The Ashes of Waco

Audio Files

All the audio files currently in the digital collection now play directly in the window, thanks to Todd Peters, who embedded the audio player, and Alan Schaefer, who moved the audio files and updated the metadata. 

This works a little differently than the streaming video, which relies on whatever media player you have on your hard drive to play. But both the audio and video files work similarly now, and much more conveniently by not downloading to your hard drive before playing. You can play the file immediately, read the metadata as you watch/listen, and skip around the file at will.

So, we currently have the following audio files available online. Hold your mouse over the link for a brief description, and click on the link to go directly to the record.

• Songs to Grandpa - Side A
• Songs To Grandpa - Side B 
• Root of Jesse  
• Radio Sermon     
• Negotiation Excerpts   
• NPR Report  
• NPR Interview - Side A 
• NPR Interview - Side B 
• Telephone Conversation   
• Kevin Whitecliff Interview
• Brad Branch Interview
• Dr. Phillip Arnold and Dr. Jim Tabor Interview
• Dr. Phillip Arnold Interview   
• Home-Recorded Music   
• Sermon
• Home-Recorded Music
• BATF Recording   
• Loudspeaker Instructions 
• Loudspeaker Instructions 
• 911 Call   
• Feb. 28 Negotiations 
• 1995 Memorial Service - Clive Doyle 
• 1995 Memorial Service - Dick Reavis   
• Dick Reavis Speaking about The Ashes of Waco - Side A
• Dick Reavis Speaking about The Ashes of Waco - Side B
• March 3 Negotiations 

As I have help, more audio (and video) files will be added to the digital collection, and I will keep the blog informed when new files are added. However, I may be shifting my focus for the next two months or so, to other aspects of the project, or to other projects altogether.

more screenshots & news on the site

I just realized I promised more screenshots by the end of the month. Here it is Aug. 31...and the world continues to wait! Well, wait no longer, gentle readers.

Here is the final homepage. We took out the Guestbook page, because users can use this blog to leave comments or e-mail me directly. This way we don't have to keep up a database and worry about monitoring the comments. Eventually we'll have a comments feature implemented within CONTENTdm too, so users can leave them directly connected to an item.

As you may have noticed, we changed the subtitle to "A Digitized Archive" rather than "An Online Exhibit," as we feel that is a better descriptor. Here is About the Project. The links will lead you to the appropriate places on the same page, and "back to top" links will bring you back here.

Author Interview is very similar in look and function. I divided up the interview into subjects and we turned those into links that visitors can use to jump straight there.

Resources is the last page in the portal site. Most of the links are for sites related to the subject, and those are basically the same as I provided in this blog.

When a visitor clicks on Digital Collection, they will go directly to CONTENTdm in a new window. Different users can modify how they want their screen to look, but right now this or something similar is what you'll see when you get there:

We (Aniket and I) are going to be tweaking it over the coming weeks. We're going to try to make it not so black--similar in look to the About the Project or Author Interview page on the portal site--with a lighter background in the middle so everything isn't white-on-black. Also, we're working on getting all the files to embed properly (i.e., the audio/video files to stream). I think we're close, but now Aniket is working pro bono so I hope it doesn't take too much more work.

We're waiting on the University website guys to get us connected to the proper server to we can make the portal site live, and in turn lead people to the CONTENTdm site. They are tied down right now with a project for the University president, but we should be able to get the site up in the next week or two. In the meantime, I keep plugging away on uploading records and entering metadata.

Sorry about the screenshots getting cut off, but if I make them images smaller they're impossible to read.

More soon.

The Upcoming Website

Just thought I would check in and update our scores of readers on what's been happening with the project lately. Aniket and I have been working together designing a template for the site. It will consist of: an opening page with a banner, navigation links, and rotating sample images and/or video clips; an "About the Project" page that gives background information on the project; an "About the Incident" page that describes the incident through the lens of Reavis' collection and book; a page to contact us to request copies; and a "Guestbook" where visitors can leave and read comments. In addition, there will be links to this blog and to the digital collection itself.

The pages that Aniket and I create will link to the CONTENTdm pages that contain the actual records, where users will be able to search the metadata and bookmark records of particular interest to them. Because of space concerns (and time and copyright concerns, somewhat) we are not able to provide digital surrogates of all the items at this time. I'm hoping to continue to add more digitized items periodically after the grant period ends. Of course, I will keep the world posted via this blog whenever newly digitized items are added.

Many other CONTENTdm sites that contain audio and/or video files embed them into the site, so no downloading or pre-installed media players are necessary. We plan on doing this for our site. As far as design goes, we're keeping it simple, like the upcoming Wittliff Collections website will look, and stark, like the background and text colors of this blog. 

I'm going to place the Reavis 12/30/08 interview transcript either on the site or in the collection itself, or both. Some students here worked hard to transcribe the interview, and our admin assistant, myself and Reavis all made passes editing it. I think it is a good resource as to how the book and the project came about, as well as why investigating and remembering what happened at Waco in 1993 matters.

A Slice of Life Inside Mt. Carmel

Here is an excerpt from a tape that was sent out of Mt. Carmel during the siege. In this clip, Steve Schneider interviews several of the girls about how they were getting along during the ordeal. To view, click the link at the end of this posting.

Multiple tapes were sent out to the FBI over the course of the standoff. Dick Reavis, in The Ashes of Waco, has this to say:

Whatever disagreements one might have with the residents of Mt. Carmel, the film humanizes its subjects. In their post-April 19 investigation of the Waco affair, Justice Department investigators reported: "The negotiator's log shows that when the tape was reviewed there was concern that if the tape was released to the media, Koresh would gain much sympathy." Though the document was news, and would have been ideal for television, it wouldn't have served the agency's public relations goals. Instead of presenting it to the press, the Bureau sat on the videotape[s]. (pp. 228-29)

The girls seen here are, in order of appearance, Lisa Martin (13), Audrey Martinez (13), Rachel Sylvia (13), Abigail Martinez (11), and Sheila Martin (15). All five of them perished on April 19th.

Watch this excerpt

Interview with the author

Last Tuesday, December 30, I had the opportunity to interview Dick J. Reavis in his office on the campus of North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, NC. This was the third time that I've had the pleasure of spending time with Dick and discussing Waco (as well as a variety of other topics) but the first time I've had to officially interview him. From the time I started processing his papers, over three years ago, to the current grant project, he has been very helpful and forthcoming with information, and this occasion was no exception.

My visit was over the winter break, so the NC State campus was quiet and almost empty. We ate lunch at El Rodeo, a Mexican place across the street from campus, and talked a lot about Dick's planned book on day laborers in America. After that we walked over to his office in the English building and started the interview. I started the interview asking him to talk about where he was at the time of the siege, and he took it from there, providing valuable insight into the press' involvement (or un-involvement) with the Branch Davidians, and sharing his personal experiences, from the time of the Feb. 28 raid up to his testimony before Congress over two years later, as the book was about to be published. 

Dick also shared his thoughts on the Constitutionalists and other right-wing groups he had an unlikely involvement with at the time. He talked about the government's behavior at Mt. Carmel and what they seem to have learned from it, regardless of whether they ever admit that their approach was wrong. And he gave the incident historical, international, and current-event context that was very engaging for me as a listener and an interviewer. 

After over three hours, we shut the recorder off and called it a day, not being out of topics to discuss but out of time to discuss them. The plan now is to get the interview transcribed by a student in late January and select portions to post on the blog as well as the online exhibit. I am hoping this will be the first of at least two interviews with Reavis, the second one taking place after the exhibit goes up and being about specific materials we have on display.