Sound Archive Access: Revealing Emergent Cultures

Abstract

This article contends that researchers can and should be active participants in making sound archives more accessible. In fact, such advocacy can be consequential in setting up possibilities for creative research on race within radio history and sound studies. Using the example of NPR’s All Things Considered archive spanning from 1971–1983, I demonstrate how academics and archivists can work together to make possible the preservation and accessibility of sound archives. This particular collaboration offers an opportunity to take a cultural approach to understanding newsroom diversity, more specifically: the cultural constraints of linguistic norms and the emergent cultures that arise as aberrations from such norms. The article reflects on this project’s implications for other scholars who work with archives that wish to invest in sound archive preservation and use.