AWA Shares

AWA Hosts Monthly Zoom Meetings
Each month, there will be a one hour well researched presentation by an expert in their field followed by a short question and answer period from the attendees. AWA Webinar Wednesdays on Zoom will be held the third Wednesday of the month with a refreshing new topic with each meeting. You do not need to be an AWA member and the meetings are FREE!
Next AWA Share Event
AWA Shares Presents: “Book Preservation” with Jim Reilly
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: June 21, 2023, 08:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwtdOiprjgtGt3g6fS9R6gFUXpGZgeDZJmE
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

James M. Reilly, B.A., M.A., founded and directed the Image Permanence Institute at Rochester Institute of Technology for 32 years until his retirement in 2017. He and his staff have been responsible for many advances in preservation of photographs and library and archives materials in general. He is the author of two books on 19th-century photography and numerous technical publications. He has been honored for his work by the Society for Imaging Science and Technology, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the American Library Association, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and the American Institute for Conservation. He has lectured and consulted with museums, libraries and archives all over the world.


AWA member James Reilly will present an overview of the issues involved with caring for collections of antique radios and communications equipment. Many AWA members have personal collections to preserve but also are interested in how the AWA and other institutions take care of their holdings. Preservation (as opposed to restoration) is concerned with prevention of decay. The talk will start from very general preservation policy basics, then explain that preventing decay in practice involves understanding what materials are present, what goes wrong with those materials, and what environmental forces and human actions can influence the rate of decay. Storage conditions play a pivotal role in mitigating all such damage. The talk will present examples of environment-related deterioration such as warping of tenite grilles (chemical change), metal corrosion (rusting chassis parts, capacitor failures), mold growth (on everything) and mechanical damage (cracking of wood). Beyond these material issues, survival of collections beyond the lifetime of the collector (or the lifetime of the collector’s fascination with them) often depends on the collector’s willingness to engage with institutions like the AWA Museum to understand their mission, policies and resources. Planning for the generation of stewardship that comes after the original collector is a vital part of preserving any type of collection.
Future Events
Below is a listing of the AWA Shares events. These are frequently posted to the AWA YouTube channel a few days after presentation. A playlist of AWA Shares sessions is available.
DAY | PRESENTER | TITLE |
6/21/2023 | James Reilly | Preserving Antique Radio Collections |
7/19/2023 | Jim Porter | NASA |
8/16/2023 | Ed Gable | History of Car Radios |
Recent Event Examples
AWA Shares – The History of Single Sideband
Join us for the inaugural presentation of AWA Shares entitled “The Development of Single Sideband” by renowned expert Ed Gable K2MP, AWA Curator Emeritus. The first session was Wednesday night, August 18, 2021, at 8 pm Eastern time. See registration info below.
Here is Ed Gable’s Single Sideband presentation:
AWA Shares – Early Digital Communications
This AWA Shares video reviews the very beginnings of digital communications.