Interview with Jodi Koste
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Interviewees
Koste, Jodi
Accessibility Note
Content is digitally accessible 2026.
Interviewer
Edwards, Ana
Producer
Sunshine, Daniel; Unverzagt Goddard, Maggie
Description
This interview was conducted as part of the East Marshall Street Well Project. Ana Edwards, a public historian and teaching professor, interviewed Jodi Koste, who recently retired from VCU as the University Archivist. In this interview, Ms. Koste discussed her memory of the discovery of the East Marshall Street Well in 1994, her role in advising VCU administrators about the institution's history, and her vision for how the East Marshall Street Well Project can be memorialized and taught at VCU.
In this interview, Ms. Koste sat with Ana Edwards to discuss her experience with the East Marshall Street Well Project. Ms. Koste is one of the only people affiliated with the EMSW Project who was actually present during the discovery of the well in 1994. She reflected on the creation of the East Marshall Street Well Project in 2013, and the formation of the Family Representative Council. Ms. Koste also recounted providing historical context for the Cold War-era atomic radiation program and the Confederate memorial removal process. The interview concludes with a conversation about what a successful endpoint for the East Marshall Street Well Project would look like, as well how VCU’s attitude towards its institutional history has shifted over the decades.
Biographical Note
Ana Edwards is a public historian and community activist. Currently, she is a teaching professor in VCU's Department of African American Studies. Most of her work centers on preserving the history and public spaces associated with Gabriel and the African Burial Ground in Shockoe Bottom.
Jodi Koste was an archivist at Virginia Commonwealth University for forty-five years. She joined VCU Libraries in 1978, and in 2013 became the first formally appointed University Archivist. She retired from that post in 2023. In addition to her daily responsibilities as an archivist, Ms. Koste was frequently called upon to provide knowledge of institutional history for university officials, medical staff, students, and community members.
Note
This interview description and biographical information was written by Daniel Sunshine.
Redaction information: Redacted sensitive comments.
Corporate Name Subject
Hampden-Sydney College. Medical Department--Corrupt practices; Virginia Commonwealth University--Corrupt practices
Topical Subject
Reparations for historical injustices; Human remains (Archaeology)--Repatriation; African American cemeteries--Desecration; Body snatching; History--Virginia--Richmond; Medical colleges--Corrupt practices; Universities and colleges--Corrupt practices; Racism in medicine; Racism against Black people; Public history; Community organization; Universities and colleges--Archives; Monuments
Place of Interview
Virginia Commonwealth University, The Workshop
City/Location
Richmond (Va.)
Genre
oral histories (literary genre)
Local Genre
oral history; sound recording; text
Type
Sound; Text
Digital Format
audio/mp3
Language
eng
Rights Statement URL
Rights
This material is protected by copyright, and copyright is held by Jodi Koste. You are permitted to use this material in any way that is permitted by copyright. In addition, this material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Acknowledgment of Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is required.
Collection
East Marshall Street Well Oral History Project
Contributors
Virginia Commonwealth University
Source
"Interview with Jodi Koste," East Marshall Street Well Oral History Project, M 573, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University.
File Name
emswoh_kostejodi_interview.mp3
Disciplines
African American Studies | Digital Humanities | History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Oral History | Social History | United States History