Artifactual Journey

The Artifactual Journey podcast is a discussion about African American artifacts from the Nanny Jack & Co Archives, history, and a lively conversation with a different guest in each episode. The podcast is created and produced by Nanny Jack & Co., an African American heritage consulting firm. Host: Philip J. Merrill; Editor & Producer: Veronica A. Carr; Music Producer: Noah Zafer Sommer.

 

What and Who Is Archivist’s Alley?

WHAT is Archivist’s Alley?

Archivist’s Alley is a safe conversational space designed for casual and lively discussions about how to preserve our work and identities in the professional landscapes and media that we work and create in. It is an open and dynamic arena to talk about archival ideas, new projects and to celebrate the power of each guest’s voice as a critical part of this community and our world at large.

Every city, every town, every village has an alley. Most are not acknowledged, they are simply viewed as invisible thoroughfares. But alleys provide access; alleys are necessary. Alleys provide living communities with a variety of uses: short-cuts, storage, business exits, secret spots for lovers to meet. Whether they have allowed for covert exchanges or indispensable business work, the primary purpose of an alley is connection. This is the trajectory of Archivist’s Alley.

WHO is Archivist’s Alley?

A collection of voices gathered from the world of the lesser represented or marginalized populations in media or media preservation. These voices are women’s voices, queer voices, trans voices, non-binary voices and voices of color. These are indigenous voices and the voices of the differently abled. Let’s just say that here on Archivist’s Alley, the volume will most certainly go to 11.

Everyone’s officially invited to this party. Get comfy and hangout for a bit. Let’s jam!

 

As a tenured archivist in an academic library, I constantly think about what counts as “scholarship.” Traditionally, that means books and peer-reviewed articles. I strongly believe that while these are extremely valuable, it is necessary to push the boundaries beyond the traditional to include projects that require the same amount, if not more, work to accomplish. The intent of podcasts may not be for scholarly pursuit, but are important nonetheless.

Podcasts are one of those types of projects. Writing, directing, producing, and recording podcasts take a lot of time and skill. Although archivists have been creating podcasts for some time, recently I seem to come across more and more great work done by archivists. Further, at least to my knowledge, I have not yet found a place where podcasts about or created by archivists are compiled into one place.

So I decided to add a page to this site for podcasts. I prefer to not post ones that are reproductions of audio holdings, that are library-focused, or digital humanities projects. I will focus instead on podcasts where there are conversations and interpretations of archivists discussing their work, collections, institutions, researchers, and practices.

I expect that there are many I’m not aware of, so please let me know any suggestions!