Happy Anniversary

As project manager at WGBH for the local television news project, the one thing that has struck me as we approach the one-year anniversary of the project is the wonderful history we have uncovered. As each collection has worked to process their catalog, it has become apparent quite how rich our local television news heritage is.  Stories on the local reaction to the death of Martin Luther King, Jnr. next to national coverage of his assassination, the visit of Nelson Mandela to Boston in 1990, busing, the Vietnam War, wonderful sporting events such as Bobby Orr at the Garden, to name but a few of the thousands of events covered by the BPL, CCTV, NHF and WGBH local news collections.

And then there are the intriguing stories, where the record only gives us a glimpse of what the content really is about. Take the blog entry “Hi Dad” from October 2011, where an unassuming entry titled “Clocks” led our intern to research the history of Tick Tock Lane and the conviction of Elmer O. Stennes on manslaughter charges. Does this card really relate to the murder of Stennes wife, or was it really just about clocks? The only way to find out will be to transfer the film and make it available on our website. You can help in making those decisions by voting for the stories that most intrigue you when we launch our catalog soon. We hope you’ll be as drawn into the richness of the collection as much as we have been over the past year. Happy hunting!