The next episode of the Sound Files podcast is now available wherever you get your podcasts!
In this episode, hosts Jesse Johnston and Evan Haywood discuss the Federal Cylinder Project, a major audio preservation and community engagement project by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, with Judith Gray. Judith discusses the Federal Cylinder Project’s history, its mission to reconnect Native American communities with historic audio recordings (mostly on wax cylinders), and the ethical considerations involved in making these materials accessible to their source communities.
The conversation begins with some background about the origins of the American Folklife Center’s audio recordings and Judith’s career working at the Library. They also overview the history and origins of the Federal Cylinder Project and ongoing efforts to build relationships between steward institutions like the Library of Congress and Native American communities. Concurrently, they discuss some of the ethical considerations in preserving and returning audio archives. Finally, they discussed the significance of why preserving audio archives like this is culturally important work. Throughout the conversation are interspersed examples and clips from the Library’s extensive recordings, including a Hethushka song from an Omaha powwow in 1983, a 1925 recording of Louis Pigeon singing a Menominee legend recorded by Frances LaFlesche, and an example of the oldest known ethnographic field recordings of the Passamaquoddy Tribe in Calais, Maine, recorded in 1890.
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About the Podcast
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Meet the Hosts
Jesse A. Johnston
Jesse A. Johnston, M.S.I., Ph.D., serves as Executive Director and Secretary of NRPF. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information. He has worked in various archival and library rules, including at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Learn more about Jesse at www.jesseajohnston.net.
Evan Haywood
Evan Haywood is podcast host, producer, and engineer for NRPF’s Sound Files. Evan is an audio engineer and founder of Black Ram Sound and Black Ram Treehouse recording studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He holds a Master’s of Science in Information, with a specialization in digital archives, from the University of Michigan School of Information.
Credits
Sound Files is hosted by Jesse Johnston, NRPF Executive Director and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, and Evan Haywood, audio preservationist and podcast manager for NRPF. Each episode features original music by Evan and is recorded, edited, and mastered at the Black Ram Tree House studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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