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10. 10 A Creative Incubator
40:04||Season 1, Ep. 10Episode Summary:In the 1930s, the notion of making an incubator for creativity in a region devastated by the Great Depression got tested in Nebraska. This episode looks at what happened there when the Writers’ Project came to town, through a group of creatives from contrasting backgrounds, including a hobo, a nurse and a hardware store poet – all under the watchful eye of a university professor and a celebrated novelist. Starting from chaos, they ignited a surprising alchemy and made the Lincoln office one of the most productive Writers’ Project hubs in the country. The Season 1 finale listens in as Americans face war clouds on the horizon, and a national radio show asks, “Can we count on youth to uphold the American Way?”Speakers: Stephen Cloyd, librarian and historianMarilyn Holt, historianJames Reidel, biographer and poetDouglas Brinkley, historianLinks and Resources: Rudolph Umland and the Federal Writers' ProjectThe Nebraska Federal Writers' Project - Lincoln City LibrariesMari Sandoz and the Writers' ProjectWeldon Kees reads his poem, "1926"WPA Guide to Nebraska (free PDF)Prairie SchoonerReading List: Vanished Act: The Life and Art of Weldon Kees, by James ReidelNebraska During the New Deal, by Marilyn Irvin HoltSoul of a People by David A. TaylorThe Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, by Timothy EganThe Collected Poems of Weldon Kees, edited by Donald JusticeCrazy Horse, by Mari SandozCreditsHost: Chris HaleyDirector: Andrea KalinProducers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James MirabelloWriter: David A. TaylorEditor: Ethan OserAssistant Editor: Amy YoungStory Editor: Michael MayAdditional Voices: Jared Buggage, Sam Hanks, JoJo Drake Kalin, Antonio Macias, James Mirabello, Mariko Miyazaki, Kate Rafter and Sarah SmackFeaturing music and archival from: Aaron CoplandAlexandria Symphony OrchestraJoseph VitarelliBradford EllisMike SayreCeiri TorjussenPond5Library of CongressNational Archives and Records AdministrationNew York Public Radio Archives CollectionNebraska Public MediaFor additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorderProduced with support from: National Endowment for the HumanitiesHumanities Nebraska
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Bonus Content - Discussion with the FDR Library
05:43||Season 1Episode Summary:The Franklin Delano Library and Museum is an amazing place which just celebrated its 75th anniversary. President Roosevelt had the idea to build the library on his family property in Hyde Park, New York, using private funds. And then he donated the library and its historical collections, including all of his personal and official papers, to the US Government. This started the precedent of Presidential Libraries that we continue today. Last month, we sat down with the FDR Library and its director Bill Harris and had a great discussion about the Federal Writers' Project, its impact then, and why it still matters today. Please join our host Chris Haley, writer-producers David Taylor and James Mirabello and historian Sara Rutkowski for a few highlights from that conversation.You can see the full discussion on the FDR Library’s YouTube channel here. Links and Resources: Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library and Museum"Rewriting America: New Essays on the Federal Writers' Project" with Sara RutkowskiCredits: Director: Andrea KalinProducers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James MirabelloEditor: Amy YoungFeaturing music from Pond5Featuring: Chris Haley, Bill Harris, David A. Taylor, Sara Rutkowski and James MirabelloProduced with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Florida Humanities, Virginia Humanities, Wisconsin Humanities, California Humanities and Humanities Nebraska. For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorderKing's Speech
36:49|This month, we're doing something a little different. There are some amazing podcasts out there that give us a view of America through a distinctive lens. One of our favorites is Sidedoor: A podcast from the Smithsonian. Every episode, host Lizzie Peabody sneaks listeners through Smithsonian's side door to search for stories that can't be found anywhere else.We're excited to share one of those stories. “King’s Speech” is about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the evolution of his iconic I Have a Dream speech. It’s fascinating to chart the history of his speech and to hear how Dr. King was influenced by poet Langston Hughes, who worked with the Federal Theatre Project in the 1930s and co-wrote a play with one of the writers featured in the People's Recorder, Zora Neale Hurston.Guests: Kevin Young, Director of Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and CultureW. Jason Miller, Author of Origins of the Dream: Hughes's Poetry and King's RhetoricEnjoy the episode! To hear more, search for Sidedoor wherever you get your podcasts or go to www.si.edu/sidedoor.9. 09 Is This Land Your Land?
34:04||Season 1, Ep. 9Episode Summary:This episode features two more stories of outsiders remaking themselves and California history. Eluard McDaniel left the Jim Crow South for California as a boy, and remade himself as an activist and writer on the West Coast. His account of his life brought him national attention when it appeared in American Stuff, a book of creative works by members of the Federal Writers’ Project and Federal Art Project selected by Henry Alsberg.Miné Okubo was a rising artist with the Federal Art Project who drew on her art and her life story to depict a hidden history of injustice during World War II in her book Citizen 13660. Even decades later, a culture of silence surrounded that experience – until her book won an American Book Award and became testimony that sought redress for Japanese Americans incarcerated during the war.Speakers:David Bradley, novelistSeiko Buckingham, niece of Miné OkuboJeanie Tanaka, niece of Miné OkuboDavid Kipen, journalist and authorLinks and Resources:"American Stuff" anthology by members of the Federal Writers' Project and prints by the Federal Art Project'Citizen 13660" short film by the National Park Service"Sincerely, Miné Okubo" short film from the Japanese American National Museum"Pictures of Belonging" 2024 art exhibitionEluard McDaniel entry, Abraham Lincoln Brigade ArchivesReading List:Citizen 13660, by Miné OkuboMiné Okubo: Following Her Own Road, by Greg RobinsonThe Dream and the Deal, by Jerre Mangione“Bumming in California” by Eluard McDaniel, in On the Fly: Hobo Literature and Songs, 1879 – 1941, PM PressThe Chaneysville Incident: A Novel, by David BradleyDear California, by David KipenBlack California, edited by Aparajita NandaCalifornia in the 1930s: The WPA Guide to the Golden State with introduction, by David KipenCredits: Host: Chris HaleyDirector: Andrea KalinProducers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James MirabelloWriter: David A. TaylorEditor: Ethan OserAssistant Editor: Amy YoungStory Editor: Michael MayAdditional Voices: Jared Buggage, Mariko Miyazaki, Kate Rafter and Amy YoungFeaturing music and archival from: Pete SeegerJoseph VitarelliBradford EllisPond5Library of CongressNational Archives and Records AdministrationThe Ronald Reagan Presidential LibraryManny Harriman Video Oral History Collection, Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, NYU Special Collections.For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorderProduced with support from: National Endowment for the HumanitiesCalifornia Humanities.8. 08 Outsiders Remaking History
45:02||Season 1, Ep. 8Episode Summary:California has always attracted outsiders, from the Gold Rush in the 1800s to young actors and filmmakers drawn to Hollywood. California was especially a place of migration during the Great Depression, when tens of thousands came searching for jobs and new beginnings. This is the first of two episodes about writers displaced by the Depression who took different paths to remaking themselves in California and documenting America. Future composer Harry Partch was more comfortable as a migrant than in straight mainstream society. Tillie Olsen found her way from Nebraska to become a reporter-activist who faced long odds to becoming a writer as a woman in the 1930s. With their work on the Federal Writers’ Project, Olsen and Partch helped create an expansive picture of California, people in migration, and the day-to-day reality that included deep labor unrest. Tensions that roiled across America boiled over in the California Writers’ Project, signaling the struggles to come in the national office. Speakers:David Bradley, novelistMary Gordon, novelistAndrew Granade, musicologist and biographerDavid Kipen, journalist and authorLinks and Resources:California and the Dust Bowl - Oakland Museum of CaliforniaCalifornia Gold: Story Map of 1930s California Folk Music "What Kind of Worker is a Writer" (about Tillie Olsen) by Maggie Doherty in The New Yorker"I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen"U.S. Highball," composed by Harry Partch, performed in 2018Harry Partch: The OutsiderReading List:California in the 1930s: The WPA Guide to the Golden State with introduction, by David KipenHarry Partch, Hobo Composer, by S. Andrew GranadeTell Me a Riddle, by Tillie OlsenThe Chaneysville Incident: A Novel, by David BradleyPayback: A Novel, by Mary GordonCredits:Host: Chris HaleyDirector: Andrea KalinProducers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James MirabelloWriter: David A. TaylorEditor: Ethan OserAssistant Editor: Amy Young Story Editor: Michael MayAdditional Voices: Karen Simon, Tim Lorenz, Steve Klingbiel, Sarah Supsiri, and Ethan OserFeaturing music and archival from: Joseph VitarelliBradford EllisPond5Library of CongressNational Archives and Records AdministrationBBCFor additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorderProduced with support from: National Endowment for the HumanitiesCalifornia Humanities.7. 07 A Voice for the Land
32:10||Season 1, Ep. 7Episode Summary:In the 1930s when America was deep in the disaster of the Dust Bowl, Wisconsin professor and wildlife expert Aldo Leopold brought a new way of thinking about how people engage with nature. Studying the dynamics of soil erosion and people’s behavior, he made suggestions for change that led him to the White House to meet the President.Leopold faced a personal crisis too, while writing his way toward a new understanding of our relationship with nature. When the Federal Writers’ Project recruited him to write for the WPA Guide to Wisconsin, the picture he described in the guide’s section on Conservation marked a path toward the modern environmental movement. In this episode, Leopold’s biographer, Curt Meine, connects the dots to Earth Day and a new generation of environmentalists.Speakers:Curt Meine, biographerDouglas Brinkley, historianTim Hundt, journalistLinks and Resources: Aldo Leopold film on PBSGaylord Nelson announces the first Earth Day Human Powered Podcast, episode on The Driftless region Reading List: WPA Guide to WisconsinA Sand County Almanac by Aldo LeopoldAldo Leopold: His Life and Work by Curt MeineYou Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, edited by Ada Limón Credits: Host: Chris HaleyDirector: Andrea KalinProducers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James MirabelloWriter: David A. TaylorEditor: Ethan OserStory Editor: Michael MayAdditional Voices: Tim Lorenz and Susanne DesoutterFeaturing music and archival from: Joseph VitarelliBradford EllisPond5Library of CongressNational Archives and Records AdministrationWisconsin HumanitiesAlso featuring the song “Wisconsin” performed by Madilyn Bailey. Written by Madilyn Bailey, Martijn Tienus, John Sinclair and Clifford Golio, and produced by Clifford Golio and Joseph Barba. Find the full song here and visit her Spotify artist page to hear more. For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorderProduced with support from:National Endowment for the HumanitiesWisconsin HumanitiesBonus Content - A Conversation with Gerald Hill
27:10||Season 1Episode Summary:Gerald Hill is an Oneida lawyer and the former President of the Indigenous Language Institute. This bonus features a conversation with Hill, who provides the voice for Oneida community leader Oscar Archiquette in our episode about the WPA Oneida Language Project in Wisconsin. For that episode, Hill read a handful of Archiquette’s quotes about his life and work on the WPA. After each reading, he gave valuable historical and cultural context for those quotes, which we are excited to share with you. Before you listen to this conversation, we strongly recommend you listen to Episode 6: Native Historians Do Stand-Up, which is about Oscar Archiquette and the WPA Oneida Language Project, and how that work still inspires tribal historians today. Links and Resources: Oneida Nation Cultural Heritage WebpageOneida Books RediscoveredFurther Reading:Oneida Lives edited by Herbert LewisSoul of a People by David A. TaylorCredits:Director: Andrea KalinProducers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James MirabelloEditors: Amelia Jarecke and James MirabelloFeaturing music from The Oneida Singers and Pond5Produced with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Wisconsin Humanities. For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder