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Aural History Productions
The Radio Archive ~ January - June, 2004
June 24, 2004
Segment 1: "From the Archives: 'The World is Yours: The Lewis and Clark Expedition' (1939)."
The radio series "The World is Yours," was produced for the Smithsonian Institution by the U.S. Office of Education between 1936 and 1941. It was broadcast on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) network. This dramatic documentary focusing on the Lewis and Clark expedition, which aired on May 14, 1939, was typical of the series' historical pieces. A full collection of "The World is Yours" broadcasts is available at the National Archives (Archives II) in College Park, Maryland. It is part of RG 106 (RG 106.5). For more information about this audio recording, and how we digitally re-process it for broadcast, contact Talking History/University at Albany. For information about RG 106 and the media collections at the National Archives, contact the National Archives' Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Records LICON, Special Media Archives Services Division, College Park, MD. Segment 2: From the Archives: "The Voyage of the Sargo (1960)."
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Time: 7:57.The recording is part of the media collection of Record Group 330: Records of the U.S. Department of Defense. It features a press conference with the commander of the nuclear submarine Sargo, John H. Nicholson, after the sub's successful winter subpolar passage. The Sargo was the second submarine to successfully reach the North Pole and the first to cross it under water in the winter. The Sargo was part of the "Skate" class of nuclear submarines, commissioned into the US Navy on October 1st, 1958. Submarines were a major element in America's nuclear arsenal during the cold war; According to Norman Polmar and K. J. Moore, authors of Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines (2003), they "carried out intelligence-collection operations, sought out and stood ready to destroy opposing submarines, and, from the early 1960s, threatened missile attacks on their adversary�s home-land, providing in many respects the most survivable nuclear deterrent of the Cold War." For more information on the Sargo and the beginning of the nuclear era in American submarine warfare, go to: http://www.subnet.com/fleet/ssn583.htm and http://www.rddesigns.com/saga/nucs.html. For Commander Nicholson's written account of the voyage, go to: http://www.ssn583.com/NicholsonReview.htm. To listen to an actual recording of the Sargo's passage beneath the North Pole, click here: Real Media | MP3 [Time: 10:16]. For more information about these audio recordings, 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: "James Ronda on Lewis and Clark."
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Time: 18:24.Talking History's Fred Nielsen talks to James Ronda, the Barnard Chair professor in Western History at the University of Tulsa, about the Lewis and Clark expedition and how historians have considered it over the ages. Ronda is the author of Lewis and Clark Among the Indians (University of Nebraska Press, 2002) and Voyages of Discovery: Essays on the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Montana Historical Society, 1998). Produced: May, 2004.
June 17, 2004
Segment 1: "Peter Stearns on Childhood and Parental Anxieties."
Talking History's Fred Nielsen interviews Peter Stearns, George Mason University historian, about modern notions of child care and child rearing, looking at how demographic, economic, and numerous related social transformations in 20th century America led to the view that children were especially vulnerable, and thus fueled new parental anxities and transformed ideas about children's discipline, schooling, and leisure time. Peter Stearns is the author of numerous books and articles, most recently Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America (NYU Press, 2003). Produced June 2004. Segment 2: From the Archives: "Education in the News ~ Lady Astor on the Nursery School Movement (1938)."
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Time: 11:35.The recording is part of the media collection of Record Group 106: Records of the Smithsonian Institution, 1871 - 1952, located at the National Archives (Archives II). "Education in the News" was produced for the Department of Education under the auspices of the "Educational Radio Project," Department of Interior. Maurice Lowell was the Production Director of the overall Project and worked with a full crew of actors, musicians, and writers at the WMAL Studios in Washington, D.C. The program began to air over the NBC red network in 1935 and was broadcast every Monday at 7:45 P.M. EST. In this segment (selection) from the series, aired on January 28, 1938, Lady Nancy Astor (the second woman elected, and the first to take a seat, in the British House of Commons) speaks about the history of the nursery school movement and the important contributions of the sisters Rachel and Margaret McMillan to the movement. For short biographies of the McMillan sisters, see: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/women/wh31.htm. For a short biography of Lady Astor, see: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wastor.htm. For more information about this audio 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: "From the Archives: Education in the News ~ A History of the Kindergarten (1937)."
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Time: 13:42.See previous entry for more details on "Education in the News." In this segment from the series, aired on April 1, 1937, the staff of "Education in the News" celebrate the (then) 100th anniversary of the Kindergarten by reviewing the life and career of Friedrich Froebel, the educational philosopher who challenged traditional nortions of children and childhood education and who developed the first kindergarten in Germany in 1837. For more information about this audio 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.
June 10, 2004
Segment 1: "Edward Tenner on the History of Technology in Everyday Life."
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Time: 28:35From Dialogue: "The human capacity to invent things is well established. The human need to adapt inventions for unintended consequences is less recognized, but just as ubiquitous. Author Edward Tenner has gained a reputation as 'the philosopher of everyday things.' In this conversation based on his latest book, he explains how imagination, culture, and necessity have changed the look and usage of items like chairs, helmets and footwear throughout human history." Tenner is the author of Our Own Devices: How Technology Remakes Humanity (Vintage Books, 2004). . Segment 2: From the Archives: "Gallant American Women: Ladies of the Press" (Department of Education, 1940).
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Time: 4:31.This is an excerpt from a half-hour documentary that was produced by the Department of Education as part of their series, "Gallant American Women" (broadcast over NBC, Blue Network). It examines women who were significant forces in journalism in the colonial through the 20th centuries. For more information about this audio 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: "Coal."
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Time: 17:54.Talking History's Fred Nielsen explores the "human history" of coal with Barbara Freese, author of Coal: A Human History (Perseus Books, 2003).
June 3, 2004
Segment 1: "Daniel Patrick Moynihan on Ethnicity in America."
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Time: 27:58From Dialogue: "The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) was a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a former U.S. Ambassador to India.Ideas first seen in the pioneering work, Beyond the Melting Pot, now apply to world affairs as self-determination based on ethnicity sweeps the world. The Senator explains the challenge." . Segment 2: From the Archives: "Assistant Secretary of Defense John A. Hannah on the Dsegration of the US Military Services." (1954).
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Time: 3:15.In 1954, then Assistant Secretary of Defense John A. Hannah issued this statement summarizing the progress made by the armed forces in desegregating military units and facilities. His statement clearly links civil righs concerns with cold war considerations. Segment 3: "Brown v. Board of Education."
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Time: 15:33.On this 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, Talking History's Jim Madison revisits the Supreme Court's decision to end segregation in public schools with historian James T. Patterson, author of Brown v. Board of Education. Produced: May 2004.
May 27, 2004
Segment 1: "Judith Coplon: The Spy Who Seduced America."
MP3. Time: 24:31This program was produced by WYNE and the Teachers and Writers Collaborative and distributed by Talking History/OAH. Judith Coplon worked as a political analysist in the US Department of Justice; she was arrested in 1949 and tried on espionage charges. Tom Mitchell, a counterintelligence specialist for the FBI who was close to the case, fervently believed in her guilt. His wife, Marcia, passionately disagreed. Together they relate their search for the truth in this program. Produced: May 2004. Segment 2: From the Archives ~ "Lyndon Baines Johnson's 'Peace Without Conquest' Speech, April 7, 1965."
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Time: 31:14.President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered this address, "Peace Without Conquest," at Johns Hopkins University on April 7, 1965. By this time, around 400 American soldiers had already died in Vietnam. This recording was made by the American University radio station, WAMU-FM, and distributed through the Eastern Educational Radio Network. For more information about this audio 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.
May 20, 2004
Segment 1: "Theodore W. Allen Interview on the Invention of the White Race, part 2."
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Time: 28:34Chad 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. See last week's show for part 1. Segment 2: From the Archives: "Robert Edwin Peary's 1908-09 Polar Expedition."
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Time: 3:09.Explorer Robert Edwin Peary, born May 6, 1856, in Cresson, Pa., recalls his successful 1908-09 journey to the North Pole. Peary was a Naval officer who led the first expedition to the North Pole. For Peary's extensive account of the voyage, see Robert E. Peary's The North Pole (Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1910). For more information about this audio 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: "Iain Gately on the History of Tobacco."
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Time: 16:15.Talking History's Fred Nielsen explores the history of Tobacco with Iain Gately, author of Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization. Produced: May, 2004.
May 13, 2004
Segment 1: "Theodore W. Allen Interview on the Invention of the White Race, part 1."
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Time: 31:37Chad 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: From the Archives: "Henry Wallace Resignation as Secretary of Commerce (1946)."
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Time: 4:28.Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace explains his differences with President Truman, differences that led to his departure from the Truman administration and his growing involvement with a third party campaign culminating in his run for the presidency in 1948 as the Progressive Party's candidate. For more information about this audio 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: "Russell on War and Nature."
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Time: 17:05.Talking History's Fred Nielsen explores the relationship between the development of weapons of mass destruction and insecticides with Edmund Russell. Russell argues that the emergence of the two was closely linked in ideology, science and organization. Russell is a professor of technology, culture, and communication at the University of Virginia and the author of War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring (Cambridge University Press, 2001). Produced: April, 2004.
May 6, 2004
Segment 1: "Staughton Lynd on May Day, 2004."
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Time: 36:39Labor historian and activist Staughton Lynd (the son of Robert and Helen Lynd, the sociologists who wrote Middletown, and Middletown in Transition), delivered this speech in Troy, New York on May 1, 2004 at the annual May Day festival. Lynd is the editor of We Are All Leaders: The Alternative Unionism of the Early 1930s and The New Rank and File. More recently, he authored Living Inside Our Hope: A Steadfast Radical�s Thoughts on Rebuilding the Movement. Lynd is introduced by Greg Giorgio. . Segment 2: From the Archives: "Frances Perkins on the Department of Labor (1939)."
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Time: 3:03.Edited selection from a Department of Labor informational broadcast (RG44-32) on the structure and function of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Department's director, Frances Perkins, narrates. For more information about the audio 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: "Andrew Isenberg on the Destruction of the Bison."
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Time: 17:00.Talking History's Fred Nielsen joins Princeton University history professor Andrew Isenberg, author of The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920, in this exploration of the causes of the near-extinction of the American bison. Isenberg argues that ecological factors outside of human control were also a central part of the story of the destruction of the Western bison. Produced: April, 2004.
April 29, 2004
Segment 1: Black Organizations and the Struggle for Black Civil Rights.
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Time: 27:42George Liston Seay interviews Dianne M. Pinderhughes, of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, about the role of black clubs and various other community organizations in the Civil Rights Movement. Segment 2: From the Archives: "Davenport and the Electric Motor."
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Time: 5:22.The story of Thomas Davenport [1802-1851] and his development of the first DC electric motor is told in this Smithsonian program. This segment was part of "The World Is Yours" radio program, which aired over the National Broadcasting Company network on June 7, 1936. The series was a joint project of the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Education, and the Works Progress Administration. For more information about the audio 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: "Abraham Lincoln, Esquire."
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Time: 18:51.Talking History/OAH presents Alan Spiegel talking about Abraham Lincoln, Esquire. From WNYE's Teacher As Historian series, Produced: April, 2004.
April 22, 2004
Segment 1: From the Archives: Women in the Making of America ~ Women in Education.
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Time: 28:59 The Federal Theatre Project (FTP), a division of the WPA, employed actors, directors and technicians; the Federal Radio Division, a unit of the FTP, was established to foster "culture and education, through various radio series, across the United States." Among the many series produced by the Division was Women in the Making of America (1939), one of the earliest radio documentary series to examine women's history from a feminist perspective. This episode of the series focuses on women in education in U.S. history. For more information on this recording, and about the series and its creators, see the October 30, 2003 entry of Talking History. Segment 2: From the Archives: "Jules Schwerin interviews Mahalia Jackson."
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Time: 5:43.This is a selection from interviews conducted by Jules Schwerin with gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, conducted in preparation for his biography of Jackson, Got to Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel (1992). The recording is one of almost 200 reel-to-reel recordings that are part of the Norman Studer Papers at the University at Albany Library's Department of Special Collections & Archives. For more information on this recording, contact Talking History/University at Albany, or Brian Keough, Head of the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives at the University at Albany. Segment 3: "April Blood: The Plot Against the Medici."
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Time: 17:45.April Blood Talking History's Eileen Dugan interviews Lauro Martines, author of April Blood: Florence and the Plot Against the Medici, about the plot against the Medici that erupted into violence and death in April of 1478. Produced: April 2004.
April 15, 2004
Segment 1: "Alan Taylor: Covering the Grave."
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Time: 39:36.This is the second of two programs focusing on the work of Alan Taylor, historian and award-winning author whose books focus on early American and colonial history. This segment features his full University at Albany, Department of History Fosseick Lecture, titled "Covering the Grave: Murder on the Eighteenth-Century Frontier." See last week's show for our interview of Taylor. Segment 2: From the Archives: "Gerald R. Ford's Swearing-In Ceremony." (August 9, 1974)
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Time: 9:45.This is a recording of Gerald Ford's swearing-in ceremony. According to the Gerald Ford Library record of the event: "The President spoke at 12:05 p.m. [August 9, 1974] in the East Room at the White House following administration of the oath of office by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. The oath of office and the President's remarks were broadcast live on radio and television. The White House announced that Richard Nixon's letter of resignation as 37th President of the United States was tendered to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger in his White House office by Assistant to the President Alexander M. Haig, Jr., at 11:35 a.m." For more information and a full transcription of the interview, go to: http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/740001.htm
April 8, 2004
Segment 1: "Alan Taylor: An interview on Land and Landholding in Early America."
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Time: 40:36.In this first of two programs, Talking History's Richard Hamm, of the University at Albany, interviews Alan Taylor, an historian and award-winning author whose books focus on early American and colonial history. Taylor is the author of William Cooper's Town (1995), a biography of the land developer and political leader, and a study of Cooperstown, New York, founded by Cooper. The book won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for American History as well as the Bancroft and Beveridge prizes. Taylor's other works include American Colonies (2001) and Liberty Men and Great Proprietors (1990). Taylor is a professor of history at the University of California, Davis and presented the 2004 Univesity at Albany Department of History Fosseick Lecture. Next week, we will broadcast his lecture, titled "Covering the Grave: Murder on the Eighteenth-Century Frontier." Segment 2: From the Archives: "Langston Hughes at the Downtown Community School." (1953)
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Time: 5:54.This selection of a speech by Langston Hughes comes to us from the Norman Studer Papers at the University at Albany, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, Archives of Public Affairs and Policy. In 1951, Norman Studer -- educator, folklorist, author -- became director of the Downtown Community School located at 235 East 11th Street in lower Manhattan. "The Downtown Community School was a progressive, cooperative, racially integrated school, founded in 1944 by a group of parents and educators. As director, Studer attempted to create a curriculum that was aimed at promoting a healthy concept of self and a deeper understanding of society. Studer brought many of the ideas and philosophies of . . . Camp Woodland, which he co-founded, to the Downtown Community School, particularly his interest in ethnic studies, folklore, field trips, and racial integration. Throughout his career as an educator and administrator, Studer championed cultural and racial integration in the educational environment." This Langston Hughes talk, from 1953, was delivered during one of many interracial intergroup educational conferences held at the school during the 1950s. Studer remained director of the Downtown Community School until 1970, a year before it closed. For more information on this recording, contact Talking History/University at Albany, or Brian Keough, Head of the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives at the University at Albany.
April 1, 2004
Segment 1: "Women and the Peace Movement."
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Time: 31:56.This speech was recorded in March at the Deerfield Progressive Forum in Deerfield Beach, Florida. It features CUNY Peace historian Sandi Cooper, author of Pacific Pacifism: Waging War on War in Europe, 1815-1914 (Oxford, 1991). Segment 2: From the Archives: "Borden's Condensed Milk" (1936).
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Time: 5:28.This segment from "The World Is Yours" radio program, which aired over the National Broadcasting Company network on June 7, 1936, focuses on the history of Borden's Condensed Milk. Condensed milk had its birth in New York State's Putnam County. In the mid-19th century, dairy products were shipped in unsanitary oak barrels, which often caused the milk to spoil. In 1856, inventor Gail Borden received a patent for a process of boiling off the water from milk in airtight vacuum pans, producing a concentrated product that would not spoil. He had spent years experimenting with the process and it had taken its toll on his finances. Not until he partnered with Jeremiah Milbank was he able to secure the financial backing that would enable him to bring his invention adn product to the market. In 1857, Borden founded the New York Condensed Milk Company; Milbank managed the company's finances.
This short excerpt from "The World is Yours" examines the origins of Borden's discovery. The series was a joint project of the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Education, and the Works Progress Administration. According to the Smithsonian's Web site, the "half-hour programs air once a week on topics ranging from mammals to insects to geology to ethnology to art history to aeronautics, etc. Scripts are prepared by Smithsonian staff and presentations are done by out-of-work actors and musicians. The program is suspended in May of 1942 because of the war effort." This is a segment extracted from one of the programs in the series, titled "Unheralded Inventors." For more information about the audio 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: "Richmond Burning: A Conversation with Nelson D. Lankford."
MP3. Time: 15:37
Bryan Le Beau marks the anniversary of the burning of Richmond, Virginia in this interview with Nelson D. Lankford, author of Richmond Burning: The Last Days of the Confederate Capital (Penguin, 2003). Lankford's book draws upon letters, diaries, memoirs and newspaper accounts of the event. Produced: March 2004.
March 25, 2004
Segment 1: "What Price America: Conservation in Early America." (1939)
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Time: 30:00."What Price America" was a joint production of CBS and the Dept. of Interior, and featured half-hour segments about American history. It was aired in 1939. This recording (RG48-211) comes from Record Group 48 (Records of the Department of the Interior), housed in the National Archives (Archives II). It deals with colonial consciousness of the need for land and resource "conservation," long before the word was known or used. For more information on the 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 2: From the Archives: "Helen Gahagan Douglas, Campaign Speech, 1946."
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Time: 14:05.This piece of audio, broadcast in 1946, captures the temper of Cold War politics in the post-WWII era, when Congressional New Dealers found themselves under attack by conservative and reactionary Republicans for being "soft on Communism." In this broadcast, Democratic Congresional representative from California Helen Gahagan Douglas, introduced by her husband Melvin Douglas, addresses some of the charges levied against her during the 1946 Congressional campaign in California's 14th District. The following short biography of Douglas comes to us from the on-line finding aid to the Helen Gahagan Douglas papers, available at the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center, Univ. of Oklahoma Library http://www.ou.edu/special/albertctr/archives/douglas.htm: "Helen Gahagan Douglas (1900-1980) began her professional career on the Broadway stage and was deemed a "star" at age twenty-two. By the 1930s, she left the Northeast and moved to California with her husband, Hollywood actor Melvyn Douglas. Although she made only one movie herself--the science fiction film, She--she soon found herself immersed in politics. She worked with the Farm Security Administration and later was elected Democratic National Committeewoman from California. In 1944, she was elected as the representative of California's Fourteenth District in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was successfully reelected to this position in 1946 and 1948. A tireless New Deal Democrat, Douglas was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and served as an alternate delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations. In 1950, she opposed Richard M. Nixon in the general election for the U.S. Senate. The campaign was especially brutal with the Republicans quite "liberal" in their charges that Douglas was a communist. Nixon easily won the election. Though Douglas never entered the political fray again, she remained a tireless public speaker and activist."
For more information about the audio 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: "Executioner�s Current: Richard Moran on the History of the Electric Chair."
MP3. Time: 18:54
Talking History�s Eileen Dugan examines the history of the electric chair and capital punishment with Richard Moran, author of Executioner's Current : Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair (Knopf, 2002). Produced: March 2004.
March 18, 2004
Segment 1: "Women in the Making of America: Women and the History of Freedom of Religion."
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Time: 24:41.The Federal Theatre Project (FTP), a division of the WPA, employed actors, directors and technicians; the Federal Radio Division, a unit of the FTP, was established to foster "culture and education, through various radio series, across the United States." Women were an important presence in the division; they worked in almost every capacity, as program hosts, scriptwriters, announcers, and actors. Among the women who worked for the Radio Division was Eva vom Baur Hansl (1889-1978), who produced two major series for the Division. Collaborating with scriptwriter Jane Ashman, the two women produced Women in the Making of America (1939), one of the earliest radio documentary series to examine women's history from a feminist perspective. This is one of the programs they produced (see our October 30, 2003 show for another segment of the series). Information about Women in the Making of America and about Eva Hansl is available in the archives of Syracuse University and Smith College (both have collections of her papers), as well as in the Library of Congress (which holds all of the surviving scripts of the Radio Division). Surviving recordings of programs are available at the Library of Congress and at the National Archives' Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Records LICON, Special Media Archives Services Division, College Park, MD. This particular recording came from the National Archives' collection. Segment 2: From the Archives: "The History of the Typewriter." (1939)..
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Time: 8:13.The first "The World Is Yours" radio program aired over the National Broadcasting Company network on June 7, 1936. The series was a joint project of the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Education, and Works Progress Administration. According to the Smithsonian's Web site, the "half-hour programs air once a week on topics ranging from mammals to insects to geology to ethnology to art history to aeronautics, etc. Scripts are prepared by Smithsonian staff and presentations are done by out-of-work actors and musicians. The program is suspended in May of 1942 because of the war effort." This is a segment extracted from one of the programs in the series, titled "Unheralded Inventors." For more information about the audio 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: "Catherine Clinton on Fanny Kemble."
MP3. Time: 20:31
This is another program produced by WYNE and the Teachers and Writers Collaborative and distributed by Talking History/OAH. Professor Catherine Clinton, author of Fanny Kemble's Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2001), tells the story of America�s most unlikely abolitionist--British stage actress turned Georgia plantation owner, Fanny Kemble. Produced: March 2004.
March 11, 2004
Segment 1: Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life."
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Time: 27:56.Produced by Dialogue. "Kathleen Dalton decided 27 years ago to write a biography of President Theodore Roosevelt that would reveal the whole person; his acts, motivations, and most importantly, the growth he underwent as man and President. In this conversation, she presents a �T.R.� who went from being a child of the privileged New York society elite to becoming America�s most iconic and multitalented president. Kathleen Dalton is author of Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life. Segment 2: From the Archives: "For Us the Living," (1941)..
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Time: 12:16.This is a short radio drama produced during World War II by the Office for Emergency Management, Office of Civilian Defense. It features James Cagney and Edward Arnold. For more information about the audio 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: "Lenny Bruce."
MP3. Time: 20:09
Talking History�s Eileen Dugan interviews David Skover on the life and controversial career of U.S. stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce. Bruce was recently pardoned by New York Governor George Pataki for his 1964 obscenity conviction. Skover is the co-author, of The Trials of Lenny Bruce (Sourcebooks Trade, 2002). Produced: March 2004 by Talking History/OAH. .
March 4, 2004
Segment 1: From the Archives: "Black and Whites Together - Birmingham, 1963. (Segment 6)" [part 2]
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Time: 32:27.Back in 1963, WRVR produced a six-part look at the civil rights struggle in Birmingham, Alabama. This is the second part of the final segment (segment #6) of that series. For more information on WRVR see last week's listing. [Please note that the sound quality of this archival tape occasionally drops off here and there]. Segment 2: From the Archives: "Marina Oswald's Secret Service Interrogation (November, 1963).".
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Time: 9:34.This is a short excerpt from dozens of tape recordings conducted with Lee Harvey Oswald's Russian-born wife, Marina Oswald. In this segment, she speaks about her earliest encounter with Lee Harvey Oswald. For more information about this audio 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: "Michael McGerr on Progressivism and the Progressive Movement."
MP3. Time: 16:12
Talking History’s Jim Madison interviews University of Indiana historian Michael McGerr, about the Progressive era, one of America's major reform periods. McGerr is the author of The Decline of Popular Politics: The American North, 1865-1928 (1986), and more recently, A Fierce Discontent : The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920 (Free Press, 2003).
Produced: March, 2004 by Talking History/OAH.
February 26, 2004
Segment 1: From the Archives: "Black and Whites Together - Birmingham, 1963. (Segment 6)" [part 1]
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Time: 25:33.Begun as a community service of Riverside Church of New York City in 1961, WRVR was transformed into a Jazz station in the 1970s. But before that it was part of the Eastern Educational Radio Network (EERN), an affiliate of the National Educational Radio Network, a consortium of college and non-commercial radio stations that shared educational and cultural programming with each other in the 1950s and 1960s. Back in 1963, WRVR produced a six-part look at the civil rights struggle in Birmingham, Alabama. This is the first half of part 6 of the series. The second part will air next week. Segment 2: From the Archives: "Paul Robeson Testifies in the Senate about the Mundt-Nixon Bill (May 31, 1948)".
MP3.
Time: 32:04.This is a lengthy selection from Paul Robeson's Senate testimony on the Mundt-Nixon Bill. The main provision of the Bill was the requirement that all members of the Communist Party of the United States register with the government. Robeson's testimony took place on May 31, 1948, after the bill had already passed the House (on May 21, 1948) by a vote of 319 to 58. The bill died, however, because the Senate never took action. Two years later, nonetheless, the bill was re-introduced with substantial modifications.
Senator Karl Mundt from South Dakota was an important driving force behind the Bill; he was one of Robeson's interrogators. The original Mundt-Nixon Bill was made part of the Internal Security Act of 1950 (also known as the McCarran Act). The central provisions of the McCarran Act included the following: "Communist-action" organizations and communist �front� organizations were required to register with the U.S. Attorney General (and submit names of officers, funding sources, and their membership lists); such organizations were denied income tax exemptions; members of these organizations were prohibited from being employed by the federal government; �aliens� affiliated with these organizations were deportable without a hearing; detention lists were created by the Dept. of Justice in anticipation of a possible future declaration of war, invasion, or other "internal security emergency" (anyone suspected of subversive activities could then be detained without trial); the Smith Act of 1940 was revived and reinforced -- making it illegal for anyone to advocate or belong to a group that advocates for the overthrow of the government. For more information about this audio 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: "John Steele Gordon on The Rise of Wall Street."
MP3. Time: 15:42
Talking History’s Fred Nielsen interviews John Steele Gordon about the rise of Wall Street. Gordon is the author of The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power, 1653-2000 (Scribner, 2000).
Produced: February, 2004 by Talking History/OAH.
February 19, 2004
Segment 1: From the Archives: "Roy Bennett Interview (1957)."
MP3.
Time: 29:42.Robert Schutz interviews Reverand L. Roy Bennett in 1957 about the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama. This programs, "THE WALKING NEGROES OF MONTGOMERY," originally aired on KPFA in Los Angeles on January 10, 1957. It was broadcast as part of Pacifica Radio's Men and Issues series. Segment 2: From the Archives: "Malcolm X Speaks to McComb Mississippi Students Visiting New York. (1965)".
MP3.
Time: 10:06.This is a selection from a 30 minute Malcolm X talk delivered shortly before his assassination in 1965 to a group of 37 youths from McComb, Mississippi. They were on an 8-day field trip to New York, sponsored by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and being honored for their civil rights work in Mississippi. From Record Group 200-1491, National Archives (Archives II). For more information about this audio 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: "Thomas Fleming on Woodraw Wilson and World War I."
MP3. Time: 16:47
Talking History’s Bryan Le Beau and historian Thomas Fleming discuss some fresh perspectives on Woodrow Wilson and World War 1. Thomas Fleming is the author of The Illusion of Victory. Produced: February, 2004 by Talking History/OAH.
Segment 3: From the Archives: "Albert Einstein Speaks on World Government to Northwestern University Students (May 9, 1946)." February 12, 2004
Segment 1: "The New York Loyalists"
MP3.
Time: 24:42.
This is another program produced by WYNE and the Teachers and Writers Collaborative and distributed by Talking History/OAH. Professor Philip Ranlet of Hunter College examines The New York Loyalists, the supporters of the British during the Revolutionary War, and what happened to them after the war.
Segment 2: From the Archives: "Senator Robert F. Kennedy on the Plight of the American Indian (April 19, 1968)."
MP3.
Time: 28:44.
This interview with Senator Robert F. Kennedy -- conducted less than three months before his assassination -- was produced and distributed by the National Educational Radio Network (NERN) in 1968. It was first aired as a segment of the series "NER Washington Forum." Vic Sussman, at that time National Educational Radio's Public Affairs Director, conducted the interview. For more information about this audio 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.
MP3. Time: 12:36
An address by Albert Einstein on the necessity of world government. Recorded and broadcast over radio on May 9, 1946. For more information about this audio 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.
February 5, 2004
Segment 1: "From Minstrelsy to Movies: Popular Music in California From the 1880s to World War I (part 2)."
MP3.
Time: 35:32.Elizabeth Y. McNamee's "From Minstrelsy to Movies," produced in 2003, examines popular music in California in the Progressive Era, from the late 1880s to World War I. This is part 2; part 1 aired last week. Segment 2: From the Archives: "Pre-Trial Conference. Lieutenant William Calley Court Martial for MyLai Massacre (November 10, 1970)".
MP3.
Time: 5:06.Here is a selection from the pretrial arguments in the court martial trial of Lieutenant William Calley. Calley was court-martialed for his involvement in the My Lai Massacre. For more information on Calley, his court martial, and the events that transpired in My Lai, Vietnam in March of 1968, go to the following Web sites:
1) http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/mylai.htm
2) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/trenches/mylai.html
3) BIBLIOGRAPHY: http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~eemoise/mylai.html
http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~eemoise/mylai.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/trenches/mylai.html From Record Group 153: Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), 1692 - 1981, National Archives (Archives II). For more information about this audio 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: "Cicero."
MP3. Time: 15:47
Talking History’s Eileen Dugan continues her exploration of ancient Rome in this discussion with historian Anthony Everitt. Everitt is the author of Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician. Produced: February, 2004 by Talking History/OAH.
January 29, 2004
Segment 1: "From Minstrelsy to Movies: Popular Music in California From the 1880s to World War I (part 1)."
MP3.
Time: 25:15.Elizabeth Y. McNamee's "From Minstrelsy to Movies," produced in 2003, examines popular music in California in the Progressive Era, from the late 1880s to World War I. This is part 1; part 2 will air next week. Segment 2: From the Archives: "Pearl Buck on 'This I Believe' (circa 1952).
MP3.
Time: 4:05.Noble Prize winning author, Pearl S. Buck, uttered these words on Edward R. Murrow's radio series, "This I Believe." They reflect some of her fundamental beliefs and values about life. For a biography of Buck, see: dept.english.upenn.edu/Projects/Buck/biography.html. For more information about this audio 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: "Globalization."
MP3. Time: 18:44
Talking History’s Drew Bergerson discusses the fate of
globalization with Harold James, professor of history at the University
of Princeton, and author of The End of Globalization: Lessons from
the Great Depression. Produced in January, 2004 by Talking History/OAH.
January 22, 2004
Segment 1: From the Archives: "The Freedom Ride: Elsa Knight Thompson interviews James Farmer (1961)."
MP3.
Time: 26:01.James Farmer, former director of C.O.R.E., was interviewed by Pacifica's Elsa Knight Thompson in early 1961. The two discussed CORE's development and efforts to desegregate the Southern transportation system with a program of freedom rides. It was originally produced and broadcast by KPFA inLos Angeles. For more information on this audio recording, contact Talking History/University at Albany, the National Archives' Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Records LICON, Special Media Archives Services Division, College Park, MD, or the Pacifica Foundation. Segment 2: From the Archives: "William Randolph Hearst and Isolationism (Feb. 18, 1939)."
MP3.
Time: 13:48.William Randolph Hearst delivered this radio speech on NBC on February 18, 1939, as the United States was nearing war with Japan and Germany. The speech reflected his isolationist sentiments and his critical views of the FDR administration. Contrast his words here with Hearst's earlier role in stimulating war hysteria back in 1898 -- as he employed his media empire to fuel public support for the Spanish-American War. For more information on this audio 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: "Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism."
MP3.
Time: 16:41
Talking History�s Fred Nielsen interviews Adam Rome, author of The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism. Produced by Talking History/OAH, January 2004.
January 15, 2004
Segment 1: "The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963."
PART 1:
MP3. Time: 33:07.
PART 2:
MP3. Time: 26:56.The National Educational Radio Network (NERN) was a consortium of college and non-commercial radio stations that shared educational and cultural programming with each other in the 1950s and 1960s. The consortium was the predecessor of National Public Radio. Back in late August of 1963, American University's NERN affiliate, WAMU-FM, covered the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom live for an entire day. This one-hour compilation of that day's recordings (August 28, 1963) was later produced for distribution through NERN. For more information on this audio 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 2: From the Archives: "Eugene McCarthy on Brown v. Board of Education," 1954.
MP3.
Time: 01:05.[Corrected Entry] Eugene McCarthy represented Minnesota's 4th Congression district at the time he made these comments about the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision. McCarthy was a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and was a progressive on racial, social, and economic issue. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives until 1959 when he ran succesfully for the U.S. Senate. For more information on this audio 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.
January 8, 2004
Segment 1: "The Nights of Edith Piaf" (1994).
Real
Media. MP3 Unavailable.
Time: 29:06"She rose every day at dusk and sang, rehearsed, performed, ate and drank and sang until dawn. Then she slept all day and began to create and unravel again as the sun went down. Nearly every song Edith Piaf sang, and she recorded over 400 of them, was a moment taken from her life in Paris. Piaf would tell her composers a story, or describe a feeling or show them a gesture. And they would put music and lyrics to her pain and passion, giving her back her own musical autobiography. Charles Aznavour, Francis Lai, Georges Moustaki, Henri Contet -- some of France's greatest musicians and composers recall their nights with the 'the Little Sparrow'." First produced by The Kitchen Sisters for Soundprint in 1994. Segment 2: From the Archives: "John Steinbeck interview. (Feb. 11, 1952)."
MP3.
Time: 11:57.A selection from an interview with John Steinbeck conducted on February 11, 1952. The interviewer is not identified. Steinbeck talks about the setting of his novel The Grapes of Wrath, the dust bowl of the 1930s, the Great Depression, Federal Government aid for farmers, and comparisons of migrant farmers in the 1930s and the 1950s. For more information on this audio 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: "Frederick Douglas."
MP3.
Time: 15:41
This examination of Frederick Douglas� autobiography was produced as a segment of "The Teacher as Historian," at WNYE�FM in New York City. William L. Andrews, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, examines Frederick Douglas� Autobiography as a source of information on the man, the institution of slavery, and the abolitionist movement. Prepared by Talking History/OAH.
January 1, 2004
Segment 1: From the Archives: "The Case for the Flying Saucers." (1950)."
MP3.
Time: 27:57.The modern UFO era emerged following World War II and is generally dated to June 24, 1947, when businessman Kenneth Arnold sighted a formation of very bright objects in the sky while flying over the Cascade mountains in Washington. Edward R. Murrow interviewed Arnold and others in this CBS radio special report, titled "The Case for the Flying Saucers." Utilizing interviews, actors, historical reconstructions, and narration, this documentary, hosted by Murrow and heard nationwide on the evening of April 7, 1950, explores the growing phenomenon of UFO sightings and reflects the growing public attention and concern during the Cold War era with flying saucers in general. For more information on this audio, 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. This particular recording came from Record Group 330: Records of the U.S. Department of Defense.
Segment
2: "The Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty."
MP3.
Time: 15:41
Talking History's
Bryan Le Beau revisits Fletcher Christian, Lieutenant Bligh, and the mutiny that took place more than 200 years ago on an armed transport vessel called Bounty in a conversation with Caroline Alexander, author of The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty (Viking, 2003). Produced: December, 2003.
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