More than 100 reel-to-reel audio recordings pertaining to the May 4, 1970, 麻豆影院 shootings and their aftermath are now accessible through the 麻豆影院 Special Collections and Archives鈥 digital repository. Some of the recently digitized items include previously inaccessible audio recordings of radio call-in forums, a speech by 麻豆影院 State President Robert I. White the day after the shootings, a press conference with six students who met with President Richard M. Nixon just days after the shootings, the Scranton Commission hearings and a speech made by Dick Gregory at the 麻豆影院 State Memorial Service in 1971.
The digitization project started in spring 2015 after University Libraries was awarded a $2,000 Ohio Archives Grant for the proposal, 鈥淧roviding Access to the 麻豆影院 State Shootings Audio Archive.鈥 The Ohio Archives Grants are funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, an arm of the National Archives and Records Administration through its State and National Archival Partnership Grants program. University Libraries鈥 faculty members Cara Gilgenbach, Virginia Dressler and Lae鈥檒 Hughes-Watkins prepared the successful proposal.
鈥淎s we head toward the 50th anniversary of this pivotal event in American history, we seek to provide expanded access to unprocessed portions of the collection, especially audio-visual materials, which are highly sought by researchers,鈥 said Gilgenbach, head of University Libraries鈥 Special Collections and Archives.
The audio recordings are available online and are accessible worldwide.
For more information on the audio recordings, visit .
For more information about this year鈥檚 events observing the 46th anniversary of May 4, visit www.kent.edu/kent/news/kent-state-observes-46th-annual-may-4-commemoration.
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Media Contacts:
Cara Gilgenbach, cgilgenb@kent.edu, 330-672-1677
Kristin Anderson, kander63@kent.edu, 330-672-7907