Chicago Website with Soap Opera Archive

Normally, I don't write about websites, but I was surfing and stumbled upon the site for the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Currently, the museum is closed and scheduled to be reopened in Spring 2011. This entry will mainly focus on their soap opera information.

The museum is located in Chicago, aka the place where soaps were born. I had heard about this museum more than a decade ago, but I had no idea they had a web presence. All I was looking for were television memories and I located this site. For Halloween they had special episodes of various prime time series Horror in the Air. They have a television history ticker and some other interesting features like 10 minute t.v., which culls clips of performers in lost programs. Also I must say it is amusing that now they even have a letter from Betty White promoting the re-opening of the museum and asking for donations. She is truly everywhere.

The site has archives of soap opera episodes from both television and radio that one can enjoy if you create an account with them. They aren't youtube with hundreds of episodes, but they have samples of different series. If you give an email address and password you can watch some old soaps. They have black and white episodes of a good number of soap opera episodes from the 1950s. You'll find more shows on youtube, but these look to be in good clear resolution. They have at least one episode of each of the following shows: All My Children, As the World Turns, The Bennetts (a 50s soap from Chicago), The Bold & The Beautiful (from 1990), Dark Shadows, Days of our Lives, General Hospital, Guiding Light (plus a radio episode all from before 1960), Hawkins Falls (another 50s soap), Love of Life (from the 50s), One Man's Family (from the 50s), Peyton Place, Portia Faces Life (aka the soap with Frances Reid aka Alice Horton from Days), Search for Tomorrow (from the 50s), The Secret Storm (episodes between 1950-1960), and The Young & the Restless (one 70s and one 80s episode).

The most staggering item on their site was a link to purchase their The Encyclopedia of Television Second Edition from 2004. The price on their website is $675 for 4 volumes, which is 2800 pages. Checking Amazon.com the list price is $680 and they sell the tomes for $544. I collect television books and when I saw this I was stunned. I can't even imagine the amount of time and effort that went into making such an encyclopedia.

What is great is if one doesn't have the money they can read the first edition (from 1997) on their website, free of charge. It may not be as up to date, but for a basic history of the evolution of soap operas it is a great place to start. Here is a link to that entry. It is about a 20 page document on the history of the genre that is an interesting read in a scholarly sort of way.

Unfortunately they do not have commentary on the various major soaps that have been on the air, but over 7,000 words covers a lot of ground. The first edition also has entries about soap opera creators (like Irna Phillips and Agnes Nixon), Dallas and Dark Shadows.

If someone has the time and wants to read more about soaps, television or radio in general, check out the Museum of Broadcast Communications.