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activism, Betamax, Category_Collecting, Category_Groovy Stuff, Category_VHS, Category_Weirdness, home recording, home video, Marion Stokes, Marion Stokes Project, RECORDER, taped from television, taped from TV VHS, VHS, VHS History, VHS tapes -

Tonight, June 15th 2020 at 10PM marks the online premiere of what is likely the most fascinating and historically significant document of videotape culture ever recorded. Sound bold? Consider this: In 1979, alarmed by the amount of misinformation that television was consistently spewing forth, a Philadelphia-based activist named Marion Stokes began taping TV news programs 24 hours a day, and did so for over 30 years. At her passing in 2012, Stokes’ massive collection totaled to over 70,000 tapes, capturing everything from catastrophes to commercials, resulting in a videotaped time capsule of what television looked and sounded like for over...

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