Should political historians also be media historians? If so, which historiographical debates should they be aware of? And how should they go about analyzing audiovisual media sources? On March 28th at the Dutch Institute for Sound and Vision (Beeld en Geluid, B&G) in Hilversum, a group of ReMA-students and PhD-candidates of the Research School for Political History (RSPH) discussed these and other questions and consequently reflected on the ways in which audiovisual media sources could be useful for their own research.
In the first half of the workshop, two themes were discussed in particular, which mirrored the mini-lectures given by Dr. Vincent Kuitenbrouwer (UvA) and Solange Ploeg MA (RU): the use of mass media for propaganda purposes and the use of mass media as platforms for citizen participation in politics. While discussing these themes, the participants also considered to which extent media make it possible for everyone to become a media maker – and what this means for historians, wanting to study interactivity between media makers, politicians and audiences alike. Having read up on current historiographical debates at home, the participants then discussed various methodological bottlenecks and opportunities for the use of media sources. The discussion led to some overarching questions which every participant felt they needed to touch upon in their own research: where does audiovisual material come from? Who made it and why? But also: who uses it and why?
Subsequently, these questions were reflected upon by the conservator of the archives at B&G, Bas Agterberg. Bas shared with the participants the history of the broadcasting archives at B&G and elaborated on the consequences of choices made for the availability and accessibility of Dutch media sources. After this, a real treat was on the agenda: a tour through the archives in the various underground ‘vaults’ at B&G. This tour made it possible for the participants to experience the materiality of the audiovisual archives at B&G firsthand, as Bas showed how various information carriers are archived, stored and consequently digitized on site. Also, the participants were able to roam freely among the impressive collection of radio- and television sets from throughout the 20th century.
After lunch, it was time for the participants to get acquainted with a specific tool and platform for doing audiovisual research. Under the guidance of dr. Christian Olesen (UvA), they received a crash course for the use of the Clariah Media Suite, a digital platform in which B&G’s vast audiovisual archive has been made accessible for students and researchers. The day ended with a round of ‘show and tell’, in which the participants and teachers alike shared which material they had found in the Clariah Media Suite and how they planned on incorporating it in their research.
The organizers (Vincent Kuitenbrouwer and Solange Ploeg) would like to kindly thank guest lecturers Bas Agterberg and Christian Olesen, the Dutch Institute for Sound and Vision and the RSPH for their help and cooperation.