The Woman Who Recorded Everything
One Mic Black History Newsletter #22
Welcome to the latest edition of the One Mic History newsletter, Today we unfold the extraordinary story of Marion Stokes - The Woman Who Recorded 30-Year of Television.
Born in the historic part of Philadelphia, Germantown, on November 25, 1929, Marion spent her early career working as a librarian for the Free Library of Philadelphia in the mid-20th century. However, her passion for civil rights drew her into a more active role in societal issues.
Alongside her professional duties, Stokes made significant contributions to the cause of civil rights. She played an integral part in the integration of Girard College and helped organize transport for the historical 1963 March on Washington. Stokes also served as the Chair for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and was a key member of the founding board of the National Organization for Women (NOW).
While participating as a panelist on a local news show titled "Input" during the late 60s, Stokes met her future husband, John Stokes. Together, they embarked on an extraordinary journey of news archiving from their homes in Rittenhouse Square and Boston.
Stokes was not just an ardent collector, but also a meticulous observer. She took note of discrepancies in the news coverage during the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979, and this sparked her mission to record television broadcasts, believing that these could provide important references in the future.
Stokes turned her home into a media archive center. Using multiple TV sets and recording devices, she recorded Television around the clock from channels like MSNBC, Fox, CNN, CNBC, and CSPAN. In the face of increasing workload, Stokes painstakingly changed tapes every six hours and incorporated family members and an assistant to manage the demanding schedule.
Stokes’ son Michael Metelits spoke about his mother, Stokes was unflinchingly dedicated to her archival endeavor. When quizzed about her unique project, she simply replied, "I'm archiving, that’s all," amidst rooms filled with televisions, recorders, and VHS tapes.
By the time of her death on January 3, 2012, from lung disease, Stokes had compiled three apartments and numerous storage units in two states filled with thousands of tapes. Her extensive collection comprised over 800,000 hours of news reports on around 40,000 tapes from Boston from 1977 to 1986 and Philadelphia from 1986 to 2012.
Marion Stokes’ taped broadcasts was bequeathed to her son, Michael Metelits, with her sole directive being to donate it to a charity of his choice. Although Stokes' archive could not be expanded on, it attained a new lease on life. Just a year after her passing, the Internet Archive embarked on the mission to convert her collection into a digital format and circulate them online.
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-Countryboi