Lesley Jenkins' blog post from Chicago:
Stud's well-known radio program, titled The Studs Terkel Program, aired on 98.7WFMT Chicago between 1952 and 1997. The one-hour program was broadcast each weekday during those forty-five years. On this program, he interviewed guests as diverse as Martin Luther King, Jr. Leonard Bernstein, Bob Dylan, Alexander Frey, Dorothy Parker, Tennessee Williams and Jean Shepherd. It is believed that there were no transcripts generated from these interviews but his extensive files, located at the Chicago History Museum, are yet to be fully cataloged, however this material was recorded with open reel tapes and the Museum has retained an open reel player as part of its collection.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Terkel was also the central character of Studs' Place, an unscripted television drama about the owner of a greasy-spoon diner in Chicago through which many famous people and interesting characters passed. This show, along with Marlin Perkins'sZoo Parade, Garroway at Large and the children's show Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, are widely considered canonical examples of the Chicago School of Television.
Terkel published his first book, Giants of Jazz, in 1956. He followed it with a number of other books, most focusing on the history of the United States people, relying substantially on oral history. He also served as a distinguished scholar-in-residence at the Chicago History Museum. At CHM, he sometimes participated in the Museum’s public programs often working with the Museum’s Youth Programs Manager and oral historian, Marie Scatena, who went on to be a leading member of the Chicago chapter of the oral history group Groundswell who are concerned with social justice issues.
He recorded his book material on cassette tape and edited the material for the books on an ‘as needs’ basis rather than generate transcripts.
In 1995, he received the Chicago History Museum "Making History Award" for Distinction in Journalism and Communications. In 1998, Terkel and WFMT, the radio station which broadcast Terkel's long-running program, had donated approximately 7,000 tape recordings of Terkel's interviews and broadcasts to the Chicago History Museum. During this time he also ran oral history classes at De Paul university in Chicago.
In 2010, the Museum and the Library of Congress announced a multi-year joint collaboration to digitally preserve and make available at both institutions these recordings, which the Library of Congress called, "a remarkably rich history of the ideas and perspectives of both common and influential people living in the second half of the 20th century." "For Studs, there was not a voice that should not be heard, a story that could not be told," said Gary T. Johnson, Museum president. "He believed that everyone had the right to be heard and had something important to say. He was there to listen, to chronicle, and to make sure their stories are remembered." The WFMT tapes have been sent off in batchs to the Library of Congress and 1 digital copy is returned to the Museum along with the original tape recording. The Library of Congress retains a digital copy of the recording.
In 2014 WFMT and the Chicago History Museum announced the creation of the website, Studsterkel.org, which will house the entire archive of Studs Terkel interviews. Currently the CHM transfers analogue audio material to digital files for a fee upon request. Once it has been digitized it is placed in the public domain for free via the CHC portal however the CHM is exploring with Google the possibility of providing rough copy transcripts of the interviews which will be created via crowdsourcing.The Studs Terkel Centre for Oral History is managed by archivist Peter Alter with the assistance of interns and volunteers.
[Photo by Lesley Jenkins; part of above from Wikipedia]
Sadly my time at the Chicago History Museum has come to an end. I met wonderful curators, public education staff, a bundle of volunteers and interns and many many creatives who do a whole range of jobs to keep the place going despite funding cuts driven by the GFC. I learnt a lot from all of them. I wrote a few pieces about oral history at the museum and they should be up on the Oral History Association of Qld blog in a little while for people who would like to know more about how this works here. I started with a hotdog and I am ending with one. This great piece of child friendly interactive sculpture is part of the Sensing Chicago exhibition. This is directed at children to find out why Chicago was once stinky and is no longer. The bright colours and sounds and interactive elements focus on how smells, sights, sounds and tastes tell us about our history.