CPB has selected Crawford Media Services in Atlanta to digitize audio and video content for the American Archive. The CPB initiative is working to preserve local and national public media content from the past 60 years. So far, more than 100 public television and radio stations have identified some 1 million hours of programs, raw footage, unedited interviews, recorded speeches, scripts and photos. Around 40,000 hours will be preserved in the archive.
Crawford has worked on similar archival projects for CNN, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the United States Marine Corps and the Coca-Cola Co.
CPB is currently in the process of selecting a permanent home for the archive. “Once complete,” CPB said in a statement, “the American Archive will ensure that the public investment in non-commercial media, totaling billions of dollars over the years, is fully protected for, and accessible to, generations to come.”
The corporation is pushing ahead with the work despite losing funding for digital projects last year (Current, Jan. 30).