WUSF Public Media: Massive Digitization Effort Is The Latest Plot Twist For Cuban Radio Soap Operas. “Binge-worthy podcasts may be a 21st century phenomenon, but addictive, serialized storytelling is nothing new. From the 1930s through the 1950s, Cuba exported more daytime and nighttime radio serials than any nation in the Spanish-speaking world — even Fidel Castro was a fan. After the Revolution, Cuban emigrés in Miami began making original Spanish-language radio soap operas — better known as radionovelas — that reportedly ran on more than 200 stations worldwide. The Latin American Library at Tulane University is now digitizing a whopping collection of those 1960s-era programs and encouraging academic study of Cold War soaps.”
1960s
DigitalNC: Newly Digitized Materials from Winston Salem’s African-American Community Now Online
DigitalNC: Newly Digitized Materials from Winston Salem’s African-American Community Now Online. “We have added materials that capture some of Winston Salem’s rich African-American history from 1930 to 1990, courtesy of the Winston Salem African American Archive. Included in this batch are several editions of The Columbian, the student newspaper for Columbian Heights High School, and articles from other local papers highlighting notable community members and events.”
Jackson Free Press: MSU Digitizes Endangered Citizens Council Radio Tapes
Jackson Free Press: MSU Digitizes Endangered Citizens Council Radio Tapes. “On those tapes, the state’s old leaders often revel in their opposition to civil rights and support for segregation, revealing much about Mississippi’s political culture in the tumultuous years of the 1950s and 1960s. In one recording, [John Bell] Williams, who was then a Democratic congressman, calls the Civil Rights Act ‘the most monstrous piece of tyrannical legislation ever considered by Congress.’ In another, [Ross] Barnett, who was no longer governor at the time, claims communists are behind the civil rights movement. Digital recordings of those tapes, MSU libraries announced Thursday, are now available online.”
Boston Public Library’s 78rpm Records Come to the Internet: Reformatting the Boston Public Library Sound Archives (Internet Archive)
Internet Archive: Boston Public Library’s 78rpm Records Come to the Internet: Reformatting the Boston Public Library Sound Archives. “Following eighteen months of work, more than 50,000 78rpm record ‘sides’ from the Boston Public Library’s sound archives have now been digitized and made freely available online by the Internet Archive.” I listened to a Cab Calloway song from 1946 (“Hey Now, Hey Now” if you care) and while it did have pops and crackles I was surprised at how good the sound quality was.
UCLA: UCLA to restore student films involving The Doors’ Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison
UCLA: UCLA to restore student films involving The Doors’ Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison. “The pair, who met on campus when Morrison was a senior and Manzarek was a graduate student, became household names by the late 60s, along with bandmates Robby Krieger and John Densmore, and their early artistic endeavors as movie makers are at risk of being forgotten as time takes its toll on the original reels….With this in mind, the UCLA Film and Television Archive launched the Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison Preservation Project. The campaign being conducted on UCLA Spark, UCLA’s crowdfunding platform, began Feb. 12 on what would have been Manzarek’s 80th birthday. It closes April 1. To date, nearly $40,000 has been raised.”
Britain from the air: 1945-2009 (University of Cambridge)
University of Cambridge: Britain from the air: 1945-2009. “Aerial photographs of Britain from the 1940s to 2009 – dubbed the ‘historical Google Earth’ by Cambridge academics – have been made freely available to everyone on Cambridge University Library’s ground-breaking Digital Library.”
State Archives of North Carolina Launches Flickr Album of Vietnam War Photos
The State Archives of North Carolina has put up a new photo album on Flickr. It’s called Ernest W. Payne Vietnam War Images and it’s over 300 images covering 1967 and 1968. Be sure to click on the “show more” link on the front page with the description of the album, as it’ll give you a full biography of Staff Sergeant Payne, supply officer and Bronze Star recipient.
