What's in a name? Improving access and discoverability in New Zealand's sound archive of World War II radio recordings

Authors

  • Sarah Johnston

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/arch.10293

Keywords:

World War II, World War 2, Sound archives

Abstract

Information in any archive gains validity and mana through knowledge of who imparted that information. When the identity of the informant is obscured or unknown, the archival source is less authoritative and less likely to be used or cited by researchers. This problem is amplified when that archive is stored on an aging medium that is technologically hard to access. In the past, these two obstacles have hindered access to New Zealand's sound archive of World War II radio recordings, recorded in the battle zones of North Africa, the Middle East, Italy and the Pacific between 1940-1945.

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Author Biography

Sarah Johnston

Sarah Johnston is a library assistant at the University of Canterbury's Macmillan Brown Library. She is also a sound history researcher and a former radio journalist and broadcaster, enthusiastic about sharing the sounds of New Zealand's past. A 2021 recipient of funding from the Judith Binney Trust and Manatū Taonga's New Zealand History Research Fund, she is researching the work of New Zealand's World War II Mobile Broadcasting Units. Sarah nominated this collection for inclusion in UNESCO's Memory of the World New Zealand Register in 2019. You can read about her current project on the
blog worldwarvoices.wordpress.com. 

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Published

2021-01-01

Issue

2021

Section

Articles