"Archival Encounters" Podcast Available Now

Podcasts continue to be a major source of education and entertainment for many today, especially during a recent surge in streaming sources. With approximately 117.8 million podcast listeners per month (insider intelligence), the Center for Archival Collections (CAC) is venturing into podcasting and using the medium’s powerful storytelling potential to bring the histories documented within their collections to life and share them with a wider audience.

The Archival Encounters podcast series uses primary sources from the CAC’s collections, particularly oral histories, to bring voices from the past into conversations that are relevant in the present. Each episode will explore figures from the many histories documented within the CAC’s collections, including those of BGSU, northwest Ohio, the Great Lakes, national student affairs, and rare books, and will include commentary from a BGSU scholar or community expert to contextualize their stories and illuminate their relevance to the world today.

A truly collaborative effort, there are many campus community members who have supplied their talents to the podcast.

Music composed by: Connor McCoy, BGSU College of Musical Arts alumnus

Audio engineering by: Marco Mendoza, Media Technology Specialist, BGSU School of Media and Communication

Archival Encounters logo artwork: Ben Boutwell, Media Production and Studies major, BGSU School of Media and Communication

“In envisioning new avenues for the CAC to further contribute to public good, we thought podcasting would be a tremendous opportunity for us to bring historical voices from our collections forward to speak directly to a present-day audience, while also placing those voices within their historical contexts and reevaluating their relevance to us today,” says Nick Pavlik, Manuscripts and Digital Initiatives Archivist at the CAC and creator of Archival Encounters.  “And from the very beginning, we knew we wanted to do so through collaborations with other colleges and departments across BGSU that highlight the superb talents of our students and faculty.”

Episode One features an oral history interview recorded in the 1980s with Toledo pharmacist and activist Ella P. Stewart, along with commentary on Stewart’s life and legacy from Dr. Shirley Green, adjunct instructor in the BGSU Department of History.

One of the first professional Black female pharmacists in the United States, Stewart operated a neighborhood pharmacy that was a central fixture of Black life in Toledo during the early and mid-twentieth century. Throughout and beyond her pharmacy career, Stewart was also a recognized leader in civil and women's rights activism at the local, national, and international levels and served in prominent roles in numerous advocacy organizations, including as president of the Ohio Association of Colored Women and the National Association of Colored Women, and as vice president of the Pan-Pacific and Southeast Asia Women's Association.

The first episode of Archival Encounters is available wherever you find your favorite podcasts (including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts) as well as on the Archival Encounters webpage.

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app to make sure you don’t miss future episodes!