Access is available on and off campus to current McMaster University students, faculty and staff.
The Listener was a weekly magazine running 1929-1991. Developed as the medium for reproducing broadcast talks--initially on radio, but in later years television as well--the Listener is one of the few records and means of accessing the content of many early broadcasts. In addition to commenting expanding on the intellectual broadcasts of the week, the Listener also previewed major literary and musical shows and regularly reviewed new books. Over its 62-year history, The Listener attracted the contributions of literary icons such as E. M. Forster, George Orwell, Bertrand Russell, George Bernard Shaw, and Virginia Woolf. It also provided an important platform for new writers and poets, with W. H. Auden, Sylvia Plath, and Philip Larkin being notable examples. The complete archive of this landmark publication is an essential witness to the intellectual and cultural history of the twentieth century, and also to the golden years of radio and television.
