arguments about the government’s responsibility for keeping Americans healthy go back a lot further than that. On this episode of BackStory, the History Guys look at the way these arguments have played out through almost four centuries of American life. Beginning with the current debate, they move backwards in time, reflecting on a century’s worth of failed reform efforts, as well as the 17th, 18th, and 19th century foundations of our current health care system. Together with special guests and callers, they tackle questions fundamental to understanding today’s situation. How did we wind up with a health care system that looks so different from that of other industrialized countries? Do the repeated failures of reform efforts have more to do with cultural factors, or economic ones? How have advances in medical technology changed the tenor of our social and political debates? Do we think about health care more individualistically than previous generations of Americans did? Highlights include: Jacob Hacker, creator of the “public option” plan now being considered by Congress, explains why lobbyists have historically wielded disproportionate influence in discussions about health policy. Producer Catherine Moore visits Mt. Malado, the first public hospital in English North America. Reporter Nate DiMeo tells the story of how the practice of inoculation came to the New World." For more infomation about Backstory, go to: www.backstoryradio.org.
Segment 2: "From the Archives: President Harry S. Truman Dedicates the Everglades Nation Park" (1947)).
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 14:19.
On December 6, 1947, thirteen years after Congress had passed legislation formally establishing it, President Harry S Truman dedicated the Everglades National Park. Here is a recording of the speech he made at the dedication ceremony. For the full official record of the events of that day, see the following dedication ceremony booklet, available on the Everglades National Part Web site: Everglades Dedication Ceremony.
October 1, 2009Segment 1 and 3: "The Resistance of the Maya." 1981.
PART 1:
Real Media. MP3. Time: 23:51. PART 2:
Real Media. MP3. Time: 13:56.
Here is another contribution -- slightly edited for length by us -- from the Pacifica Radio Archives' From the Vault program, a re-broadcast of a 1981 documentary titled The Resistance of the Maya: "This program examines the history of the 500 year resistance of the Maya against foreign rule, starting with the arrival of the Spanish, up to the current threat against the Lacandon-Maya, the last of the traditional Mayans. Independent radio producer John Walsh does an outstanding job surveying the Maya by presenting scholars who trace the civilization from 2500 B.C. through their contact with the Spanish Conquistadors. Then, Walsh reports on the Mayans living in the Lacandon jungle of Chiapas, Mexico – despite threats from the Mexican government and multi-national corporations seeking to exploit the natural resources." Segment 2: "Biography in Sound: Meet Ernest Hemingway." 1954.
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 53:35.Herbert Marshall, Laurence Olivier, Mickey Spillane, Charles Cooper, Marlon Brando, and Al Capp all contribute to this Dec. 19, 1954 documentary on the life of Ernest Hemingway, part of an NBC radio series, "Biography in Sound." Various segments of the series are now widely available on the WWW, as well as in the National Archives and the Library of Congress.
September 24, 2009Segment 1: "The Last Dutch Outpost: The Enduring Legacy of New Netherland." 2007.
Real Media.
[MP3 version unavailable by request of producers]. Time: 29:30. "Two hundred and fifty years ago, a minor military skirmish in a remote corner of the colonial New World snowballed into what some have described as a World War. One of the casualties was the Dutch culture of the town of Albany in New York State – previously New Netherland. So, what happened to the Dutch of Dutch Albany? Although there are few physical remains from the Dutch colonial period, a modern revival of interest seems to be gathering steam. Laura Durnford visits some historic sites in Albany and hears about the tenacious tradition of Dutch culture there." Our thanks to Radio Netherlands http://www.rnw.nl for permission to air and archive this production on our site. Segment 2: "From the Archives: Hernando De Soto." (1938).
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 05:10."The World is Yours" was a series that was broadcast by the National Broadcasting Company, Inc. (NBC) radio network but produced in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution. The half-hour weekly programs "covering the entire range of the Smithsonian Institution's collections and research. The series featured the 'Oldtimer' as the audience's guide to 'the wonders of that unique establishment, the Smithsonian Institution -- dedicated to the increase and diffusion of knowledge.'" The series ran m ran from June 1936 to May 1942. This segment focuses on Hernando De Soto's explorations of the American South and the Mississippi. Segment 3: "A Propitious Misadventure: Part 1 of A History of the 17th Century Dutch Colony of New Netherland." (2009)."
Real Media Time: 16:53.[MP3 version unavailable by request of producers]. Time: 02:26.
A Propitious Misadventure is the first part of a Radio Netherlands series focusing on the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland. This episode focuses on Henry Hudson: "400 years ago, in 1609, English explorer Henry Hudson set off on a Dutch ship called the Half Moon. This 'propitious misadventure' would result in a Dutch colony called New Netherland in the uncharted wilds of North America." Our thanks to Radio Netherlands http://www.rnw.nl for permission to air and archive this production on our site.
September 17, 2009Segment 1 and 3: "Backstory: Schooldays ~ A History of American Public Education" (2009).
PART 1:
Real Media. MP3. Time: 32:00. PART 2:
Real Media. MP3. Time: 18:58.
This week, we bring you another episode of BackStory. In this segment, "the History Guys explore the history of public education, and look at the changing expectations we’ve placed on our schools through the 18th 19th, and 20th centuries. What did education look like in the colonial period, and what did the founders have to say about it? How did reformers in the 1830s succeed in establishing taxpayer-funded schools, when Thomas Jefferson had failed at the same mission? Did industrialization and immigration change the ways we think about schools’ purpose? How did public education go from local to state control, and when did the feds get involved? How have children’s attitudes about school changed over time? It’s clear that we’ve steadily moved closer to the ideal of universal education, but what have been the costs associated with increased access to education for all Americans? These are some of the question on the table as the History Guys go back to school." Guests include education historian Jon Zimmerman and Virginia school board president. Segment 2: "From the Archives: John Dewey's Educational Philsophy ('My Pedagogic Creed')." (1897; 2008; selections).
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 07:31.Here is a selection from a collective reading from John Dewey's 1897 seminal essay on his educational beliefs. This version was a project recorded and edited by students at the University of Illinois's Music Education Technology class MUS243 (fall 2008). The recording was engineered by by Chee Kang Koh and Matthew Thibeault, with help from Rex Anderson. For the full recording and more details on those who made it, go to: http://www.archive.org/details/MyPedagogicCreed. For more information about Dewey and his educational philosophy, go to: http://www.johndewey.org/Welcome.html.
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