Ken Horowitz collection of electronic gaming oral histories

Collection — Container: digital

Identifier: 124.5253

Collection Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of oral history interviews and transcripts, conducted by Dr. Ken Horowitz, video game scholar and author. Dr. Horowitz interviewed video game and pinball industry professionals, designers, programmers, producers, artists, managers, composers, and, executives, and others at Sega, Nintendo, Tonka, Capcom, Broderbund, Stern Pinball, Williams Electronics, and many more. The content was created as source material for the Sega-16 website and Horowitz's publications about electronic games.

The digital collection has been arranged into two series and can be accessed on-site.

Dates

Creation: 2006-2023

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research use by staff of The Strong and users of its library and archives. The oral history recordings are accessible to on-site researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

Though the donor has not transferred intellectual property rights (including but not limited to any copyright, trademark, and associated rights therein) to The Strong, they have given permission for The Strong to make copies in all media for museum, educational, and research purposes.

Historical Note

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Dr. Ken Horowitz is an author and video game historian. He also teaches college level English and video game studies courses. Horowitz is the author of From Pinballs to Pixels: An Arcade History of Williams-Bally-Midway,Beyond Donkey Kong: A History of Nintendo Arcade Games,The Sega Arcade Revolution: A History in 62 Games, andPlaying at the Next Level: A History of American Sega Games. Dr. Horowitz has published articles for academic journals and industry zines about the use of video games to teach English as a second language and the history of electronic games.

Horowitz is the Founder and editor-in-chief of the largest resource for Sega related materials on the internet, SEGA-16 which includes interviews, reviews, and features. The interviews Horowitz conducts with executives, designers, programmers, artists, and other people that worked on the Sega hardware and software are used as primary source materials for the Sega-16 website and his publications.

Extent

3.0 Gigabytes (digital files)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

This collection consists of oral history interviews with video game and pinball industry professionals conducted by Ken Horowitz, video game scholar and author. The audio recordings are dated from 2006 to 2023. The materials are comprised of digital audio recordings and transcripts.

System of Arrangement

Series I: Audio recordings, 2006-2023

Series II: Transcripts, 2006-2023

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was donated to The Strong in September 2024 as a gift of Ken Horowitz. The collection was accessioned by The Strong under object ID 124.5253. The digital files were transferred from Ken Horowitz to The Strong via USB drive.

Processed by

Stephanie Ball, January 2025.

Related Names

Subject

Sega Enterprises, Inc. (Organization)
Sega of America (Firm) (Organization)
Sharpe, Roger C. (Person)
Nintendo of America, Inc. (Organization)
Williams Electronics Games, Inc. (Organization)
Williams Electronics, Inc. (Organization)
Williams Manufacturing Co. (Organization)
Brøderbund Software, Inc. (Organization)
CAPCOM Co. (Organization)
Midway Games, Inc. (Organization)
Stern Pinball, Inc. (Organization)
Carlston, Doug (Person)
Dicker, Sam (Person)
Falstein, Noah (Person)

Subjects

Cultural context

Mortal Kombat (Video game series)

Topical

Record Groups

List 03. Archival Collections Related to Video and Other Electronic Games

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title: Guide to the Ken Horowitz Collection of Electronic Gaming Oral Histories, 2006-2023 —
Author: Stephanie Ball
Date: January 3, 2025
Description rules: Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description: Undetermined
Script of description: Code for undetermined script
Language of description note: English