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Title: Stanford Listening Post records
Date (inclusive): 1940-1945
Collection Number: 40001
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
32 manuscript boxes, 1 envelope
(13.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, transcripts of radio broadcasts, study papers, notes, and card indexes, relating to radio broadcasts from
east and southeast Asia
Creator:
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace
Creator:
Stanford Listening Post
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1940.
[Identification of item], Stanford Listening Post Records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
The Stanford Listening Post was established in the Archives Division of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace
in 1940 for the purpose of recording and studying radio broadcasts from the Far East. The Rockefeller Foundation granted $8,250
to cover the costs of equipment, supplies, and salaries for receiving, recording, and transcribing trans-Pacific broadcasts.
Recording began in mid-September 1940 and continued to the end of May 1941 when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
established listening posts throughout the country for round-the-clock monitoring of foreign broadcasts. The Stanford post
recorded foreign broadcasts for the FCC from 1941 to 1943 and transmitted American broadcasts of the United States Office
of War Information (OWI) to the Far East from 1942 to 1945.
The Stanford Listening Post used two short-wave receivers, an RME 69 and a highly selective HRO. During the last few weeks
of the experiment, a Hallicrafter commercial type receiver was used in place of the RME. Two rhombic antennas provided directional
reception from east-west and north-south. Two standard office Ediphones recorded the broadcasts. Only transmissions in English
were recorded in the beginning, although test recordings of other languages were made. News and news commentator programs
in English from three stations were recorded regularly--Tokyo, Japan; Chungking, China; and Saigon, French Indo-China. Occasional
recordings were made from Hsinking, Manchukuo; Shanghai, China; and Sydney, Australia.
After broadcasts were recorded on Ediphone wax cylinders, a single typed copy was made of the transcript with text double
spaced. There were several checks for accuracy. After the final checking, transcripts were duplicated and sent to a selected
list of persons and libraries interested in Pacific affairs.
The staff of the Stanford Listening Post included Inez G. Richardson, who was director, Richard Beckett, Pauline Hamm, Maria
Hoge, Rosemary Johansson, Kay Kitagawa, Margaret Lintner, Helene von Damm, and Ann Van Wagenen.
(Source:
Annual Report of the Chairman, 1940-41. Hoover Library on War, Revolution, and Peace).
This collection contains correspondence, transcripts of radio broadcasts, study papers, notes, and card indexes, relating
to radio broadcasts from east and southeast Asia, 1940-1945. Includes transcripts of foreign broadcasts received by the Stanford
Listening Post, September 1940 to May 1941, and transcripts of foreign broadcasts received by Stanford on behalf of the U.S.
Office of War Information (OWI) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), June 1941 to June 1943. Includes transcripts
of broadcasts originating with the OWI and transmitted from Stanford by short-wave radio to the Far East. Also includes correspondence,
drafts of study papers, outlines and plans, notes, and broadcast transcripts of a project to study and compare the propaganda
methods of China and Japan as revealed in their radio broadcasts.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World War, 1939-1945 -- Propaganda
Propaganda
Radio broadcasting -- East Asia
World War, 1939-1945 -- East Asia
United States. Office of War Information