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The Nixon Tapes in the digital age
Journal of Digital Media Management,
9
(4),
323-336
(2021)
Abstract
This paper draws on the history of the Nixon White House Tapes to provide a case study in audio digitisation for preservation and access. The recordings, made between 1971 and 1973, represent one of the most important recorded sound collections in US history and range from personal conversations between family members and work associates to classified conversations. In 2013, the Nixon Library, part of the National Archives and Records Administration, began comprehensive digitisation for preservation and access. This paper describes how digitisation and the digital workflows developed by archivists have served this collection well, giving staff the flexibility to address public requests for declassification review by agencies, and to adjust to changes in staffing levels, priorities, and even work conditions.
Keywords: Audio digitisation; digital preservation; digital review; digital planning; declassification
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Cary Mcstay is Supervisory Archivist for the Special Media and Electronic Records division of the National Declassification Center. She joined the Nixon Presidential Materials Staff at the National Archives as an archives specialist in 2006, eventually becoming Supervisory Archivist of the Nixon Tapes Team in 2010. She has a BA in history from Sewanee and an MLIS specialising in archives and records management from the University of Texas at Austin.
Daniel Rodríguez is the Supervisory Archivist for Digitization Archival Services at the National Archives in Washington, DC. He started at the National Archives in 2011, first as an archives specialist and then as an archivist, with the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a master’s from St. John’s University.
