Archivist's Alley

I love Christina Ward. And I love the work she does. I am lucky enough to know some really brilliant and wonderful women. Christina? She is absolutely top shelf. As an author, she does outrageously cool writing on food and food history. Canning and food preservation? She's got you. The relationship between food, cults and class? Read her work. It will blow your mind. Christina also has another gig: she is one of the primary folks at a publishing company known as Feral House. Around since 1989, FH has certainly courted controversy, being one of the very first publishers to release texts on such taboo subjects as black metal, punk, death culture, conspiracies and cults. But FH does not center itself on shock; it works on examining outsider perspectives and the work that Christina and the team there do is vital to our thorough understanding of the world. I invite you to listen to my conversation with Christina Ward in which we discuss all these things and more. The books and writing that they platform place them solidly against misogyny, colonialism, capitalism and classism, making them an incredibly valuable publisher in this day and age.

While this episode was recorded over a year ago, it remains as relevant now as it ever will. I am honored to welcome the brilliant and wonderful Professor Shelley Stamp to Archivist's Alley. A former professor of mine at UC Santa Cruz, she has been a major inspiration and certainly one of my mentors. Please join us as we discuss the intricacies of silent film restoration, the history of women in film, media access and much more!

Please welcome my amazing guest, Korea-based human rights journalist, Raphael Rashid. You want to listen to this episode. It is HOT.  Queer issues, feminist issues, refugee discussions, contemporary Korean politics, KPOP cyberbullying...we cover it all. Don't miss it!  

Short update about life in the last year or so, my unplanned hiatus and discussion about how the podcast will move forward.

Welcome to Season 5!  And...the 4th year Archivist's Alley has been "on the air"! I'm so thrilled to have my friend Walter Chaw- writer, teacher and respected film professional- on the show for this episode. We talk about everything from Hugh Hefner's preservation work & the non-existence of "cancel culture" to considering the rise of both Asian representation in media and anti-Asian hate crimes. Oh, also? We're just not into Jared Leto. Join us!

Please join me in welcoming the AMAZING Candace Ming to Archivist's Alley. Join us for a really valuable and illuminating discussion on issues of access, the "ownership" of images and the critical necessity of having boundaries in your work/life schedule. There's so much more- home movies, weird film collectors and AMIA fun- so listen now!

Please join me as I talk with the incredible Ferrin Evans about queer loss and memory work, trauma and the process of preservation and marginalized identity in what is still an uncomfortably rich straight, white and male field. 

Back with another great Archivist's Alley episode and another WONDERFUL archivist! Please join me in my conversation with the wonderful Shannon Devlin as we talk about physical materials, emotional attachments to projects, meeting lovely people in our careers and more. Bonus: you get to hear me geek out about TV commercials while Shannon laughs at my nerdiness!

This episode features the wonderful Miranda Barnewall. We spoke on many things but I believe that the route that she's taking is one that will revolutionize the way the archives/information studies field interacts with its staff and employers. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. Miranda is a really important woman with many critically important observations and experiences. Thanks again!

Claire & I recorded this podcast in May before she officially graduated and before the COVID landscape went to The Really Extra Bad Place that it seems to be at now. I delayed the ep due to the critical nature of the discussion of the Black Lives Matter issues that needed to be handled but I feel that what Claire and I spoke about is still incredibly relevant and her points on the internships she had and the possibilities of rehabilitation of our field post-COVID are solid and worth considering. Claire is an amazing and valuable member of the archival world & I am so pleased to be able to have had her on the show twice now!

Please join archivist Stephany Kim and I as we discuss privilege, the Black Lives Matter protests, what the archives community is(n't) doing and how the White-dominated educational system and White film canon denied people of precious history and moving image works by dynamic BIPOC.

So thrilled to be able to speak to my wonderful and talented friend Allen Perkins, an Arqueervist, preservationist and passionate film lover.  We discuss gatekeeping, capitalism, the love for our field and, tragically,  how very little has shifted even though our entire way of life has been turned upside down by the Corona Virus. Please check it out. Allan rules.

It's been a while but here is an update from Paju, South Korea and a request/ outreach to all those who may have some things they want to talk about or just need to discuss. Let's keep the Alley going, y'all! 

Join me in welcoming Dr. T.J. Tallie back to Archivist's Alley! Back teaching on the West Coast, he's joining us to celebrate the release of his amazing new book (link to purchase on podcast website) Queering Colonial Natal: Indigeneity and the Violence of Belonging in Southern Africa and to talk about his amazing new research in the archives of New Zealand, Canada and more! Another great Teej-a-sode here on Archivist's Alley!

Please welcome the AMAZING Mo Henry to Archivist's Alley!  A negative cutter since the 70s, she has worked with everyone from Francis Ford Coppola and Mike Nichols to being one of the central preservation forces behind the recent restoration of Orson Welles' Other Side of the Wind. Enjoy this fab conversation as we talk about all kinds of things from Hollywood to film preservation to being a woman in the Industry!  

Please welcome Dr. Chris Bourg, Director of Libraries at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to Archivist's Alley. I have wanted to have her as a guest ever since I started the show so I'm thrilled that we were able to finally make it happen. Please enjoy our conversation on social justice issues, open scholarship, academic environments and the beauty of pick-up trucks.

So very excited to welcome my excellent colleague and friend Heather Buckley to Archivist's Alley. Not only is she a successful horror film producer but she is a writer, historian and dedicated preservationist who works with a variety of film distribution companies to create additional features on the home releases of various genre films. Check out her full pic/bio and links on the website!!

In this episode, Adam and I explore working in the field of film programming/curation (esp in Los Angeles). We focus on ideas of media archiving/preservation, temporality and examining and applying it to media and preservation in a non-hysterical manner. Public perceptions of media formats and the lack of knowledge/education is also a topic before Adam and I explore ideas in and around indigenous film identity, culture and language. DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!! 

Archivist's Alley is back! Season 3 begins with the amazing Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez and we talk about everything from yearbook issues & ancient institutions who hide too many things under the rug to why representation matters on television programs. I hope that you take many things away from my conversation with this amazing woman and the mindblowing work she is doing at University of Irvine!

Quick Update before the new season!

Please welcome the wonderful Dr. Michelle Caswell to Archivist's Alley! An incredible author and speaker, she is also a teacher, the co-founder of the South Asian American Digital Archive (more information on which can be found at the website blog on this podcast) and the director of the UCLA Community Archives Lab.  She is also AMAZINGLY fun and cool to talk to! We had a blast! As expected, so many important things discussed and so many more left for a next visit! Please visit the website for links!

My final podcast from the AMIA conference in November, 2018 was actually the first one that I did and it was with the invaluable and fabulous Bob Curtis-Johnson.  We had a great time talking about his work in Alaska and the monumental outreach and critically important indigenous collections that he handles and assists with. Bob is seriously one of the most fun guys to hang out with and one of THE most dedicated dudes in the field. I was SO THRILLED to record this conversation with him & could've talked to him so much more. I definitely hope to have him on again!

Meet Marti Clemmons & Erin Yanke of KBOO Radio! This is Pt2 of my 3-Pt AMIA 2018 Series, where I spoke to people at the annual conference in Portland. Our conversation travels through all the amazing and varied programs offered on KBOO, the political landscape and history of Portland as well as some of the cataloging and preservation tactics they have had and were hoping to take when working with the Community Archiving Workshop. Enjoy! 

This is the first podcast of a 3-part series I did while at the AMIA (Association of Moving Image Archivists) conference in Portland, OR. My first conversation is with Claire Fox, an absolute joy and fabulous person I got to know this year. I am looking forward to seeing her work in this field (she's already WELL on her way to greatness). Subjects include: graduate student-ing, navigating professional conferences, access, archival labor, finding queer community and emotional connections. Enjoy!

Please welcome Anna St. Onge, from York University in Toronto! Anna and I discuss the challenges of consciously platforming archival stories that generally get less institutional attention or funding, such as indigenous and regional communities and why she does it. We talk about archival labor, invisibility, Nice White Lady-ism and how the right kind of outreach can change archival structures and archives in general. Join us!

My friend and colleague Ashley Blewer is one of the most inspirational people I know. She makes hard things seem simple because she enjoys them so much. She has this brilliant gift of being talented at digital preservation and moving image archiving yet not coming off as intimidating or pretentious. She always seems willing to answer questions you might have and goes out of her way not to make you feel stupid for asking.  Ashley has spent countless hours working on projects that provide educational access to folks who might want to learn about moving image archiving but may not have the funds to do so.  

Please welcome the incredible PATRICIA LEDESMA VILLON to Archivist's Alley! Currently an intern at The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Patricia and I discuss the pure pleasures and intricate negotiations that take place when working with home movies as well as examining ideas of class, race and cultural values. While this is a special Home Movie Day episode, Home Movie Day is really every day and Patricia's work with CAAM and elsewhere illustrates the powerful archiving future that we have to look forward to!

Please welcome the immensely wonderful Genevieve Weber, archivist of the BC Archives, part of the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, Canada to Archivist's Alley this week. Join us as we discuss important issues of agency, repatriation and collection processing in regards to materials of First Nations and Indigenous peoples.  The work being done by Genevieve and her colleagues at the BC Archives is critically important. I invite you to check it out through this conversation.

Please welcome the amazing Jordan Hale to Archivist's Alley! Another one of my brilliant Canadian colleagues, Jordan's work and perspectives are critically important and should be heard, respected and considered regularly in our professional work. Listen as we talk about going viral, the ethics of doxxing, being kind in the archival community and the simple (or not-so-simple) desire to be respected and treated humanely for having a critically formed and researched approach to a topic.   

Season 2's opening episode talks with Lynne Kirste of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences about Home Movies, representation, classic Hollywood and the importance of preservation. We examine why inclusion and diversity is so critical and why discussing Hollywood's historical erasure of race, gender and labor can be uncomfortable but is necessary in order to achieve a better world. Exciting discussions abound regarding active and progressive work being done in the home movie archival space!!  

For my last episode of S1, I have the AMAZING Courtney Dean on to dig deep into issues very close to my heart.  We chat about punk and metal archives, information worker solidarity and bonding, and the desperate need for better labor practices. I want everyone that listens, even partially, to sign the letter/petition that is on the blog for this episode on the Archivist's Alley website, www.archivistsalley.com Archivist's Alley will be back in a few weeks! Thanks for listening! 

Rolling into July with some great guests from the Dirty Looks On Location series of events that is happening all month in Los Angeles! Meet Bradford Nordeen, Bret Berg and Joe Rubin and listen to our conversation. We talk about queer images and culture, media presentation and locational importance as well as debates on nostalgia, the preciousness of art in art spaces and so much more! Guest cameo by my cat Wallach. :D

For the final episode of Pride Month, I am thrilled to welcome Brendan Lucas, Taylor Morales and Alice Royer to Archivist's Alley. While I have known these fab folks for years, they all have one supercool thing in common: they all either currently serve or have served as the Outfest Legacy Project Manager. The Outfest Legacy Project is the preservation-related arm of the larger Outfest, a LGBTQ+ film festival-centered organization that does critical work for the community. Check out this episode to learn more and get to know these amazing folks!  

For the 3rd episode of Pride Month, I am honored to present a conversation with the brilliant and sassy Dr. T.J. Tallie. Currently positioned as Assistant Professor of African History at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA, Tallie will begin as an Assistant Professor of History at the University of San Diego in the fall.  T.J.'s perspectives on blackness, queerness and the need for radical readjustment through historical knowledge are so inspirational. Also? No one wears a monocle like him or can karaoke Missy Elliot like this badass.  Listen in as we discuss archival access and international archives, the glory of Zotero and strength through the work.

This month I decided that I was going to celebrate Pride Month and in doing so center a queer archivist or organization every week. Please welcome the magnificent Magnus Berg for episode 11! They are truly an inspiration on a multitude of levels and they haven't even graduated!!! We approach transgender identity in the archival community, cataloging and the LCSH, pronouns and cishet privilege and the SUPER AMAZING thesis that Magnus is currently writing!  Check this out! It's a great conversation! We need more folks like Magnus in the community!  

Meet Anne Marie Kelly, one of the Program Specialists at the USC Shoah Foundation. In Episode 10, Anne kicks off Pride Month with me as we talk about a variety of issues that tie into marginalized communities. Oral history, genocide, queerness in the archive/preservation. She is an incredible asset to our community and I am so excited to have her here to celebrate the 10th episode AND to amplify the voices of the amazing queer preservationists and information professionals in this wonderful landscape.   

In this episode, I talk about turning 40 with my mom. She talks about being an actress & a librarian, her dad/my grandfather, Fannie Lou Hamer, and why she never censored anything my brother & I ever read (also my book tantrums).

Meet Rachel E. Beattie, amazing archivist, fabulous film fan and a true asset to the archives & preservation landscape. Her passion for archival work is matched only by her undying love for social action and joy in seeing more communities benefit from media preservation. Enjoy our conversation- it covers the gamut from David Cronenberg and film festivals like TIFF and Hot Docs to lost silent films.

This week I talk with one of the hardest working women in show business, Millie De Chirico, programmer of TCM, Filmstruck and TCMFF, a film festival happening THIS WEEK! Get ready for a wild ride through Joseph Losey's BOOM, a feminist critique on the current state of the film exhibition scene and watching films cuz you love 'em not to laugh at 'em. Let's celebrate this FAB rockstar Millie & hear about her hard work at the best film fest & classic film channel that has ever film fest-ed or channel-ed!!

This week I talk with the wonderful Erica Lopez who is just completing her thesis at the Moving Image Archive Program (MIAP) at NYU.  Our discussion is an exciting adventure, journeying from the examination of Erica's original work on Mexican American home movies and research methodologies to how her own cultural identity and background has informed her personal character and career choices.  Every point Erica raises on class, gender, economics or culture is critical and I am thrilled to have been able to document this digitally. Please enjoy.  For more on Erica and some extra links, please check out the full blog post on this episode here:  

Elena Colón-Marrero is a rockstar and one of the most important women in her field. As you will learn in this episode, she is, more or less, creating her own field. Digital preservation and archiving is still fairly new and many wonderful people are working in this area, but what Elena is doing is revolutionary. Check it out! For more info and links to her writing and a more in-depth look at Elena, please check out the piece on the Archivist's Alley site.  

I have no qualms about saying that I am 100% in favor of the Echo Park Film Center in every which way possible. Therefore this episode really needs no introduction. Please listen and support this amazing this wonderful place!

For episode 3, I talk to the fabulous Snowden Becker about a whole slew of things from home movies to the feminization of certain jobs in the police force to her own very critical work on police-worn body cameras and their impact on the evidentiary process. I'll say this about every episode because all my guests are super amazing but the info here is just mind-blowing. Don't miss it!

This week I talk with the wonderful Jarrett Drake about accountability in archiving, his work as an archivist and transitioning into the field of cultural anthropology. Don't miss this episode! For a full run down, links and more, go here: http://archivistsalley.com/archivists-alley-episode-2-jarrett-drake-respectability-boxes-archiving-accountability/

Welcome Siobhan Hagan, President and CEO of MARMIA, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Moving Image Archive to Archivist's Alley! For a full post and continued details on Siobhan and her work, go here: http://archivistsalley.com/episode-1-siobhan-hagan-and-marmia/