The Authority File

In the final episode of this four-part series on documentary collections, we bring our guests together to discuss the sustainability of documentary films in today’s political environment. First, UC Berkeley’s Film and Media Services Librarian Gisèle Tanasse underscores the responsibility of the library to supply instructors with documentaries—both new films and older selections essential to the canon—through licensing and purchasing options. Next, Sarah Feinbloom, filmmaker and founder of GOOD DOCS, and filmmaker Set Hernandez outline the current challenges facing documentary filmmakers. As Sarah and Set point out, despite repressive regimes and attacks on funding, documentary storytellers have a long, global history of finding innovative ways to create and share their work. Last, Sage’s Senior Director of Library Editorial Michael Carmichael explores how vendors like Sage can support the dissemination of documentaries, while Virginia Espino, Continuing Lecturer, César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies at UCLA, shares some key advice for documentary makers—organize!

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In the third episode of this four-part series, we turn to faculty and librarian perspectives on documentary film collection development and use in curricula. First, Virginia Espino, Continuing Lecturer in the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies at UCLA, outlines how she measures learning outcomes when using documentaries as learning tools, including peer discussion and handwritten reflections to test student understanding. Next, Gisèle Tanasse, UC Berkeley’s Film and Media Services Librarian, shares how the library can partner with faculty to develop multimodal learning experiences that build media literacy skills. Last, both guests reflect on what makes access to and representation in documentary films key components of student education. They touch on librarians acting as “custodians of cultural history” and the incredible historical moments and lived experiences captured in documentaries that create a comprehensive and visceral archive for viewers and researchers to explore.

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In the second episode of this four-part series, our guests provide tips for developing a comprehensive documentary film collection. First, filmmaker and GOOD DOCS founder Sarah Feinbloom shares background on the origin and goals of GOOD DOCS. Sarah also explains how documentaries can uplift young filmmakers and perspectives, in addition to underscoring the importance of spotlighting human diversity on screen. Next, Sarah and UC Berkeley’s Film and Media Services Librarian Gisèle Tanasse discuss collection development strategies. Gisele covers the value of flexible distribution models and explores how librarians can help filmmakers navigate the academic marketplace. Finally, Michael Carmichael, Senior Director of Library Editorial at Sage, details how GOOD DOCS’ and Sage’s shared values inspired their recent partnership. Michael also addresses Sage’s approach to librarians’ affordability and access needs.

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In this four-part series with Sage, five guests join the podcast to chat about the value and applications of documentary films in the classroom. Virginia Espino, Continuing Lecturer, César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies at UCLA, offers the faculty perspective, sharing how she measures learning outcomes and utilizes films for instruction. Filmmaker Set Hernandez shares their filmmaking experience and examines the cultural and emotional impact of documentaries at the college level. UC Berkeley’s Film and Media Services Librarian Gisèle Tanasse explores how the library works with faculty to build film-led curricula and ensures access to visual media. Finally, Sarah Feinbloom, a filmmaker and the founder of GOOD DOCS, and Sage’s Senior Director of Library Editorial Michael Carmichael, discuss building a documentary collection and the benefits of the Sage-GOOD DOCS partnership for customers and the wider market.

In this first episode, Set, Virginia, and Sarah provide an overview of how documentary films aid teaching and learning. First, Virginia reveals the humanizing effects for students of using No Más Bebés—a documentary she co-produced on the forced sterilization of Mexican women at the Los Angeles-USC Medical Center in the late 1960s to early 1970s—in conjunction with traditional research sources. Next, Set explains the background behind their film unseen. Centered on a blind and undocumented aspiring social worker earning his college degree, the documentary fosters empathy, critical thinking, and cultural awareness in its audiences through its cinematographic techniques and audio-centered filmmaking.

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In the final episode of our four-part series with Dr. Cheryl Thompson, author of Canada and the Blackface Atlantic: Performing Slavery, Conflict, and Freedom, 1812-1897, we turn to the archives. To start, Cheryl walks through the development of her project Mapping Ontario’s Black Archives (MOBA), a digital inventory of public archives on Black history and culture. Cheryl explains that while researching for her book she often encountered white-centered archives and discrepancies between an archive’s listed availability online versus when she arrived in person. This frustration inspired MOBA, which aims to simplify workflows for researchers and spotlight open resources. In collaboration with Cheryl’s Black Creative Lab, MOBA has earned several grants and aims to evolve into storing assets and acting as a model for other provinces to follow, with the goal of scholars using the archives to fuel creative thinking and artistic output.

To close, Cheryl explores Canada’s place within the “Atlantic world,” underscoring how blackface minstrelsy traveled from America to Europe to Canada and back again. Influenced by the social and political climates of each region, the minstrel show may have started in the US, but became a global form of entertainment within the triangular Atlantic context.

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This week Dr. Cheryl Thompson, Associate Professor in Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University, continues the discussion of her book, Canada and the Blackface Atlantic: Performing Slavery, Conflict, and Freedom, 1812-1897. First, she walks through the gaps she encountered in the literature on 19th-century minstrelsy and vaudeville. Finding that much of the canon neglected the 1860s-90s as women began to enter the stage, Cheryl also discovered that texts on this period often portrayed Black women actors and dancers in terms of resistance and exclusion. She explains how she wanted to move beyond these two views, instead focusing on how these women expressed their own agency and found success on the stage. In addition, Cheryl describes the types of archives she used when researching the book—newspapers, playbills, lithographic prints—and digs into the surprising and sometimes frustrating responses she received from librarians and archivists when looking through these materials.

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In the second episode of this four-part series, Dr. Cheryl Thompson, Associate Professor in Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University, digs into the timeline and conflict of her book, Canada and the Blackface Atlantic: Performing Slavery, Conflict, and Freedom, 1812-1897. First, she discusses the difficulty in choosing a starting point for the title. Aiming to include the theater’s rich history, she elected to begin at the War of 1812—one of the defining moments of Canada and its burgeoning identity—and intersperse the theater’s techniques and history throughout the book. Additionally, as Cheryl explains, the War of 1812 revealed Canada’s varying viewpoints, with factions of Loyalists versus pro-America/Republic groups, and, later during the US Civil War, Unionists versus Confederates.

In fact, Cheryl points out that diverging audiences continued past 1865 as all-Black minstrel groups and Jubilee singers, often formerly enslaved, began to tour Canada, leading to a split of working-class crowds at minstrel shows and upper class viewers for Jubilee performances. Cheryl explores the competing narratives of these two shows, their popularity in Canada, and the intersection of conflict and entertainment in this fascinating episode.

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Dr. Cheryl Thompson, Associate Professor in Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University, joins the program to discuss her latest book, Canada and the Blackface Atlantic: Performing Slavery, Conflict, and Freedom, 1812-1897. The first in a trilogy, the title investigates the origins of blackface in Canada, tracing the rise of minstrel shows in the 19th century and how they converged with growing infrastructure in railways, theater, and the entertainment industry. In the next four episodes, Cheryl dives into her research and writing process, in addition to her essential work in the archives. She also examines how American enslavement shaped the portrayal of Black people in minstrel shows and the contention between Black choral groups rising in tandem with minstrelsy performances.

In this first episode, Cheryl introduces us to her scholarship and a major through line of her work—how systems of production intersect with gender, race, and power structures. Describing blackface as a “socializing agent” during the 19th century, Cheryl explains how the theater acted not only as a form of entertainment, but a powerful educational tool on US enslavement, westward expansion, and the Jim Crow era. Without a school system or nationwide curriculum in place, minstrel shows taught audiences about these topics—but from an extremely biased point of view that introduced or reinforced existing narratives of Black people in the US North and South. Last, Cheryl connects back to the topic of infrastructure, illustrating how the railroads in Canada were integral to the growth of traveling theater groups.

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In the final episode of this four-part series, Janaki Srinivasan of the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies and the Oxford Internet Institute and Amy Harris of MIT Press explore the unanticipated benefits of open monographs and the future of MIT Press’s Direct to Open (D2O) program. First, Amy chats about how open access influences translation and licensing decisions. She cites MIT Press’s Deep Learning, a 2016 computer science title that drove interest in large part due to its preprinted chapters and open peer review, spurring more than a dozen translation licenses with publishers. Next, Amy and Janaki highlight the ways students and teaching faculty interact with open materials; the ease of clicking a link creates fewer barriers for tech-savvy researchers. Last, Amy previews D2O’s 2025 impact report and shares the unique ways D2O authors’ research flourishes outside of academia.

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In the third episode of this four-part series, Janaki Srinivasan, Associate Professor in Digital South Asian Studies at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies and the Oxford Internet Institute, and Amy Harris, Senior Manager of Library Relations and Sales at MIT Press, discuss the citation and global impacts of the open access book model. First, Janaki, author of The Political Lives of Information, discusses the central idea of her book—the right to information—and how that aligns with open publishing. Next, Amy highlights the benefits of Direct to Open (D2O) that authors continue to find in relation to their field, while Janaki shares how open publishing has helped her book reach non-Western audiences, particularly those in India who are affected by her research topic. To close, Amy chats about the citation advantages of open books over paywalled content. Looking at more than six years of D2O data, Amy details increased citation diversity with significant benefits for Humanities and Social Sciences titles.

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