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Aural History Productions
Talking History, based at the University at Albany, State University of New York, is a production, distribution, and instructional center for all forms of "aural" history. Our mission is to provide teachers, students, researchers and the general public with as broad and outstanding a collection of audio documentaries, speeches, debates, oral histories, conference sessions, commentaries, archival audio sources, and other aural history resources as is available anywhere. We hope to expand our understanding of history by exploring the audio dimensions of our past, and we hope to enlarge the tools and venues of historical research and publication by promoting production of radio documentaries and other forms of aural history. In addition to our weekly radio program, we are engaged in numerous educational efforts, from running and sponsoring workshops to offering full-semester courses on radio production and oral history. Some of the most talented radio producers and engineers currently working in public and non-commercial radio now contribute to Talking History—both to our programming and to our educational efforts through production workshops. Here, you'll also find digital archives of their enormously creative and captivating works. Our weekly broadcast/internet radio program, Talking History, focuses on all aspects of history. Follow the link to the left, "The Radio Show," for more information on the program and to access the live WWW broadcast. Below you will find our latest archived shows; to enjoy more, make use of the pop-down menu to the left; it will give you access to our full radio archive.
November 19, 2009
Segment 1 and 3: "Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold" (2009).
PART 1: 
Real Media. Time: 34:33. [MP3 Unavailable by request of producer].
PART 2: Real Media. Time: 24:24. [MP3 Unavailable by request of producer].
Malaga Island: A Story Best Left Untold, comes to us from Rob Rosenthal, WMPG, and Maine's Salt Insitute for Documentary Studies. "In 1912, the state of Maine evicted a mixed-race community of about forty-five people from Malaga Island, just off the coast of Phippsburg. It was an act of racism, eugenics, and political retribution. Eight islanders were committed to the Maine School for the Feeble-Minded. The rest managed as best they could. The state moved the island school to another island. Then they dug up the graves and reburied the remains in the graveyard at the Maine School. The Malaga community was erased. For generations, descendents feared to speak about what happened to their families because of the local stigma of mixed-blood and feeble-mindedness. Others in Phippsburg would rather forget the incident - a story best left untold, some say. This is that story." For more information on Malaga Island, see: http://www.malagaislandmaine.org/
Segment 2: "Margaret Sanger on Birth Control" (1957).
Real Media. MP3. Time: 1:56.
On September 21, 1957, feminist and birth control advocate Margaret Sanger, appeared on Mike Wallace Interviews. During their half-hour conversation, Sanger and Wallace discussed how and why Sanger became an advocate of birth control, her views on world over-population, the role and power of the Catholic Church, and various moral issues. Here we offer a few snipets of that interview; for the full video and audio interview, go to this University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ranson Center Web site: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/sanger_margaret_t.html.
November 12, 2009
Segment 1 and 3: "The Silent Generation: From Saipan to Tokyo" (2006).
PART 1: Real Media. Time: 28:02. [MP3 Unavailable by request of producer].
PART 2: Real Media. Time: 30:14. [MP3 Unavailable by request of producer].
Yesterday was Veterans Day. Today, we bring you Peabody Award-winning producer Helen Borten's superb documentary on the last year of World War II in the Pacific. Here is her description of the piece: "Eugene "Bud" Clark, a pint-sized scrapper from Macon, GA, mowed down Banzai warriors, watched mass suicide on Saipan, and was severely wounded on Iwo Jima. Howard Terry was traumatized by his accidental killing of an Okinawan boy, returned home angry, belligerent and unable to hold a job. Anthony Daddato lost his best friend to friendly fire,contracted dengue fever,malaria and tuberculosis, and spent three embittered years in hospitals before a feisty nun's advice changed his outlook. Giles McCoy went down with the Indianapolis in one of the worst naval disasters in history. These are just a few of the voices in "The Silent Generation", a one-hour documentary that follows more than a score of men through the definitive year of their lives. Men from all walks of life and all corners of the nation. Men who melted quietly back into civilian life and kept silent for decades. Men who, as time grows short, have been moved to speak with unflinching honesty of events that changed them forever. Their memories are not for the faint-hearted. Here is a view of war from the foxhole. A side of war as relevant today as in 1945. To listen is to understand why they, like tens of thousands of others, could not speak for so long. "The Silent Generation" closes with their unblinking, often wrenching remarks on how combat later affected their attitudes, identity and everyday lives. Producer/Narrator Borten knits their stories into a chronological whole, adding archival newscasts, live reports from the battlefield, and little-known historical details that, together with these unforgettable stories, bring a momentous, searingly brutal chapter in history to life." For photographs of the men interviewed for this documetnary, see: The Silent Generation - Photographs.
Segment 2: "Just Before the Battle, Mother" (1912).
Real Media. MP3. Time: 4:13.
Continuing with our theme on this day after Veterans Day, we bring you a 1912 recording (originally produced in 1910), an Edison 4-minute wax Amberol release of "Just Before the Battle, Mother. " The song was written back during the American Civil War by George Frederick Root (1820-1895), a noted U.S. songwriter and popular composer. Root wrote cantatas, songs, and church music. He is especially remembered for the many soldier songs her wrote, among which were "The Battle Cry of Freedom," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," and "Just Before the Battle, Mother." The latter became especially popular just before and during World War I, even though it was composed many decades earlier. There are several on-line recordings of the piece, some of them readily available on www.archive.org. This particular version was recorded by Will Oakland and appeard on Edison Blue Amberol #1516 in 1912. We have taken the liberty of cleaning up the wax cylinder audio a bit to make it more clearly audible for radio broadcast.
Just Before the Battle, Mother
Music and Words by GEORGE F. ROOT
Just before the battle, mother,
I am thinking most of you,
While upon the field we're watching,
With the enemy in view.
Comrades brave are 'round me lying,
Fill'd with thoughts of home and God;
For well they know that on the morrow,
Some will sleep beneath the sod.
Chorus:
Farewell, mother, you may never
Press me to your heart again,
But, oh, you'll not forget me mother,
If I'm number'd with the slain.
Hark! I hear the bugles sounding,
'Tis the signal for the fight,
Now, may God protect us, Mother,
As he ever does the right.
Hear the "Battle Cry of Freedom,"
How it swells upon the air,
Oh, yes, we'll rally 'round the standard,
Or we'll perish nobly there.
November 5, 2009
Segment 1: "The Opium Wars." 2009.
Real Media. MP3. Time: 25:37.
This segment comes to us from the monthly series History Counts, produced by Ken MacDermotRoe and Bonnie MacDermotRoe. The show originates at Pacifica affiliate WPKN in Bridgeport, CT. In this episode, Ken MacDermotRoe interviews Frank Sanello, author of The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another. They discuss the two 19th century wars that Britain (and other European nations) fought to "compel China to import opium. While opium addiction devastated China, British and American merchants reaped enormous profits." For more information on the Opium Wars, see Sanello's book; for a brief on-line overview of the two wars, see: http://www.victorianweb.org/history/empire/opiumwars/opiumwars1.html. For information about History Counts, go to: www.historycounts.org.
Segment 2: "From the Archives: Buchanan Campaign Song, 1856" (1999).
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 00:33 (Selection).
This is a selection from a 1856 U.S. presidential election campaign song written and sung in support of the (winning) Democratic candidate James Buchanan. That election, one of the most bitterly fought political battles since the 1800 election, reflected the growing divisions in the nation over slavery and immigration. The newly formed Republican Party ran John Fremont, who vowed to end the growing power of the slave states and to repeal the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Democratic Party rejected their incumbent, Franklin Pierce, and instead nominated Buchanan from Pennsylvania. Buchanan campaigned on a promise to maintain the balance of power between slave and free states. Millard Fillmore, the third-party candidate, ran under the banner of the anti-immigration Know-Nothing party. For a short summary of the election, see: http://dig.lib.niu.edu/message/campaignhistory-1856.html
Segment 3: "Darwin ~ The 1959 Centennial of On the Origin of Species" (2009).
Real Media. MP3. Time: 27:51.
From the Vault contributes two selections from a pair of 1959 recordings "on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's classic work on evolution On The Origins of Species.
This work, published in 1859, established Evolution as the dominant scientific explanation for the diversity in nature. Beginning in the early 1950's the American science community began planning the Darwin Centennial Celebration.
The effort resulted in a 5 day event from November 24th through the 25th, 1959 at the University of Chicago and featured lectures and panel discussions with many of the the days' great minds of Science, including Darwins' grandson, Sir Charles Darwin. Pacifica Station KPFA was present to record one of the other notable participants Sir Julian Huxley, who gave this Darwin Centennial Address a few weeks later at the Monterrey Peninsula College on December 18th 1959." The second selection, is of Julian Huxley's famous brother, "author and futurist Aldous Huxley, known for his novel Brave New World, moderating a Darwin Centennial panel on the impact of Darwin's theories in the modern world. The panel includes Dr. George Beadle winner of the 1958 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering the role of genes in regulating biochemical events within cells. Also on the panel were Garrett Hardin and James Walter. Our records show this event taking place on October 23, 1959, a month before the University of Chicago event."
October 29, 2009
Segment 1 and 3: "From the Vault: They Remember Dvorak." (1970; 2009).
PART 1: Real Media. MP3. Time: 30:55.
PART 2: Real Media. MP3. Time: 26:11.
This week we feature another contribution from Pacifica Radio's From The Vault series, a re-broadcast of part of Pacifica Radio's 1970 Award-Winning program, "They Remember Dvorak." Here is FTV's summary of the documentary: "Dvorak was more than happy living in Eastern Europe and presenting his grand Symphonies around Europe. But in 1892, he was invited to move to America, an offer which he originally scoffed at. Why would he put his family in harms way from the savage American Indians and the hostile seas? By the end of his 3 years living in America he befriended Algonquin Indians and African Americans and began cataloging bird and nature sounds. Indian singing, Negro Spirituals and sounds of nature would become recurring themes in Dvorak's music. The idea for this program came in 1967 when then-KPFK Music Director, William Malloch, met someone who actually knew Dvorak. It inspired William to look for more and would end up recording the reminiscences of 8 others who knew Dvorak and artfully wove these stories into a three hour special. On this program we will only cover the time Dvorak spent in America from 1892-1895, but first a little about Antonin Dvorak.
Born on September 8th, 1841 in The Austrian Empire now known as the Czech Republic, Dvorak would become one of the most prolific composers of all time. By the 1870's he was already considered a significant composer, ultimately gaining the respect and friendship of both Johannes Brahms and Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky. As his notoriety ascended to worldwide status he would be invited to Premiere his Symphony no. 7 in London in 1885. Then in 1892, American socialite Jeanette Thurber would invite Dvorak to be the Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. Our story today will deal with the 3 years Dvorak would spend in America and his music inspired by his exposure to the Native American culture and his experiences in The New World."
Segment 2: "From the Archives: Arnold Schönberg ('Pierrot Lunaire')." (1912; 1940 ~ selection).
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 7:01.
Here is a selection from another important composer, Arnold Schönberg. We feature as selection from Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire. This recording, released in 1940 on a 78 rpm record, features: Arnold Schönberg, conductor; Erika Stiedry-Wagner, recitation; Rudolf Kolisch, violin and viola; Stefan Auber, 'cello. Eduard Steurermann, piano; Leonard Posella, flute and piccolo; Kalman Bloch, clarinet and bass clarinet. Columbia 78rpm set MM-461 (XH 23 - XH 30). Recorded in 1940. Digital transfer by F. Reeder. Source: www.archive.org.
October 22, 2009
Segment 1: "Walt Whitman: Song to Myself" [Audio link direct to WNYC's on-line sound archive]
This week we bring you a documentary on Walt Whitman, originally produced by WNYC back in 2005 -- on the 150th anniversary of the publication of Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Here's the producers full desrcription of the piece: "One hundred and fifty years have passed since Walt Whitman first published Leaves of Grass, a collection of twelve poems that irrevocably altered the development of poetry and literature. His magnum opus shattered existing notions of poetry, breaking all existing conventions in terms of subject matter, language, and style. Leaves of Grass opened the door not only for poets, but writers, artists, musicians, and thinkers to break down barriers in their own work; despite never reaching a mass audience during the artist's lifetime, its tremendous impact is being felt a century and a half later. Today, we are still trying to understand who Whitman was, what he was saying, and what he was styling himself to be. Hosted by Carl Hancock Rux, "Walt Whitman: Song of Myself" explores how a 36-year old freelance journalist and part-time house-builder living in Brooklyn created his outrageous, groundbreaking work. We join Whitman on a walk through the urban streets, imagining the sights, sounds and music, from Stephen Foster to Italian opera, that profoundly affected him and indelibly shaped his poetry. The city transformed Whitman, and Whitman in turn transformed the wild diversity and intensity of the city into a radical, passionate vision for America. In his poetry, he refused to be censored: he celebrated the body and sexuality; he embraced the invisible and the disenfranchised, from women to slaves to prostitutes. His hopes to heal the country of its deep political divisions through his poetry were dashed by the Civil War, but his work lives on as a vital life-affirming force. In this hour-long special, Rux speaks with writers, poets, musicians, and scholars who tell the story of this extraordinary, self-styled celebrity. Guests include writers Michael Cunningham and Phillip Lopate; poets Martin Espada, hailed by some as a contemporary Whitman, and Ishle Yi Park, Queens poet laureate; composers John Adams and Ned Rorem; choreographer Bill T. Jones; Whitman scholars Karen Karbiener and David Reynolds; and many, many others. Actors including Jeffrey Wright and Paul Giammatti share readings of Whitman's poetry, which, one hundred and fifty years on, still astonishes."
Segment 2: "Ralph Waldo Emerson on Self Reliance (1841)."
Real
Media.
MP3. Time: 2:56
One who inspired and strongly supported Walt Whitman and his revolutionary literary work was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Here is a sampling of Emerson's writing, read by Robert Scott for LibriVox. For the full reading, go to: http://librivox.org/three-great-virtues-three-essays-by-emerson-by-ralph-waldo-emerson/. For a wealth of information on Whitman, go to: http://www.whitmanarchive.org/.
October 15, 2009
Segment 1: "Theodore W. Allen Interview on the Invention of the White Race, part 1. ORIGINALLY BROADCAST ON MAY 13 AND MAY 20, 2004; Talking History did not air today, hence we are posting a previously broadcast program."
Real
Media.
MP3.
Time: 31:37
Chad Pearson of the University at Albany, SUNY, interviews Marxist historian Theodore W. Allen, author of the The Invention of the White Race: Vol. 1: Racial Oppression and Social Control (London: Verso, 1994) and The Invention of the White Race: Vol. 2: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America (London: Verso, 1997). This is part 1 of a 2 part interview. See next week's show for part 2.
Segment 2: "Theodore W. Allen Interview on the Invention of the White Race, part 2."
Real
Media.
MP3.
Time: 28:34
Chad Pearson of the University at Albany, SUNY, concludes his interview with Marxist historian Theodore W. Allen, author of the The Invention of the White Race: Vol. 1: Racial Oppression and Social Control (London: Verso, 1994) and The Invention of the White Race: Vol. 2: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America (London: Verso, 1997). This is part 2 of a 2 part interview.
October 8, 2009
Segment 1 and 3: "Backstory: The History of U.S. Health Care." (2009).
PART 1: Real Media. MP3. Time: 31:47.
PART 2: Real Media. MP3. Time: 18:53.
In this segment of Backstory with the American History Guys, we examine the history of health care in America:"'What Germany has done in the way of old-age pensions or insurance should be studied by us, and the system adapted to our uses.' Thus declared Teddy Roosevelt in 1912, making him the first U.S. presidential candidate to advocate for a nationalized health insurance system. But arguments about the government’s responsibility for keeping Americans healthy go back a lot further than that. On this episode of BackStory, the History Guys look at the way these arguments have played out through almost four centuries of American life. Beginning with the current debate, they move backwards in time, reflecting on a century’s worth of failed reform efforts, as well as the 17th, 18th, and 19th century foundations of our current health care system. Together with special guests and callers, they tackle questions fundamental to understanding today’s situation. How did we wind up with a health care system that looks so different from that of other industrialized countries? Do the repeated failures of reform efforts have more to do with cultural factors, or economic ones? How have advances in medical technology changed the tenor of our social and political debates? Do we think about health care more individualistically than previous generations of Americans did? Highlights include: Jacob Hacker, creator of the “public option” plan now being considered by Congress, explains why lobbyists have historically wielded disproportionate influence in discussions about health policy. Producer Catherine Moore visits Mt. Malado, the first public hospital in English North America. Reporter Nate DiMeo tells the story of how the practice of inoculation came to the New World." For more infomation about Backstory, go to: www.backstoryradio.org.
Segment 2: "From the Archives: President Harry S. Truman Dedicates the Everglades Nation Park" (1947)).
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 14:19.
On December 6, 1947, thirteen years after Congress had passed legislation formally establishing it, President Harry S Truman dedicated the Everglades National Park. Here is a recording of the speech he made at the dedication ceremony. For the full official record of the events of that day, see the following dedication ceremony booklet, available on the Everglades National Part Web site: Everglades Dedication Ceremony.
October 1, 2009Segment 1 and 3: "The Resistance of the Maya." 1981.
PART 1:
Real Media. MP3. Time: 23:51. PART 2:
Real Media. MP3. Time: 13:56.
Here is another contribution -- slightly edited for length by us -- from the Pacifica Radio Archives' From the Vault program, a re-broadcast of a 1981 documentary titled The Resistance of the Maya: "This program examines the history of the 500 year resistance of the Maya against foreign rule, starting with the arrival of the Spanish, up to the current threat against the Lacandon-Maya, the last of the traditional Mayans. Independent radio producer John Walsh does an outstanding job surveying the Maya by presenting scholars who trace the civilization from 2500 B.C. through their contact with the Spanish Conquistadors. Then, Walsh reports on the Mayans living in the Lacandon jungle of Chiapas, Mexico – despite threats from the Mexican government and multi-national corporations seeking to exploit the natural resources." Segment 2: "Biography in Sound: Meet Ernest Hemingway." 1954.
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 53:35.Herbert Marshall, Laurence Olivier, Mickey Spillane, Charles Cooper, Marlon Brando, and Al Capp all contribute to this Dec. 19, 1954 documentary on the life of Ernest Hemingway, part of an NBC radio series, "Biography in Sound." Various segments of the series are now widely available on the WWW, as well as in the National Archives and the Library of Congress.
September 24, 2009Segment 1: "The Last Dutch Outpost: The Enduring Legacy of New Netherland." 2007.
Real Media.
[MP3 version unavailable by request of producers]. Time: 29:30. "Two hundred and fifty years ago, a minor military skirmish in a remote corner of the colonial New World snowballed into what some have described as a World War. One of the casualties was the Dutch culture of the town of Albany in New York State – previously New Netherland. So, what happened to the Dutch of Dutch Albany? Although there are few physical remains from the Dutch colonial period, a modern revival of interest seems to be gathering steam. Laura Durnford visits some historic sites in Albany and hears about the tenacious tradition of Dutch culture there." Our thanks to Radio Netherlands http://www.rnw.nl for permission to air and archive this production on our site. Segment 2: "From the Archives: Hernando De Soto." (1938).
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 05:10."The World is Yours" was a series that was broadcast by the National Broadcasting Company, Inc. (NBC) radio network but produced in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution. The half-hour weekly programs "covering the entire range of the Smithsonian Institution's collections and research. The series featured the 'Oldtimer' as the audience's guide to 'the wonders of that unique establishment, the Smithsonian Institution -- dedicated to the increase and diffusion of knowledge.'" The series ran m ran from June 1936 to May 1942. This segment focuses on Hernando De Soto's explorations of the American South and the Mississippi. Segment 3: "A Propitious Misadventure: Part 1 of A History of the 17th Century Dutch Colony of New Netherland." (2009)."
Real Media Time: 16:53.[MP3 version unavailable by request of producers]. Time: 02:26.
A Propitious Misadventure is the first part of a Radio Netherlands series focusing on the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland. This episode focuses on Henry Hudson: "400 years ago, in 1609, English explorer Henry Hudson set off on a Dutch ship called the Half Moon. This 'propitious misadventure' would result in a Dutch colony called New Netherland in the uncharted wilds of North America." Our thanks to Radio Netherlands http://www.rnw.nl for permission to air and archive this production on our site.
September 17, 2009Segment 1 and 3: "Backstory: Schooldays ~ A History of American Public Education" (2009).
PART 1:
Real Media. MP3. Time: 32:00. PART 2:
Real Media. MP3. Time: 18:58.
This week, we bring you another episode of BackStory. In this segment, "the History Guys explore the history of public education, and look at the changing expectations we’ve placed on our schools through the 18th 19th, and 20th centuries. What did education look like in the colonial period, and what did the founders have to say about it? How did reformers in the 1830s succeed in establishing taxpayer-funded schools, when Thomas Jefferson had failed at the same mission? Did industrialization and immigration change the ways we think about schools’ purpose? How did public education go from local to state control, and when did the feds get involved? How have children’s attitudes about school changed over time? It’s clear that we’ve steadily moved closer to the ideal of universal education, but what have been the costs associated with increased access to education for all Americans? These are some of the question on the table as the History Guys go back to school." Guests include education historian Jon Zimmerman and Virginia school board president. Segment 2: "From the Archives: John Dewey's Educational Philsophy ('My Pedagogic Creed')." (1897; 2008; selections).
Real Media.
MP3. Time: 07:31.Here is a selection from a collective reading from John Dewey's 1897 seminal essay on his educational beliefs. This version was a project recorded and edited by students at the University of Illinois's Music Education Technology class MUS243 (fall 2008). The recording was engineered by by Chee Kang Koh and Matthew Thibeault, with help from Rex Anderson. For the full recording and more details on those who made it, go to: http://www.archive.org/details/MyPedagogicCreed. For more information about Dewey and his educational philosophy, go to: http://www.johndewey.org/Welcome.html.
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