This summer the Dodd Research Center Gallery exhibits Season 1 of d’Archive, the archives podcast hosted by WHUS campus radio.  After wrapping up a 15 episode season over the course of Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 semesters, which is available on itunes or wherever you catch podcasts, materials featured on the show are currently on display.

 This exhibition will run from May 14th – July 7th, 2018 in the Dodd Research Center Gallery, Monday – Friday 9-5pm  

Episode list:

d’Archive Episode 1: Punk Rock in the Archives

Punk Rock in Connecticut! Discussion of the Joe Snow Punk Rock Collection at the Archives & Special Collections and punk youth culture featuring hardcore punk, vegan straight edge and oral history of the Anthrax Club during Connecticut’s early hardcore punk scene.

d’Archive Episode 2: Literary Collections and Black Experience in the Arts

Highlighting literary collections at the Archive & Special Collections with guest archivist Melissa Watterworth Batt.  Focusing on the creation, collection and access to Black Experience in the Arts through spoken word poetry and performance.

d’Archive Episode 3: Fake News and Libraries as Refuge

Part of the ongoing conversation in advocating for access to diverse ranges of information which helps support further research into critical topics in the 21st century.  As discussed in this episode with Access Services Librarian Joel Atkinson of the Homer Babbidge Library at UConn’s Storrs campus, the library operates as a cornerstone in society and often a place of refuge from the bombardment of information in digital space.  Like archives, libraries function to select, support and make accessible collections that have been included because of their contributions to history, culture and science, or the “pebble” in the rushing river of information.

d’Archive Episode 4: Abbie Hoffman, UConn and the War in Vietnam

Sampling some of the audio collections from the turbulent days of the late 1960s at the University of Connecticut.  The American invasion of Vietnam and campus recruitment by petro-chemical companies matched by growing disparities between haves and have-nots and its reflection in a lack of students of color at UConn led to the beginning of student demonstrations in 1968.  Popular national counter culture icons like Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin of the Yippee’s and Chicago 7 are featured in the waning days of the movement.  This episode discusses the 1960s Alternative Press activist collections contained in the Archives & Special Collections.

d’Archive Episode 5: Alternative Archiving with Richard Akeroyd

This episode of d’Archive features former UConn Archives & Special Collections Archivist and Former Connecticut State Librarian Richard Akeroyd in conversation about the formation of the Alternative Press Collection, the War in Vietnam and the role of documenting protest movements.  Drawing on his experience of establishing the ephemera heavy Alt Press Collection at the UConn Archives, Richard explains the beacons, alliances and controversies that arose out of his collecting initiatives beginning in the late 1960s.   The formation of this collection at one of the most politically divided times in the country’s history, informs and resonates the challenges of documenting the current discourses of today’s equally divided political landscape.

d’Archive Episode 6: Child Labor and Human Rights Photography

This episode of d’Archive features a discussion about the U. Roberto (Robin) Romano Papers with guests Len Morris, director, educator and child advocate from Media Voices for Children and Brooke Foti-Gemmell, design technologist of UConn’s Greenhouse Studios. The Romano Papers at UConn’s Archives & Special Collections are an extensive collection of photography, research files, work prints and electronic records relating to Robin’s work of documenting child labor in the US and throughout the world.  Len’s 30 year collaboration with Robin resulted in several award winning documentary films and successful campaigns to combat child labor in many different supply chains from agriculture, to resource extraction to light manufacturing.  Brooke, former archivist assistant, along with archivist Graham Stinnett curated an exhibition in the fall of 2017 to be displayed at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center in conjunction with the Business & Human Rights Initiative Conference on stakeholders and their roles in light manufacturing.

d’Archive Episode 7: Freedom of Information

On this episode of d’Archive, Matt Guariglia, UConn History PhD Candidate and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Journalist discusses the protections and restrictions on recorded documentation.  Stemming from his academic research on the New York City Police Department and FOIA reporting, Matt talks about leaking, National Security Archive, Cointelpro and burning draft records.

d’Archive Episode 8: Digitization, Photography and American Primitive Guitar

This episode features a combination of discussion and musical curation with Head of Digital Imaging and Conservation, Michael J. Bennett at UConn’s Homer Babbidge Library.  Topics include the role of digitization and analog experience with archival collections and the technical equipment in use at the UConn Library; in addition, selections from the Samuel and Ann Charters Archives of Blues and Vernacular African American Musical Culture collection held at the Archives & Special Collections.  Michael’s interest in American Primitive guitarist John Fahey contextualizes the audio selections featured in this episode.

d’Archive Episode 9: UConn History and the Recorded Past

This episode features a discussion with University of Connecticut Archivist Betsy Pittman who oversees all things UConn.  Betsy’s collecting area straddles both the history of the university as well as the records management of Connecticut’s largest public university.  In addition, the Archives & Special Collections preserves and collects materials about the history of the state of Connecticut, its politicians and soldier’s diaries and correspondence from the Civil War to the Vietnam War.

d’Archive Episode 10: Archives Sampler and Holiday Cheer

This episode of d’Archive features a kooky and eclectic curated playlist from Children’s Literature and Multimedia Archivist, Kristin Eshelman.  Featured in conversation are selections from the Archives & Special Collections audio recordings of poetry readings, the sounds of the future, kids tunes and animal noises as well as the appropriate dosing of holiday blues to prepare any mall Santa for the weeks ahead. Happy Holidays!

d’Archive Episode 11: Medieval High Fantasy

This episode of d’Archive features a discussion with Medieval Studies PhD candidate and Archives staff member Patrick Butler on medieval texts and readings from the Archives & Special Collections audio recordings collection.  Patrick’s insight into the origins of contemporary fantasy novels like the Lord of The Rings helps us think critically about the appropriations and reinterpretations of classic Medieval cannon like Caedmon’s Hymn, Beowulf and the Canterbury Tales for contemporary uses.  This episode is part of a series of genre sessions featuring archival recordings of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Westerns.

d’Archive Episode 12: World War 2 and Oral History

This episode of d’Archive features guest Nicholas Hurley, Research Services Assistant at the Archives & Special Collections and UConn History Department alumnus, in conversation about World War 2 collections at the archives and his oral history project on veterans from the axis and the allies.  This engaging discussion gives budding historians a perspective on how to establish an oral history project and a few of the best practices to get you started in documenting the stories of those around you.

d’Archive Episode 13: Science Fiction

This episode features science fiction recordings and a conversation with Jonathan Squires, McMaster University, English M.A. and science fiction enthusiast about audio collections held at the UConn Archives & Special Collections.  Jonathan’s interest in critical science fiction and the explorations of our possible futures from the space race to post-scarcity to cyberpunk provides for an engaging conversation about the classics of the mid-20th century. This episode is part of a series of genre sessions featuring archival recordings of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Westerns.

d’Archive Episode 14: New Haven Railroad

The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (New Haven Railroad) was the predominant railroad system in southern New England for almost 100 years.  Today’s episode illustrates the storied history of boom and bust for this mainstay industry of the 19th and 20th centuries.  On this episode, Graham is joined by colleague Laura Smith, Archivist of the Business & Railroad Collections, and Paul Beck, Film and Video Producer of the New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association (NHRHTA), for an engaging discussion.  Highlighting this conversation on the railroad are sound clips ranging from archival footage, documentary film, and committee hearings assembled by the NHRHTA and housed at the UConn Archives & Special Collections.

d’Archive Episode 15: Universal Declaration of Human Rights

This episode highlights the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948.  Featured in conversation is Dr. Glenn Mitoma, Assistant Professor of Human Rights Education at UConn’s Neag School of Ed. and Director of the Dodd Center, discussing the history and impact of this landmark document in addition to its relationship to contemporary issues around citizenship, gun control and internment.  The Archives & Special Collections of the UConn Library, holds significant collections stemming from the Trials at Nuremberg in 1946 and subsequent human rights records relating to the founding principles of the UDHR.