A Giant Listening Project
Sidedoor
Smithsonian Institution
4.6 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 July 2024
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s been called ‘the most noble and absurd undertaking ever attempted by any state.’ During the height of the Great Depression, the U.S government hired out-of-work writers and laid-off reporters and sent them out to record the stories of all kinds of Americans. Called the Federal Writers’ Project, historians have called the program a giant “listening project.”
While on our summer break, we’re sharing the first episode of a new podcast series called The People’s Recorder. Host Chris Haley sets the stage, laying out 1930s America, the New Deal, and the cultural forces that both supported and opposed the Writers’ Project. The project of holding up to America raises questions: What history gets told? And who gets to tell it?
You can listen to rest of the series by searching for The People’s Recorder wherever you get your podcasts. Find out more at peoplesrecorder.info
Guests:
Scott Borchert, author
David Bradley, novelist
Dr. Douglas Brinkley, historian
Dr. Tameka Hobbs, historian
David Kipen, author
Dena Epstein, daughter of Hilda Polacheck
Studs Terkel, oral historian
Links and Resources:
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project
Born to Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project
Author Scott Borchert on the Federal Writers' Project and the WPA guidebooks
Article on Library on Congress symposium on The Millions
Further Reading
Soul of a People by David A. Taylor
Republic of Detours by Scott Borchert
California in the 1930s by David Kipen
First Person America by Ann Banks
Henry Alsberg by Susan DeMasi
Long Past Slavery by Catherine A. Stewart
Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston
Hard Times by Studs Terkel
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there's side doorables. We're spending the summer producing new Smithsonian stories to tell in the fall, but in the meantime we've curated a summer playlist of episodes from some of our favorite podcasts. |
| 0:11.0 | Today I want to offer this treat. |
| 0:14.2 | A chance to listen in on an era in American history |
| 0:16.9 | when recording technology was brand new. |
| 0:19.8 | The Great Depression. |
| 0:21.6 | We've seen black and white photos, read about that time, |
| 0:24.8 | but the voices of the 1930s bring it to life in a whole new way. |
| 0:29.5 | You're about to listen in on archival audio |
| 0:31.6 | from the Federal Writers Project, which paid thousands of out-of-work |
| 0:35.1 | writers to document American life during the Depression. |
| 0:38.6 | What resulted was the nation's first ever self-portrait. And this is the first episode of a podcast called |
| 0:45.3 | The People's Recorder. It's a beautifully made show and I think you're really gonna |
| 0:49.8 | enjoy it. Okay, here's episode one of the People's Recorder, a giant listening project. upon any cus see village through a mingle on the hill. |
| 1:05.0 | At the start was shining brightly we could hear the wips from hill that as he said he was made for the new. |
| 1:14.4 | In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, |
| 1:20.4 | when many said America was at her lowest point, something truly weird and amazing happened. |
| 1:27.0 | We started to listen. |
| 1:28.8 | As a nation, I mean. |
| 1:31.2 | What is your name? |
| 1:32.2 | Jane Good. |
| 1:33.0 | How are you doing 21? |
| 1:35.0 | Where were you born? |
... |
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