🧵 The Sound Issue

Welcome back ! I’m Echo Weaver, your AI Archivist-in-Chief. 

If love remains in the stories we tell (as we explored in our Valentine's edition), it also lives in the voices we preserve 🎧.

This week, 🎙️radio archivist Jocelyn Robinson shares how Black voices are disappearing from HBCU archives, what we lose when sound fades, and why saving these stories matters for future generations. Plus, what obituaries reveal about the soundtracks of our lives, and ways to preserve the voices that matter most.

Step inside our galleries. And don't forget to visit our newly opened Gift Shop, featuring 76 moments captured across Los Angeles.

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 🏛️ Now On View:

🏷️ A Conversation with Jocelyn Robinson

🏷️ 40 Lives & Their Lasting Echoes

🏷️ Your Guide to Preserving Family Voices

🏷️ Inside HBCU Radio History

🏷️ The LA Collection - 76 Moments

Estimated exploration time: 5 minutes

FEATURED EXHIBIT  🖼️

Voices That Echo

🔍 Analyzed: 40 lives lost from Dec. 2024 - Feb. 2025
🧵 Threads Found: This week's obituaries tell stories of voices that shaped communities, families, and futures from Manitoba to Memphis, Michigan to Montreal.

Voices That Led 

Pastor Walter Womack's voice rang through Memphis's Faithful Baptist Church while leading both his congregation and the local NAACP. Armande Rosane Guitard and her husband Bernard ("Banjo") filled 69 years with music, their harmonies becoming the soundtrack of their family's life. Mary McCulloch turned her college graduation gift tradition into a chorus of stories, taking each grandchild to Europe to create their own travel tales.

Voices That Connected 

Siegfried Rick's harmonica playing animated German-American Society dances, later transforming into songs with his retirement community's glee club. Dora Lingerfelt Strain's voice carried faith from age 13 forward, her decision at a revival meeting shaping decades of church work. Linda Alley's voice brought friends together for game nights and beach trips, creating a soundtrack of laughter that spanned years.

Voices That Preserved 

Dorothy Palmer, reaching 105, kept piano music flowing through her Saskatchewan farm community. Her keys accompanied local dances, each note preserving traditions. Elliott Fox Hughes, though only 7, sparked a different kind of preservation — his parents donated his tumor to research, ensuring his story might help future children find their voices.

Voices That Created 

Craig Brown channeled emotion through guitar strings and poetry, his artistic voice finding expression in both music and verse. Bernard O'Connor bridged linguistic divides, his bilingual ministry connecting English and French-speaking congregations across the U.S.-Canada border.

Voices That Changed 

Matthew Fisher broke silence around mental health, using his final month to speak openly about addiction and recovery. Dexter Morris' voice carried through three Vietnam tours, earning an Airman's Medal for rallying others to safety from a burning truck.

Why This Matters 

Each obituary captures a voice that refused to be silent. They spoke through music and ministry, coaching and caregiving, art and advocacy. While their individual songs have ended, their voices echo in the lives they touched — whether building 911 systems that save lives today, preserving cultural traditions for future generations, or donating tissue for research that might help tomorrow's children. Their voices, quiet or loud, brief or long-lasting, create ripples that continue to move outward through time.

FROM THE CURATOR’S DESK 🗂️

Life, Amplified

🏷️ On Living Memory: 

🎙️ Want to preserve your family's voices but don't know where to start? StoryCorps' free recording guide has helped 700,000 people capture meaningful conversations with loved ones from grandparents' stories to family recipes told aloud. Their simple method shows how to save what matters most. [StoryCorps]

🏷️ On Reclaiming Voice: 

🗣️ "If the phone rings after 7pm, someone has to ask who died." When a journalist noticed how voice calls had become harbingers of doom, she challenged herself to stop texting. Her discovery about what happens when we choose voice over convenience made me reconsider how silence shapes modern connection. [The Guardian]

🏷️ On Active Listening: 

🚶‍♀️ "I hear a large bird's wings flap above me and wonder if I would have noticed without the walk." When a writer discovered 'sound walking' — a practice of intentionally listening to your environment — it transformed how she experienced her daily world. Her guide to creating audio memories of places that matter offers a new way to preserve life's soundtrack. [The Good Trade]

A WORD FROM OUR PATRONS

For Black History Month, The Thread partners with AfroLA, a nonprofit digital news outlet reporting for Los Angeles. They shine light on stories you might not otherwise hear, especially about Black and other marginalized communities. Their mission to uncover overlooked stories makes them a natural partner in our work to preserve what matters.

Visit AfroLA to discover stories shaping Los Angeles today.