Show hosts Jesse Johnston and Evan Haywood talk with Leslie McCartney about the work of preserving oral histories at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. During the conversation, Leslie shared about the history of the tapes for the "Cuttlefish Project," undertaken in the 1970s by a class of high school students in Unalaska and their teacher Ray Hudson. We also discuss the significance of some of these recordings as documents of various Native Alaskan languages, the history of Native and Russian settlement in the remote Aleutian Islands, and the significance of recorded sound as a unique carrier of historical information.

Sound clips were digitized with support from the National Recording Preservation Foundation and are used courtesy of the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Credits

The podcast is produced and directed by Jesse Johnston. Hosted and written by Jesse Johnston and Evan Haywood. Music, editing, and sound design by Evan Haywood.

Original music and sound designs by Evan Haywood.

Recorded, edited, and mixed at Black Ram Treehouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the University of Michigan School of Information, the Library of Congress, and our generous supporters.

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