Starting in 1979 and continuing for 33 years, she meticulously recorded television broadcasts around the clock, amassing a staggering collection of 70,000 VHS tapes containing over 400,000 hours of footage.
Stokes' motivation stemmed from a deep distrust of mainstream media and a belief in the importance of preserving unfiltered information. She lived through a time of significant social and political change, and she recognized that television news played a powerful role in shaping public opinion. By capturing this footage, she sought to create a resource that would allow people to critically examine how events were portrayed and to form their own conclusions.
Stokes' archive is remarkable for its comprehensiveness. She recorded not only major news events but also everyday programming, capturing the cultural and social trends of the time. This makes her collection an invaluable resource for researchers, historians, and anyone interested in understanding the evolution of television and its impact on society.
After her death in 2012, Stokes' collection was donated to the Internet Archive, which is currently working to digitize the tapes and make them available online. This massive undertaking will ensure that Stokes' legacy of preserving history is accessible to all.