PHOTO ARCHIVES
Behind the Scenes How a Curator Created the Podcast, Picture This
T
BY JILL HARTKE, PHOTO AND DIGITAL ARCHIVIST
HE PHOTO ARCHIVE OVERFLOWS with stories wait-
ran from his surgery room at Dawson’s hospital around 1910.
ing to be told. I began making a five-to-seven minute
The story of Dr. Diver and the rescuers seemed overlooked and
podcast called “Picture This with the Albuquerque
perfect for a podcast.
Museum” to highlight overlooked stories within the
Museum’s collection. My first stop is the photo archives collection. How many
The accession record for the collection had information about Dr. Diver. I researched mine rescues in the 1910s to learn the men attending Dr. Diver’s training were known as “helmet men.”
images do I have to tell the story? Is there a new angle to a well-
Newspaper accounts of the 1913 disaster shed more light on the
known story that I can share? Do I have supporting images of lo-
helmet men and I learned from the US Bureau of Mines how many
cations or subjects? The answer to each of these questions helps
helmet men were trained in Dawson. All of this research helped
determine the content for a podcast. Take the Dawson Mine
me to write a script for the podcast. Next, I start recording.
podcast, for example. I had heard of Dawson, New Mexico, from
I use a podcast application on my smartphone called Spreak-
people who had toured the ghost town and saw the rows of
er. Trial and many errors taught me that life is easier if I record
white iron crosses in the graveyard with the date of mine explo-
the podcast in bits, rather than all in one go, so I generally have
sions. I looked at seven photographs, donated by Dorothy Diver,
six or seven segments of a podcast that I record and upload
showing a rescue training session that her father, Dr. Frank Diver,
separately. Once the audio is recorded, I move on to compile
6
SUMMER 2020
Art. History. People.
