Digital Transgender Archive’s podcast, 4-episode season released in 2025
What does it mean to tune in to the archives? How is trans kinship built across time and space? And how can revisiting these frequencies help us imagine new futures?
Kindred Transmissions is a podcast by the Digital Transgender Archive that tunes into the revolutionary voices of trans people from history. Through archival recordings, personal reflections, and conversations with contemporary trans artists, scholars, and activists, we trace the echoes of kinship across generations.
As the lead producer, I curated and engineered rare archival audio clips found in institutional collections and wrote four 15-20 minute narrative episodes, each based on a prominent figure in trans history. I led the creative directions and sound designed the season with original score by a composer.
From Stonewall icons like Marsha P Johnson to visionary artists and activists like Red Jordan Arobateau, Rupert Raj, and Aiyyana Maracle, each episode invites listeners to experience trans history not as distant or static—but as alive, resonant, and still transmitting through time.
Show credits
Kindred Transmissions is produced by Umi Hsu and Associate Producer Shei Yu, with episodes hosted by Jules Gill-Peterson. Edited by Evan Ibarra. Scripted by Umi Hsu and Shei Yu. Theme and episode music by Imogen Teasley-Vlautin. Graphic Design by Ariel Huang. Research by Rachael McIntosh.
Archival photos are from The Lesbian and Gay Center in New York City, ArQuives in Toronto, and University of Victoria, available through Digital Transgender Archive.
Full credits for each episode will be available on the episode pages.
Acknowledgments
This season of Kindred Transmissions is made possible by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources and support from Northeastern University. Voices featured throughout the season include Aiyyana Maracle, Daniela Valdes, Jimmy Camicia, Jules Gill-Peterson, Marsha P. Johnson, Randy Wicker, Red Jordan Arobateau, Rupert Raj, Sylvia Rivera, Syrus Marcus Ware, and Tourmaline.
Special thanks to the ArQuives in Toronto, Ash Nichols, Dan Pon, Devlyn Camp, the Digital Transgender Archive, Grunt Gallery, Jacob Alden Sargent, John Federick, Krissy Kristiania Clark, Lara Wilson, the L.O.V.E. Collective, Loni Shibuyama, Lou McCarthy, Mark Freeman, Marjorie Bryer, ONE Archives at the USC Libraries, Quincy Surasmith, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York, the University of Victoria, and UC Berkeley.
More
Kindred Transmissions Project Page
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Connect on Buzzsprout
Digital Transgender Archive