Diaries are deeply personal, unfiltered versions of their authors, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s diary from 1885-1887 reveals a young woman in transition. Having just moved from her hometown of Holly Springs, Mississippi, to Memphis, Tennessee, Ida's diary paints a picture of her attempt to balance her need to earn a stable salary as a teacher with her desire to be a published writer. Her early experiences Memphis laid the foundation for the investigative journalist, activist, and leader she became, and it was all driven by her desire for more - more opportunity, more published articles, and more social impact.

For more information, and full transcripts, visit ArchivalPod.com

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Audio Credits: Music by Scott Buckley; University of Chicago Digital Archives; The Memphis Diary of Ida B Wells, Edited by Miriam DeCosta-Willis; Middle Tennessee State University Digital Archives

Marion Marguerite Stokes bough her first videotape recorder in 1977. What started as casually recording her favorite shows, evolved into recording 24 hours of television everyday on six to eight tvs and video recorders everyday in her Rittenhouse Square apartment. Her 70,000 plus tapes are a comprehensive television archives that document storytelling and media influence from crisis to crisis.

Explore the Marion Stokes archives via the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/marionstokesvideo

For more information, and full transcripts, visit ArchivalPod.com

Audio Credits: Music by Scott Buckley; Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project (2019); Internet Archive; BBC

Explore the FBI’s efforts to surveil and impede members of the press through harassment and intimidation tactics from their fixation on Black newspapers and journalists in the 1940s, to President Richard Nixon’s “Enemies List” in the 1970s.

Plus, learn about that time the FBI got robbed.

For more information, and full transcripts, visit ArchivalPod.com

Audio Credits: Music by Scott Buckley; PBS Documentary, The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords Documentary (1999); American Forum at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center; Television Academy Foundation (2010); Democracy Now (2014)

On this episode, we’re exploring a set of archives that I never even expected to dig into, and honestly, these archives were the most heartbreaking, and draining to sift through. I’m referring to the FBI Archives. And today we’re focused on the FBI archives related to Mississippi Burning — not the film, but the real investigation in 1964.

Surprisingly, the FBI Archives reveal an unexpected story about who the first investigators were to search for James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman, and they dispel the savior myths about the FBI swooping in and saving the day, like the creative fiction portrayed in the film would have you believe. Plus, listeners get to hear President Lyndon B. Johnson and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover discussing the investigation via recorded phone calls archived in the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.

For more information, visit ArchivalPod.com.

Audio Credits: Music by Scott Buckley; J. Edgar Hoover Press Conference Recordings from the Associated Press Archives; Telephone Recordings from the LBJ Presidential Library

Sometimes rest requires a change of scenery, and for for renown author James Baldwin that included sojourns to Switzerland, Turkey, and the South of France. Listen to part two of the rest archives to understand why Baldwin did not find rest Paris, and where he ultimately was able to experience silence and peace.

Please note that there is a brief mention of suicide early in this episode.

To see images referenced in this episode of Archival, watch on YouTube @ArchivalPod, and visit archivalpod.com for full transcripts.

Credits: Music by Scott Buckley

On this episode, we’re exploring rest and relaxation — two things that deserve a lot more time, energy, and focus in our day to day lives.

I’m curious — how do you rest?

Seeking inspiration, I started digging through the archives, and I found surprising and delightful examples of rest practiced by my favorite authors and leaders: Science Fiction Novelist Octavia Butler, Civil Rights Leader and Activist Rosa Parks, and Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. From long hikes and yoga to dancing and writing poetry, these luminaries have rest covered.

To see the images referenced in this episode of Archival, watch on YouTube @ArchivalPod, and visit archivalpod.com for full transcripts.

Credits: Music by Scott Buckley

Let’s continue our journey through family archives and the US Public Health Service Study of Untreated Syphilis at Tuskegee through the lens of the “participants…” rather the unknowing subjects of the study. In this episode, I explore who the men were as people, what they meant to their families and their communities, and how they lived their lives. Special thanks to Joyce Tyson Christian for sharing reflections about her beloved father, Freddie Lee Tyson, and for more information about Voices of Our Fathers Legacy Foundation, visit voicesforfathers.org.

For more information about Archival, and to access a full transcript for this episode, visit ArchivalPod.com.

Credits: Music by Scott Buckley; Photo by Karen Pulfer Focht

When Arzell Lester entered the CDC as a laborer in 1961, he had no way of knowing that his 25 year career would culminate in being appointed director of the health benefits program and approving the medical claims of the men subjected to the U.S. Public Health Service Study of Untreated Syphilis at Tuskegee. Explore granddad's archives in this episode as he comes face to face with the infamous study.

For more information about Archival, and to see the full transcript for this episode, visit archivalpod.com.

Credits: Music by Scott Buckley

Welcome to Archival...where we're living in the past on purpose.

For more information, visit ArchivalPod.com

Credits: Music by Scott Buckley