AMHERST — Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and his partners are auctioning a non-fungible token, or NFT, Thursday.
The money goes to the UMass Amherst Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy and the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
An NFT is a unique digital cryptocurrency asset recorded in a blockchain digital ledger.
This one was created around Ellsberg and his work exposing the secret analysis of the Vietnam War from the U.S. Department of Defense.
“It has images of all the Pentagon Papers fluttering in the background,” said Christian G. Appy, a UMass Amherst history professor. “It has the iconic images of Ellsberg turning himself in at the Federal Courthouse in Boston, June 30, 1971.”
At the time, Ellsberg told reporters: “Wouldn’t you go to prison to help end this war?”
The audio is included in the NFT.
“It’s a big moment when you hear him say that in his own voice,” Appy said.
Appy is working on a book about Daniel Ellsberg based largely on his papers, acquired in April 2021 by Special Collections & University Archives at the W.E.B. Du Bois Library.
The records — roughly 500 boxes — are still being processed with a full-time archivist assigned to the task.
In 2021, Appy taught a class for advanced undergraduates and graduate students giving students a chance to talk via Zoom with Ellsberg, now 91 years old, and to dive deep into the archives.
That class led to a two-day seminar and to the UMass Amherst Ellsberg Initiative for Peace.
Appy said...
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