01 Jul 2023 Saving our stories
Decades of Arkansas PBS’s content will soon be more readily available due to digitizing more than 26,000 magnetic tapes, thanks to a $1,163,406 grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council, in collaboration with the Arkansas PBS Foundation. This grant award will save Arkansas PBS’s archives, and, in turn, the history it reflects.
“For more than half a century, Arkansas PBS, which is the state’s only media network, has served as the Natural State’s storyteller and chronicler of history, telling stories of this region from the earliest days of our statehood, through the current events that reflect our place in national and world history,” Arkansas PBS Executive Director Courtney Pledger said. “Our archives — comprising finished productions and programs, as well as a vast treasure trove of additional, never-used footage — form an extraordinary public library of source material.”
Currently at risk of degradation and loss, the tapes will go through a four-step process through the grant to ensure the preservation of this extensive library. Steps in this process include an inventory of all tape archival materials, digitization of tape materials, metadata tagging to make the archive searchable for AR PBS staff and the general public, and public access and promotion, which will include partnering with organizations that routinely house and promote archival and research material.
This material includes finished productions and programs and additional, never-used footage. Once fully preserved, the archives, comprising decades of Arkansas history, politics and culture, will be accessible to current and future historians, educators, students and the general public. Accessibility will come in the form of a landing page on the Arkansas PBS website which can be shared or linked to other sites, including other archival centers across the country.
“Our ultimate goal is to preserve this extraordinary resource, and to make it accessible to current and future generations,” Pledger said. “This project will include all existing tape recordings by Arkansas PBS, leading up to the transition to digital recording which began approximately eight years ago.”
