The Kitchen Sisters Present

182 - "The porters were fed up." C.L. Dellums and the rise of America's first Black union

01 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 20th century, the largest employer of Black men in the United States was the Pullman Car Company, which operated luxurious trains that ca...

181 - The Accidental Archivist—Keeping the Wooster Group

18 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Wooster Group, perched on a street corner in Soho in downtown New York, at the forefront of experimental theater for some 40 years. Singular, rig...

180 - The Great Amish Pandemic Sewing Frolic

04 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Sunday, December 19, 2021, The Cleveland Clinic and five other major health care institutions in Northeastern Ohio took out a full page ad in the C...

179 - The Nights of Edith Piaf

21 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

She rose every day at dusk and rehearsed, performed, ate and drank until dawn. Then slept all day, woke up and began to create and unravel again as ...

178- Hidden Kitchens - With Host Frances McDormand

07 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Hidden Kitchens, the duPont-Columbia and James Beard Award winning radio series on NPR’s Morning Edition, explores the world of unexpected, below ...

177 - The Pardoning of Homer Plessy

16 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

One hundred-twenty-five years after he was arrested for sitting down in a whites-only train car, Homer Plessy may be pardoned for his crime. In 1896 h...

176-Arctic Ice, Extreme Weather—Activist Photographer Camille Seaman

02 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Arctic Ice, Extreme Weather, the Reckoning at Standing Rock—a journey into the deep rich world of photographer Camille Seaman. Born to a Native Ame...

175 - Finding Julia Morgan

19 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Julia Morgan, the first woman architect to be licensed in California, designed over 700 buildings in California including Hearst Castle in San Simeon....

174 - The Braveheart Grandmothers and Yankton Sioux Coming of Age Ceremony

05 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Braveheart Women’s Society, a group of Yankton Sioux grandmothers and tribal elders, have re-established an almost forgotten coming of age ritua...

173 - Betty Reid Soskin, Celebrating the 100th Birthday of the Oldest Park Ranger in America

21 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Betty Reid Soskin, the nation's oldest serving Park Ranger, works at the Rosie the Riveter Home Front World War II National Historical Park in Richmon...

172 - The Sonic Memorial—The 20th Anniversary of 9/11m], Narrated by Paul Auster

07 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

An intimate and historic documentary commemorating the life and history of The World Trade Center and its surrounding neighborhood, through audio arti...

171—What Fire Reveals: Stories from the CZU August Lightning Fires in The Santa Cruz Mountains

16 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the early morning hours of August 16, 2020, 12,000 lightning strikes exploded across northern California, igniting more than 585 wildfires. In the ...

170—Route 66—The Mother Road

27 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

John Steinbeck called it the “Mother Road.” Songwriter Bobby Troup described it as the route to get your kicks on. And Mickey Mantle said, “If i...

169—Cry Me A River

13 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we’re thinking about Pack Creek Ranch in southern Utah and an incredible archive of material, gathered by river guide and environmental activi...

169-Gert McMullin—Sewing on the Frontline—From the AIDS Quilt to COVID-19 PPE

22 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1985, Gert McMullin was one of the first San Franciscans to put a stitch on the AIDS Quilt, the quilt that began with one memorial square in honor ...

168-Soul to Soul at 50 — A Homecoming Festival in Ghana for African American Artists, 1971

08 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Fifty years ago, a group of some of the top musicians from the United States — Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers, Santana and ...

166—Danni Washington and The Genius Generation

25 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We’re excited about The Genius Generation, a new podcast hosted by Danni Washington, and we want you to get in on it. The Genius Generation — inn...

166-Dave Brubeck & The Ambassadors of Jazz

11 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

“A blue note in a minor key—America has its secret sonic weapon—Jazz.” That was the headline in 1955 when the United States sent its top musi...

165—Spotlight on Black-Owned Pet Business Entrepreneurs

27 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Lured in by a blackboard sign on the street in Davia’s neighborhood announcing “Spotlight on Black Entrepreneurs,” we enter the creative and gro...

164 - Francis Coppola and North Beach Citizens—A Neighborhood Vision

13 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Francis Ford Coppola talks about homelessness, life, friendship, neighborhood history, and his ideas about the future as he tells the remarkable story...

163—Tales from Vietnamese Nail Shops in America

23 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The women who were murdered in Atlanta were Korean, not Vietnamese. They were doing massage, not manicures. But they faced the hate and violence that ...

162—The Osaka Ramones: The All-Girl Punk Band - Shonen Knife

09 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The impact of Shonen Knife, the 1980s all-girl punk band from Osaka—a story of cultural exchange through the cassette tape. Shonen Knife, the three...

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

24 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It’s February 23, 2021— and we’ve just received word that our dear friend and North Beach neighbor, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, has passed on at age...

160—Can Do: Black Visionaries, Seekers, and Entrepreneurs-with Host Alfre Woodard

23 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Stories of Black pioneers, seekers and entrepreneurs — self-made men and self-taught women, neighborhood heroes and visionaries. People who said "ye...

159 — Nomadland with Frances McDormand

09 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes you read a book and it alters the course of your life. That’s what happened to Frances McDormand. Twice. First it was Olive Kitteridge, th...

158 — A Plea for Peace: Leonard Bernstein, Richard Nixon, and the Music of the 1973 Inauguration

26 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Music and poetry were powerful headliners at the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris signaling change and new beginnings. This was not the fir...

157 — Chido Govera—The Mushroom Queen of Zimbabwe

12 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A mushroom farmer, food activist, business entrepreneur, foster mother to more than a dozen girls—Chido Govera is a kitchen visionary in Zimbabwe—...

156 — The Amish Pandemic Sewing Frolic

22 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It was Friday, April 10th, 2020. The pandemic was really starting to roar. PPE was scarce and the supply chains were already breaking down. Every hosp...

155 - Frances McDormand in Nomadland

08 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Frances McDormand talks about her extraordinary new film—Nomadland directed by Chloe Zhao, based on the nonfiction book Nomadland: Surviving in the ...

154 — Hunting & Gathering with Angelo Garro

24 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With all of us thinking of home and family and of all the things we love and miss, we thought we’d spend some time with Angelo Garro – a Sicilian ...

153 — The Vietnam Tapes of Lance Corporal Michael A. Baronowski

10 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 1966, a young Marine took a reel-to-reel tape recorder with him into the Vietnam War. For two months, Michael A. Baronowski made tapes of his life ...

152 — Winona LaDuke—First Born Daughter

27 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

For Winona LaDuke the best part of running for Vice President in 1996 and 2000 on the Green Party ticket with Ralph Nadar was meeting so many people w...

151 - Pearl Jam: It's a Rock Band, Not The Smithsonian

13 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes we find the story, sometimes the story finds us. Such is the case with this tale of two Keepers from the Pacific Northwest, the official/un...

150 — Floating City - The Mirabeau Water Garden, New Orleans

22 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We go to New Orleans for a kind of biblical reckoning. A story of science and prayer, with a cast of improbable partners—environmental architects an...

149 - The Sonic Memorial—Remembering 9/11 with host Paul Auster

08 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Peabody Award winning Sonic Memorial Project, an intimate and historic documentary commemorating the life and history of the World Trade Center an...

148 - Youth on Fire—The International Congress of Youth Voices

25 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Picture this: 131 young people, 13 to 26 years old, from 37 countries—youth activists from around the globe— students, writers, poets, marchers, c...

147 - Kamal Mouzawak—A Lebanese Kitchen Vision

11 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On Tuesday August 4th, a massive explosion devastated Beirut, shattering the port and the heart of the city. Over 150 people have lost their lives, so...

146 — French Manicure—Tales from Vietnamese Shops in America

28 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In honor of the many people who work in nail salons across the country who are struggling to keep their businesses from going under during these long ...

145 - Louis Jones, Field Archivist, Detroit

14 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Louis Jones, Field Archivist, is a Keeper. For 27 years he has worked building and caring for the largest labor archive in North America—the Reuth...

144 - 95,000 Names—Gert McMullin, Sewing the Frontline

19 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 1985, Gert McMullin was one of the first San Franciscans to put a stitch on the AIDS Quilt, the quilt that began with one memorial square in honor ...

143 - The McDonogh Three—First Day of School

09 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

November 14, 1960, New Orleans. Three six-year-old girls, flanked by Federal Marshals, walked through screaming crowds and policemen on horseback as t...

142—From King Henry the VIII to the Rolling Stones on Eel Pie Island

26 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Eel Pie Island, a tiny bit of land in the River Thames has a flamboyant history involving King Henry VIII, Charles Dickens, The Rolling Stones, Pete T...

141—Pati Jinich's Mexican Jewish Table

12 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

An intimate, inspiring, hopeful conversation with Mexican chef and cookbook author, Pati Jinich, host of the James Beard Award winning PBS series Pati...

140 -The Climate Underground with Al Gore and Alice Waters

17 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Al Gore is back and he’s got a new slide show. Better take heed. Last October the former Vice President, Nobel Prize-winner and Academy Award-winner...

139 - Waiting for Joe DiMaggio

14 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

April 1993: A small village in Sicily prepares for the first visit of 78-year-old baseball legend Joe DiMaggio to the town where his parents were born...

138 - The Keepers - Archive Fever, with host Frances McDormand

24 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Keepers, from The Kitchen Sisters and PRX with host, Academy Award-winning actress Frances McDormand. Stories of activist archivists, rogue librar...

137- The Keepers - Archiving the Underground, with Host Frances McDormand

10 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Keepers, from The Kitchen Sisters and PRX with host, Academy Award-winning actress, Frances McDormand. Stories of activist archivists, rogue libra...

136 - The Lou Reed Archive with Laurie Anderson

25 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Lou Reed—music icon, poet, photographer, Tai Chi master, vital force in the cultural life and underworld of New York City. Lou died in 2013 and left...

135 - Deep Fried Fuel - A Biodiesel Kitchen Vision - Celebrating Over the Road

11 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In celebration of truckers everywhere and of Radiotopia’s new show Over the Road, The Kitchen Sisters visit some of their favorite Texas pitstops. F...

133 - WHER - 1000 Beautiful Watts, The First All-Girl Radio Station in the Nation

28 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When Sam Phillips sold Elvis’ contract in 1955 he used the money to start an all-girl radio station in Memphis, TN. Set in a pink, plush studio in t...

133 - Theaster Gates — Keeping the South Side

14 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Archive House, The Listening House, The Stony Island Arts Bank, The Dorchester Projects. Theaster Gates is a keeper of Greater Grand Crossing, his...

132 - The Pancake Years

24 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

For five years Davia’s father, Lenny Nelson, asked her to go to Rattlesden, England, to visit the Air Force base where he was stationed during W...

131 - Night of the Living Intern: First Stories from Kitchen Sisters Interns

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Since we started our intern and mentoring program in 2000, over 100 young people, ranging from age 15 to 35, have come through our doors at Kitchen Si...

130 - Lipstick Traces — Dreaming in Public

05 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

They say the average woman dies with a pound of lipstick in her stomach. “I have a feeling when I go they’ll find five,” says Davia Nelson of Th...

129 - Martin Scorsese — Try Anything

26 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

An onstage conversation with this master filmmaker about his extraordinary documentary work. Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Alice Doesn’t Li...

128 - First Day of School—1960, New Orleans

12 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

November 14, 1960 — Four six-year-old girls, flanked by Federal Marshals, walked through screaming crowds and policemen on horseback as they approac...

127 - Robert Krulwich—Talking Story, The First Third Coast

22 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Award winning producer Robert Krulwich talks about storytelling techniques and his early career in radio and television as part of Talking Story, a pa...

126 - Lawrence Weschler—Archivist of the Odd, the Marvelous, the Passionate and Slightly Askew

08 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As part of The Keepers, The Kitchen Sisters series about activist archivists, rogue librarians and keepers of the truth and the free flow of informati...

125 - The Passion of Chris Strachwitz—Arhoolie Records

24 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Strachwitz is a man possessed. “El Fanatico,” Ry Cooder calls him. A song catcher, dedicated to recording the traditional, regional, down h...

124 - The Brothers Burns — A Conversation with Filmmakers Ken & Ric Burns

10 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

PBS is going to be juiced this year with two remarkable projects from The Brothers Burns — Ken and Ric. The Kitchen Sisters Present an onstage conve...

123- San Francisco—Stories from the Model City, Part Three

27 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In the late 1930s, during the depths of the Depression, 300 craftspeople came together for two years to build an enormous scale model of the City of S...

122 - Burning Man — Archiving the Ephemeral

21 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

"Hello Kitchen Sisters, I am a rogue archivist, the archivist for Burning Man.  Come to Burning Man headquarters and I’ll show you the collection. ...

121 - San Francisco—Stories from the Model City, Part Two

13 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In the late 1930s, during the depths of the Depression, 300 craftspeople came together for two years to build an enormous scale model of the City of S...

120 - San Francisco—Stories from the Model City, Part One

23 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In the late 1930s, during the depths of the Depression, 300 craftspeople came together for two years to build an enormous scale model of the City of S...

119 - Nancy Pearl—Librarian Action Figure

08 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Nancy Pearl—she’s been called “one of the 10 coolest librarians alive.” She’s the bestselling author of “Book Lust: Recommended Reading fo...

118 - The Nation's 10th Keeper—David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States

25 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

“From the very beginning the intent was that the American people needed to be able to access the records so that we would be able to hold the govern...

117 - Dieter Kosslick’s Last Red Carpet Ride

11 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Dieter Koslick is is one of the film world’s most gregarious, hilarious and controversial Film Festival Directors. He’s put his stamp on the legen...

The Bob Dylan Archive - A Curveball Comes To Tulsa

28 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

It may come as no surprise but Bob Dylan is a Keeper. Bob and his team have been archiving his music, notebooks, paintings and journey for some five d...

115 - You Too Can Barbecue - Stubb's Blues Cookbook Cassette & More

13 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In celebration of National Barbecue Month, which is every month in our book, stories from C.B. “Stubb” Stubblefield and his Blues Cookbook Cassett...

114 - Chamelecon—Below the Border in Honduras with Scott Carrier

22 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

On the gang-ridden streets of Chamelecon in Honduras, artists are protected and respected — exempt from the ongoing war that is driving families to ...

113 - Filmmaker Agnés Varda — A Conversation

08 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Today we honor pioneering filmmaker Agnés Varda, part of the French New Wave of the 1960s, who died on March 29, 2019 at home at age 90. Varda broke...

112 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Celebrating 100 years

26 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the famed poet of North Beach, San Francisco, creator of City Lights Bookstore, publisher of the beat poets of the 1950s and 60...

111 - Palaces for the People—Author Eric Klinenberg from The Librarian Is In

11 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As part of our series, The Keepers, The Kitchen Sisters Present an episode of the New York Public Library’s podcast The Librarian Is In featuring Er...

110 - Filmmaker Wim Wenders - The Entire Caboodle

21 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Filmmaker Wim Wenders talks about his early influences — Cinémathèque Française, Henri Langlois, Lotte Eisner — and tells stories of Werner Her...

109 - Linda Spalding - A Reckoning

11 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Best selling author Linda Spalding is a keeper. A keeper of her family history, a keeper of words, a keeper of truth. In this episode of The Kitchen S...

108 - The Dark Side of the Dewey Decimal System

22 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Melvil Dewey, the father of library science and the inventor of the most popular library classification system in the world, was a known racist and se...

107 - William Ferris—Keeper of Southern Folklife

08 Jan 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Folklorist and Professor Bill Ferris, a Grammy nominee this year for his "Voices of Mississippi" 3 CD Box set, has committed his life to documenting a...

106 - 21 Collections—Every Object has a Story

11 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Paper airplanes, photographs of men in rows, birds nests, gay bar matchbooks, dolls hats —an untraditional take on what warrants our attention. As ...

Bonus Episode - The Free-Range Archivist: Jason Scott

04 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We've got something extra for you today as part of the Radiotopia fundraiser that is happening now. You can join the Radiotopia community and support ...

105 - The Keepers: The Unrelenting Oral Histories of Eddie McCoy

27 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

After a devastating car accident that made his work as a janitor impossible, civil rights activist Eddie McCoy, picked up a scavenged tape recorder an...

104 - The Keepers: Emily Dickinson's Hidden Kitchen

13 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Deep in the hidden archives of Harvard’s Houghton Library are the butter stained recipes of Emily Dickinson. Who knew? Emily Dickinson was better k...

103 - The Keepers: The Lenny Bruce Collection

23 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most controversial, outspoken men of the last century, comedian Lenny Bruce spent much of his life in court defending his freedom of speech...

102 - Archive Fever: Henri Langlois and the Cinémathèque Française

09 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Keepers: people possessed with a passion for preservation, individuals afflicted with a bad case of Archive Fever. The Keepers continues with the stor...

The Pack Horse Librarians of Eastern Kentucky

24 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

During the Depression, those horrible years after 1929, the Appalachians were hit hard. Coal mines were being shut down. Many people were living in di...

100 - The Keepers: Archiving the Underground—The Hip Hop Archive

05 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This is the first episode in our new series THE KEEPERS—stories of activist archivists, rogue librarians, curators, collectors and historians—Keep...

99 - Lovers of Lost Fans

28 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 2000 we received a call to the NPR Lost & Found Sound Hotline from Willard Mayes, a member of the Antique Fan Collectors Association, who was c...

98 - Lost & Found Sound and Voices of The Dust Bowl

14 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Fish mongers recorded on the streets of Harlem in the 1930s. An 8-year-old girl’s impromptu news cast made on a toy recorder in a San Diego store. L...

97 - Pan American Blues: The Birth of The Grand Ole Opry & "Harmonica Wizard" Deford Bailey

23 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The story of the birth of the Grand Ole Opry on radio station WSM in Nashville, TN and the story of “Harmonica Wizard” DeFord Bailey, the Opry’s...

96 - Cry Me a River — Keepers of the Environment

09 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The dramatic stories of three pioneering “Keepers” and environmental activists—Ken Sleight, Katie Lee, and Mark Dubois and the damming of wild r...

95 - Give Space A Chance: Gastrodiplomacy in Orbit

25 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Russians preparing dinner for Americans in space? Sounds good to us. There’s been a lot of jabber these days about creating a “Space Force,” a ...

94 - Tequila Chamber of Commerce & The Birth of the Frozen Margarita

12 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Agave Goddess with 200 breasts; jimadors stripping lethal thorny leaves off agaves; farmers battling cambio climatico (climate change); distill...

93 - Prince and the Technician

22 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 1983 Prince hired LA sound technician, Susan Rogers, one of the few women in the industry, to move to Minneapolis and help upgrade his home recordi...

92 - The Working Tapes of Studs Terkel

07 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 1970’s, radio producer and author Studs Terkel wrote a book called Working. He went around the country with a reel-to-reel tape recor...

91 - Mimi Chakarova: Love, Art and Anger

23 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Mimi Chakarova is a Bulgarian-American filmmaker, photographer, journalism professor, activist, immigrant and single mother. Her documentary “Men a ...

90 - Jorge Amado: The Ballad of Bahia

09 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Jorge Amado, the beloved Brazilian author of Gabriella, Clove and Cinnamon, Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Tent of Miracles – wrote over 30 books i...

89 - Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti — Celebrating 99 Years

27 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In honor of poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti's 99th birthday we celebrate with River’s of Memory, produced by Jim McKee of Earwax Productions. Over the la...

88 - Frances McDormand Hosts Hidden Kitchens

12 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Two-time Academy Award winning actress Frances McDormand hosts Hidden Kitchens—secret, underground, below the radar cooking—how communities come t...

87—Guillermo Cabrera Infante: Memories of an Invented City

27 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A sound portrait of Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante, a one-time leader in the Cuban cultural revolution who fell from favor and went into exile...

86 - The Mardi Gras Indians—Stories from New Orleans

13 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Jelly Roll Morton talks of being a “Spy Boy” in the Mardi Gras Indian parades of his youth. Bo Dollis, of the Wild Magnolias, tells of sewing his ...

House of Night - The Lost Creation Songs of the Mojave People

19 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The story of an aging pile of forgotten reel-to-reel tapes discovered on the shelf of a tribal elder on the Fort Mojave Reservation. Recorded by an am...