The Music Library acquired two outstanding collections of 78 rpm recordings during the second half of 2002. Over the summer, UW-Milwaukee Professor Victor Greene donated his collection of 1800 ethnic music recordings to the library. The recordings helped support the writing of his book, A Passion for Polka: Old-Time Ethnic Music in America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992). Greene's collection embraces the music of many ethnic groups and adds to the strength of the library's significant holdings of ethnic music.
When Milwaukee radio personality Jack Baker died last year, he left behind a fabulous collection of over 5000 early jazz and dance band recordings. The Music Library was able to purchase a number of the particularly rare and valuable recordings, and Baker's wife, Audrey, donated the remainder of the collection to the library. While the collection covers all the important jazz figures from the 1920s through the '40s, its special focus is Louis Armstrong (over 250 records) and trombone player Jack Teagarden.
Baker got his start in radio in the 1940s in Milwaukee, worked in Madison in the 1950s, and returned to Milwaukee in 1957 where he was heard on stations WEMP and WTMJ. His popular "Sunday Soundstage" show of the 1980s featured jazz and dance music of the '20s - '40s. Baker also served as the announcer for the annual Bunny Berigan jazz festival in Fox Lake for many years