Every week on WGBH's The Rewind, we are exploring the public media archives, where history is preserved — online and in the WGBH vault.

This week we’re rewinding back to 2002 to learn about the science of fireworks from NOVA and Boston’s pyrotechnician Steve Pelkey of Atlas PyroVision in NH. Plus, we hear from Keith Lockhart, Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, about the importance of the fireworks for Boston's celebration.

Take your own adventure into the archives at openvault.wgbh.org

More material is available at the WGBH Archive. If you are interested in accessing the collection at WGBH, please email archive_requests@wgbh.org.