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Aural History Productions
Student Work (PAGE IN PROGRESS)
The course "Producing Historical Documentaries for Internet and Radio
Broadcast was first offered in the Fall of 1998. Students in the course
range from undergraduates, to master's to advanced doctoral students.
Some take the course as a way to explore and present history in a different
way; others plan to do additional work on their own while othere will
integrate documentary production into their graduate work and future professional
goals. Rooted in history, the course is offered to both Since than students
have produced a wide array of progams -- of varying lengths on numerous
topics. Here, listed alphabetically by student, you will find some of
the best of their work.
Program Title
Broadcast Date
Program Length
"The Execution
of Private Eddie Slovik: War and Military Justice" RealMedia files [28 kbps]:
RealMedia files [56 kbps]:
Oct. 22, 1971
69 mins
When
Pvt. Eddie Slovik was executed in January of 1945, he became the
first and only American soldier to be killed for desertion since
the Civil War. Joe Balducci
talks with several several veterans who were involved in the execution
-- as well as the now 25 year attempt to get a pardon for Slovik.
Questions about war, the death penalty, military justice, and the
pardon process are explored. Joe Balducci produced The Execution
of Private Eddie Slovik as his final project for the Producing
Historical Documentariescourse, spring 2001.
FBI informer / Mary Jo Cooke
RealMedia files [56 kbps]:
part 1|
part 2
MP3 files [128 kbps]:
Archive Number: KZ0893
Title: FBI informer / Mary Jo Cooke ; interviewed by Jeff Kaye.
Place: Los Angeles : Pacifica Radio Archive, 1975.
SERIES: What in the world.
Length: 1 reel (25 min.) : 7 1/2 ips, mono.
Body: On her infiltration of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War/
Winter Soldier Organization, and the Attica prison uprising
defense team.
BROADCAST: KPFK, 25 Apr. 1975.
Search: VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE
WAR/WINTER SOLDIER ORGANIZATION.
Kaye, Jeff.
Cooke, Mary Jo.
Intelligence service -- United
States.
Attica prison rebellion, 1971.
Espionage -- United States.
FBI informer / Mary Jo Cooke ;
interviewed by Jeff Kaye.
Dalton Trumbo ; interviewed by Larry Bensky
RealMedia files [56 kbps]:
part 1|
part 2
MP3 files [128 kbps]:
Archive Number: BC0259
Title: Johnny got his gun / Dalton Trumbo ; interviewed by Larry Bensky.
Place: Los Angeles : Pacifica Radio Archive, 1971.
Length: l reel (22 min.) : 7 1/2 ips, mono.
Body: Film director and writer discusses his movie, the Attica
uprising, and the days of McCarthyism in America.
BROADCAST: KPFA, 20 Sept. 1971.
Ron Enclerico
"Film Noir."
Ron Enclerico produced this examination of Film Noir.
A movie-making genre characterized by elegant, stylized, and moody atmospheres,
sombre lighting, and direct pacing, Film Noir emerged in the post-WW
II era and continues to influence many filmmakers today. This piece was
produced as his final project in the Spring 2001.
~ ~ ~ ~
"The Civilian Conservation Corps In New York State:
An Aural Narrative."
Historians depict the Civilian Conservation Corps as one of F.D.R.’s most
successful New Deal programs. Roosevelt’s CCC camps were a home to almost
three million undernourished victims of the Depression. After several months
in the camps, most of these “CCC boys” emerged as healthy, skilled workers.
Through archival sounds and oral testimonies, Mark Wolfe tells us about
life in some of the CCC camps in New York State. This is Mark's final project
for the Producing
Historical Documentaries course, spring 2001.
"The Underground Railroad
in Upstate New York."
Perhaps less well-known than other regions, the Capital District of New
York State was nonetheless a stop on the Underground Railroad. In this piece,
Mary Jane Zanelli asks longtime researchers Paul and Mary Liz Stewart to
explain: what was the Underground Railroad; who was involved; what was life
like for a runaway slave; and how successful was the Underground Railroad
in the Capital Region? Letters and diary entries, read by actors, describe
the experiences and feelings of the time. This is another final project
for the Producing
Historical Documentaries course, spring 2001.
~ ~ ~ ~
"The Execution of Private Eddie Slovik: War and Military
Justice"
When Pvt. Eddie Slovik was executed in January of 1945, he became the first
and only American soldier to be killed for desertion since the Civil War.
The story is told by several veterans who were involved in the execution
as well as the now 25 year attempt to get a pardon for Slovik. Questions
about war, death penalty, military justice, and the pardon process are explored.
Joe Balducci produced The Execution of Private Eddie
Slovik as his final project for the Producing
Historical Documentariescourse, spring 2001.
"The Lost Voice of Radio Beijing
As we approach the anniversary of the Tianneman uprising in China, this
piece offers a brief vignette of one event that took place at the time.
Lost Voice was produced by Jack Urso as a
short feature for the Producing
Historical Documentaries course in the spring of 2000.
~ ~ ~ ~
"The Stelton Modern School."
Formed in 1914 after leaving its original Manhattan home, The Stelton, New
Jersey Ferrer Modern School offered a profoundly influential experience
for all who attended it. The school employed the philosophy of free education
espoused by Spanish anarchist Francesco Ferrer ý Guardia. The school flourished
throughout the 1920s, and then began a slow decline until eventually dissolving
in 1953. This is the story of the Ferrer Modern School at Stelton, New Jersey
as told by some of the people who were there. The Stelton
Modern School is Aaron Wunderlich's final project for the Producing
Historical Documentaries course, spring 2001.
"Before Auschwitz: The Nazi Extermination of People
with Disabilities."
Before Auschwitz presents the story of a little-known
Nazi killing operation called Aktion T-4. Before the extermination of Jews
in concentration camps, the Nazis first created a highly organized operation
which killed over 350,000 people with disabilities, primarily mental disabilities.
This story is told through the first-person accounts of an American soldier
who liberated one of the killing centers and a woman who survived the killing
center—as well as by two scholars of pyschiatric history. This piece
was produced by Darby Penney as her final project for the Producing
Historical Documentariescourse, spring 2001.
~ ~ ~ ~
Segment 1: "Henry McNeal Turner: Civil
War Chaplain."
Henry McNeal Turner was an African Methodist Episcopal minister who served
as an army chaplain during the civil war. He was in the unusual position
of being the only black officer in a regiment that otherwise consisted of
black enlisted men commanded by white officers. This documentary looks at
how Turner went beyond his duties as spiritual leader for his men and lobbied
for fair treatment on their behalf. He taught them to read and write, and
publicized their hardships and accomplishments through open letters to the
press. Turner was far more than a chaplain -- he became an advocate for
an entire people. Produced by Lizzie Redkey as her final project for the
Producing
Historical Documentariescourse, spring 2000.
~ ~ ~ ~
The first four segments of this week's program are student
works produced at SUNY-Albany in the course "Producing Historical Documentaries
for Broadcast and Internet Radio." Segment 1: "Memory, History, and the Psychiatrically
Disabled," by Darby Penney.
Darby Penney looks at who writes the history of people with psychiatric
disabilities and the ethical issues around denying patients a part in the
writing of their history.
Segment 2: "CCC Camps," by Mark Wolfe.
"Film Noire," by Ron Enclerico.
Ron
Enclerico produced this short exploration of film noire; this is
part of a longer work in progress.
"Challenger," by Rick Clarkson.
Rick Clarkson examines memory and tragedy in this short documentary on what
people remember about the day the shuttle Challenger exploded in January
of 1986.