TEASER: Archival Revival

Archival Revival is Scribe Video Center’s podcast and radio series, drawn from extended interviews, oral histories and presentations recorded over four decades. Many explore the rich history of the African-American life and political struggle including unedited interviews with historians John Henrik Clarke, Herbert Apetheker; renowned filmmakers John Akomfrah and Julie Dash; former Philadelphia mayor W. Wilson Goode; DuBois Williams Irvin, granddaughter of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois; attorney Charisse Lillie; and Cecilia Hare Kelly, part of the first group of Black women to serve in World War II.

This media project emerged out of the pandemic of 2020 and the protests in opposition to the state sponsored killing of Black people. The decision to create the Archival Revival podcast, according to Louis Massiah, host and series producer, came from a desire “to make the most of the resources at hand in a period of social distancing. We came to the realization that our archive held valuable knowledge that we wanted to share. As documentarians, it is our responsibility to share the learnings and wisdom we’ve gathered in our long history.”

Archival Revival has thus become an extension of Scribe’s founding mission to use video and audio as a tool for progressive social change. Nationally known for its participatory, community-based approach to storytelling, the launch of Archival Revival marks Scribe Video Center’s first foray into the new media format. Facilitating oral history and audio production workshops every year, storytelling with audio has long been central to Scribe’s practice and teaching. Dallas Taylor is the line producer and editor of Archival Revival.