A Dream to Preserve TV News, on the Road to Realization… with Your Help

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We are about to receive a remarkable private collection of video taped U.S. television news that spans 35 years.  We welcome contributions of TV news recorded before the year 2001 to help broaden our research library.

M_Stokes4Marion Marguerite Stokes, a librarian, social justice advocate and TV interview program host, believed that it was vital to preserve television news.

Mrs. Stokes started recording news at home in 1977 — and never stopped. Before her death in December 2012 she recorded 140,000 video cassettes. Her family searched for a home for her unique collection and found us in June.

It is a unique collection of local news from Boston (1977-1986) and Philadelphia (1986-2012), as well as all the national news. The Boston era is particularly notable for the busing/desegregation strife that raged throughout.

Marion Stokes’ amazing commitment to preserve television news, a passion that few at the time entirely understood, shaped the daily lives of her children growing up and, later, visits of her grandchildren. Her dream of using this collection for the public good can now be fulfilled.

In just a few days, four large shipping containers on trucks will be winding their way across the country to our Richmond, California physical archive. The digitization of such a huge collection will take a number of years and funding we have yet to raise.

Join us in helping to realize Marion Stokes’ gift to the future and make it available to all, forever, for free.  Please consider making a contribution, right now!

2 thoughts on “A Dream to Preserve TV News, on the Road to Realization… with Your Help

  1. Pingback: A Dream to Preserve TV News, on the Road to Realization… with Your Help | Library Stuff

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