Introduction: American media-accessibility pioneers in the 1970s and 1980s not only sparked interest in the academic study of audio description, they also originated many practical techniques, protocols, theoretical perspectives, guidelines, and standards that persist in the fabric of this type of work decades later. In this study, we located and analyzed source documents for two oft-mentioned innovators—Gregory Frazier and Margaret Pfanstiehl—to shine light on their individual perspectives through a historiography of their foundational writings and associated media. Method: This analysis was conducted on publicly available source documents, such as Frazier’s landmark thesis and also included a trove of Pfanstiehl’s personal correspondence, as a way to establish particular points of theoretical and historical interest. Results: We found that despite the prominent place of Frazier and Pfanstiehl in audio description lore, neither actually published much writing about what they did and why they did it. Some of what they wrote has been selectively repeated, but other parts have been forgotten. In that respect, this research method could be used to more precisely trace and identify where particular practices emerged, under which theoretical perspectives, and complications. It also can help to show how these ideas were documented and tested during their emergence and domestication, as a way to gauge procedural rigor as well as validity of related findings. Discussion: Audio description scholarship needs theoretical anchors, but it also needs systematic testing of assumptions inherent in those theoretics, which this study helps to identify. Implications for Practitioners: Audio describers invariably will encounter the moment when an assertion of “this is the way we do it” collides with the curiosity of “why?” To promote best practices, the field has to understand where practices came from, how they developed, and as Frazier recommended, put those ideas to “objective” tests.

简介： 1970 年代和 1980 年代的美国媒体可访问性先驱不仅激发了对音频描述的学术研究的兴趣，他们还开创了许多实用技术、协议、理论观点、指导方针和标准，这些技术、协议、理论观点、指导方针和标准在这类工作的结构中仍然存在几十年后。在这项研究中，我们查找并分析了两位经常被提及的创新者——Gregory Frazier 和 Margaret Pfanstiehl——的源文件，以通过对他们的基础著作和相关媒体的历史编纂来阐明他们的个人观点。方法：这项分析是对公开的源文件进行的，例如弗雷泽的标志性论文，还包括普凡斯蒂尔的大量私人信件，作为建立理论和历史兴趣点的一种方式。结果：我们发现，尽管 Frazier 和 Pfanstiehl 在音频描述知识中占有突出地位，但他们实际上都没有发表过多关于他们所做的事情以及他们为什么这样做的文章。他们写的一些内容被选择性地重复了，但其他部分被遗忘了。在这方面，这种研究方法可以用来更精确地追踪和确定特定实践出现的地方、理论观点和复杂性。它还可以帮助展示这些想法在它们的出现和驯化过程中是如何被记录和测试的，作为衡量程序严谨性以及相关发现的有效性的一种方式。讨论：音频描述奖学金需要理论锚点，但也需要对这些理论中固有的假设进行系统测试，本研究有助于识别这些假设。对从业者的启示：音频描述者总是会遇到“这就是我们这样做”的断言与“为什么？”的好奇心相冲突的时刻。为了推广最佳实践，该领域必须了解实践的来源、发展方式，并按照弗雷泽的建议，将这些想法进行“客观”测试。