MPR Archives: Preserving Minnesota's History
Over our 50+ year history MPR has documented the events and stories that have impacted Minnesota at a national, regional and local level, being the only state-wide broadcaster to do so. Our trove of content is available to bring nuance and context to the discussions of the day, and to offer pathways to partnership with audiences that we are trying to reach with a message of inclusion and trust. The work done to make the Archive's analog content accessible digitally not only enables the Archive to connect with a wide range of audiences, it is also a huge step towards ensuring that the content is preserved and accessible for new audiences in future generations.
In FY23, the MPR Archive will focus on two critical aspects of archive work: 1) preservation of at-risk materials and 2) enrichment of our public-facing portal.
- Preservation of at-risk materials: This will entail cataloging, digitizing, and preserving thousands of hours of fragile media (CD-R, DAT and tape) and ingesting that to the MPR Archive, and then publishing to the archive web portal and MPR's website. The content chosen for this project represents the art, history and cultural heritage of Minnesota as captured by MPR in audio recordings and images through a wide range of programming.
- Enrichment of our public-facing portal: The Archive makes unique analog materials available in digital formats, published on the MPR Archive website. Anyone with internet access can find this content for their own personal enjoyment, or to use for journalistic, academic or research endeavors. This material is also rebroadcast by our own FM stations or used for on-demand content when events of the day recall historic events.
We are shifting the role of the Archive to be much more audience-facing and focus on serving more Minnesotans, creating a social and web strategy that will be built around publishing content to our website and curating and contextualizing the content we have now to be more accessible and engaging for Minnesotans, with a focus on sharing the stories that highlight the voices that are often absent from the media narrative.
Additionally, we have pledged to create more transcriptions of our historic content, making that audio accessible to a wider audience that may be unable to enjoy it in its existing form. With transcriptions, folks with hearing loss can enjoy it, as well as people for whom English is not their first language.
Please note that in FY22 Archives preservation activities are funded by our FY21 Legacy allocation.
Minnesota Public Radio FY22/23 Legacy Grant
$1,891,500 the first year and $1,891,500 the second year are for Minnesota Public Radio to create programming and expand news service on Minnesota's cultural heritage and history.
Legacy Outcomes:
- Increase in the locally focused content and Minnesota focused content produced by public television and radio and an increase in the number of local artists, historians, writers, and others that have their work showcased through public broadcasting.
- Increased knowledge of the way history affects people's lives and how that knowledge can help people make informed decisions for the future.
Archives: Preserving Minnesota's History Outcomes:
- Archives portal utilization increases by 7-10%.
- Users indicate that the archives provided valuable information, increasing their knowledge about history and/or informing their projects through user engagement on Archive Portal and social media platforms.
- Increase by 10% (or about 1,000 stories) historic Minnesota content from MPR available to the general public through MPR's Archive portal.
- Expand the number of catalog records, digital preservation files, and published streaming audio by 5,000.