February 1998 - Volume 4, No. 2
Audio Preservation Update
by David Seubert
The Mills Music Library Audio Preservation Studio is nearly complete and work has begun on several important projects. As reported in the September 1996 Jongleur, the studio was funded through an Instructional Technology Grant written by professor of folklore James Leary. The studio has three primary goals: to provide audio support for the folklore program, to provide access to the library's archival collections, and to make preservation masters of deteriorating items in the collections.
The studio's professional quality equipment can be used to play nearly all sound formats, including all types of analog discs (up to 16 inches in diameter), compact discs, cassettes, open reel tapes and digital audio tapes (DAT). The studio finally gives patrons access to the 100,000 recordings in the collections of the Music Library and the Wisconsin Music Archives that are in obsolete formats. Already, staff have provided music for Wisconsin Sesquicentennial related productions, including two that have aired on WHA-TV as part of their series of "Sesquicentennial Minutes."
Library staff is also using the studio to make digital preservation masters of items in the collections that are fragile or have been deteriorating. Like books that have become brittle and need microfilming, many audio formats are unstable and need to be transferred to more stable media. Slated for early treatment are historic 1940s recordings of the Pro Arte Quartet, the folk music recordings done by Helen Stratman-Thomas, and the concert recordings from the Festival of Women's Music organized by composer Katherine Hoover, a groundbreaking series of concerts from 1978-81 showcasing the works of women composers.
The last phase of the project is to outfit the studio with a computer for digital sound editing. People interested in the preservation program or the archival collections at the Mills Music Library and Wisconsin Music Archives should contact librarians Geri Laudati or Steve Sundell.