The University of Illinois Experimental Music Studio recordings have been successfully moved to the The Sousa Archives and Center For American Music. Project complete!

Here’s the final report for this project (in PDF format):

Luftig, David M._An_Evaluation_of_the_University_of_Illinois_Experimental_Music_Studio’s_Tape_Collection

This report can also be found on the University of Illinois institutional repository, IDEALS:

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/96140

On 12/9 the EMS magnetic tape collection will be moved over the the University of Illinois Sousa American Music Archives. This process has been a long time coming and I am proud to of played a role in seeing that this collection is preserved long-term.

I have cataloged everything in the collection which includes nearly seven hundred unique materials and thousands of individual compositions. I have converted this info into an Access database and have been using SQL to analyze the data. I am in the process of creating a report/article that has my findings, some info regarding the history and role of the collection, and some preservation priorities within the collection. I will be depositing this document on the University of Illinois institutional repository, IDEALS.

As an archivist’s surprise, the very last item that I found and cataloged in the collection was a binder full of playbills and flyers from EMS performances (see above). This document is a fantastic legacy of the EMS and I will scan it before the collection is transferred.

Regarding the move, the Sousa will be receiving the following materials:

• All magnetic tape recordings
• Videocassette recordings
• The paper based materials that Eli deems fit to pass over to the archives, this includes paper ephemera (posters, playbills and flyers (these are all in one notebook), Scott’s W’s original catalog info, composition scores, anything else that I’m forgetting about.
• Scott Wyatt’s original wooden box containing the catalog cards for the collection.

The following materials will be retained by the EMS

• LPs, EPs (i.e. vinyl records)
• DATs
• Compact Discs
• All of the electronics, gear manuals, cables, and general needed stuff for the operation of the EMS.

There will be about twenty-five linear feet of materials being moved and around five hundred magnetic audio tapes.

I’m working my way through the EMS storage/archive to catalog the final materials (including unmarked tapes, DATs, videos, etc.). I met with Scott from the Sousa and he will be using my master database to serve as a guide to understanding what is moving into the Sousa Archives, what needs to be immediately addressed, and as a step forward to making the materials accessible. Additionally, I talked to Scott regarding my concerns about how materials may be significant to other institutions outside UIUC. It was fun showing Scott around the collection and pointing out some of the finds that I think are most significant. Scott seemed grateful for my work and I was happy to hear him explain how much my work was helping the Sousa Archive (and preserving this collection as a whole). The collection will be moved on 12/9. We approximated it will take twenty-four boxes (cubic foot) and some oversized boxes to house the collection.

Scott S. should be emailing Dr. Fieldsteel to verify the move but all of the papers are already in place for moving the collection to the Sousa (this was done by Scott W. before the arrival of Dr. Fieldsteel).

I talked to Scott S. regarding my conversation with Mrs. Dorothy Martirano who has located more materials to be potentially donated to the Sousa. Scott said he will contact her regarding these materials and also what we have found in the collection pertaining to Sal.

I emailed Scott W. regarding materials and scores that he authored that are in the collection. These materials will be donated to the Sousa unless Scott W. wants to reclaim them.

After the move of this collection, I will write a finding aid and a list of recommendations for the Sousa Archive. This is good form for an archivist and will serve as a good exit project for this Independent Study.

All is moving forward and soon this collection will have a long-term home!

The project has progressed nicely as the majority of the materials have now been cataloged. The database contains all of the information written on each tape case, the type of tape, and an assessment of the medium so as to be able to understand what materials are in the most need of immediate action.

I met with Scott of the Sousa Archives. The entire collection will be moved over the the archives on 12/9. At that point, Scott will decide on a preservation strategy. Scott will also decide which materials to deaccession.

Although I completely understand the space and resource constraints within the Sousa Archives, I am saddened to see that the collection will not be preserved as a whole. As mentioned in a previous post, I do believe there is value in maintaining this collection as a whole but I understand the real-world constraints inhibiting that. I do also lament the fact that we may of had a real opportunity to get this collection in the hands of its creators and originating institutions but reaching out to these other institutions and creators has been discouraged from within our archives. That said, I understand the desire for the music archives to exert as much control as possible over such a significant collection.

In the upcoming weeks, I’m going to clean up the database. I want to put a GUI behind the database so as to make it easy to search but Scott says he does not want such an interface. I’m going to build a finding aid and a report with some recommendations to pass over. I am not sure if they will be utilized but as someone who has worked with this collection over the past ten or so weeks, I do think that I have some valuable observations to share. I have also digitized a significant amount of materials pertaining to the original order of the collection which I will also pass over.

Overall, I am satisfied with this project. I do believe that I brought several departments together in an effort to preserve this material. I also believe that through the work I have done will aid in the preserving materials for the long-term. Additionally, I am still honored that I got to act as the temporary custodian of this collection during this transition time.

To Do (ASAP)

• Meet with  Scott Schwartz. I’ve emailed him twice and stopped by the Sousa during his office hours but haven’t had any luck. He’s busy but I will track him down this week.
• Digitize video content. Josh Harris has been out of town but he is supposed to be returning today. I will follow up on contacting him.
• Record the University of Oregon tape, ascribe the appropriate metadata (PBCore). Contact other schools that have tapes in the archive (SIU, MSU, etc.)

To finish up with:

• Finish cataloging all materials. Measure materials in footage for the finding aid.
• Take detailed pics of the room showing natural order of materials.
• Get materials ready for transition.

One of the goals over the next few weeks is to provide access to the materials for any parties that have a historical or cultural connection to those materials. This is important because once these materials enter the Sousa Archives, the processing and copyright verification will take a very long time and some materials will never get digitized. I fear that there is a narrow window to making sure that some of the institutions outside of the University of Illinois know about and have access to the historic materials created by their faculty (or in their studios).

For example, I contacted the University of Oregon about a tape that I found in the archive the reply I received demonstrated the importance of some of these tapes to other institutions.

In reply to my inquiry to the University of Oregon regarding a tape I found, a faculty member responded:

It seems to be student and faculty compositions from Don L. Hunter’s electronic music course. Mr. Hunter passed away last year at the age of 101! He started making sound recordings in the 1930s and I have been working to acquire and process his collection for the past few years.

He started the Audiovisual Department at UO in 1946 and made sound recordings documenting musical culture at University of Oregon, arts and culture in Lane County, railroads and industry in the Pacific Northwest, and the cultural and natural history of Oregon.

There is a wonderful photograph of him recording steam locomotives in stereo in the 1950s when that technology first became available. He also left us with a truly endearing, self published autobiography in which he mentioned his electronic music compositions.

I hadn’t known about these and made a special trip back to his house after his death and before the estate sale to retrieve any recordings. I found some of them but not this one so we would very much like a digital copy if you are able to provide one.

Helping institutions, musicians, and researchers understand the legacy and history of the content that was created within their own institutions is an essential part of why I’m doing this project.

I’ve emailed Scott Schwartz of the Sousa Archives regarding whether the information I’m collecting will be useful to him. I’ve also contacted Josh Harris regarding digitizing some of the video contents.

I’ve also talked with the University of Oregon regarding a unique tape that is in our archive that pertains to their history.

What began as me trying to put my thoughts into words has turned into a full blown treatise. Thanks for reading! -DL

Introduction

Right now, we are in a crucial time where we must decide the future of the collection. There are two distinct preservation methodologies which will drive how this collection is preserved and accessed for all future generations.

These two strategies, which I will expound upon in more detail shortly, are essentially as follows:

1. Preserve ALL of the materials in a way that provides a similar way of access for the EMS as they have right now. At the moment, the Director of the EMS can hypothetically walk into that closet, grab a tape, and put it on the deck. The preservation goal would be to recreate this experience as closely as possible.

1. The second strategy is that you preserve and provide access to what is unique in the collection and the original manner of accessing the collection is not preserved because it is not particularly important. Since some of this material may be available elsewhere, the EMS can use those outlets to access the materials without going through all of the trouble of digitizing and storing those materials.

Each strategy has a benefit and drawback. I am a proponent, for reasons that I will talk about shortly, of the first method but it won’t be easy to do.

Preservation Methodologies

I believe that access to this collection, in its entirety, is essential to both maintaining a link to EMS’ history as well as providing important instructional materials. In the past, the Director of the EMS could easily access these recorded materials.The former Director told me that he used this collection to both provide materials for both instructional purposes as well as storage for master recordings associated with the EMS (and electronic music in general).

The collection represents decades of history, both in what is actually on the tapes but also, from a pedagogical viewpoint. These tapes represent what the EMS thought was important materials for use in advancing their their educational mission. Not to wax too poetic, but I believe, that this collection, as it is, represents a sort of multi-decade playlist of the EMS. To be cut off from this access would be damaging both to the institutional memory of the EMS as well as their educational mission.

In an ideal world, where there was unlimited funds and resources, we would create a digital graphic interface that would look just like that closet storage space. One could click on each item and you could see an image of the tape’s box, listen to the recording, see the metadata, etc. The digital experience would very closely replicate the current physical experience.

Unfortunately, I will never have the time to develop and complete that dream. I think in recognizing this ideal though, it is clear what my vision is.

Which brings us to our second methodology, which focuses on preserving what’s important to the collection while providing changed ways for the EMS to access the collection. Such a methodology asks many questions of the “preserve everything” strategy:

For example, Some of this material is available elsewhere and people inside the EMS can access it there. How important is it that all of this information is actually available, in one place, to the EMS. In fact, does anybody even use the current EMS archive anymore?

Since there’s going to be copyright issues, which will prevent those outside the EMS from accessing this collection, is it even worth it to put in so much work for a project with such a limited audience? Why go through all of this trouble which will involves countless hours of work?

With the shortage of staff, is preserving the entire collection in its entirety even possible?

Additionally, since there are several units on campus with interest in this project, can we make everyone happy?

Those are all tremendously essential questions and it is possible, that I’m overvaluing the original value regarding the current method of accessing this collection. I have been known to have a romantic vision about these sort of preservation issues.

That said, I do believe that there is value in digitizing the recordings that may be available elsewhere. Such recordings may be easier to access for the EMS than going down to the music library (and perhaps having to listen to materials in the library only). Furthermore, the recordings in the EMS may be better quality than those currently available elsewhere. For example, those same compositions hosted online may be of inferior fidelity than what the EMS has. Furthermore, an LP in the Music Library may be scratched, again providing a lower quality of play than the tapes of the EMS. Finally, it is possible that recordings in the Music Library or online may be of different performances than what have been recorded by the EMS. Although we may think, at first, that the recording is widely available, it may in fact be unique.

I also believe, due to the historical and cultural significance of the EMS, that such a dedication to preserve these materials, as a whole, is justified. I could speak much more on the cultural significance of the EMS but I’ll leave that argument for another day.

That all said, I may have a solution that will be acceptable to all parties. I am not sure if I could get all of the moving parts to sync up but it may be worth a try.

Unfortunately, I will not be at the University long enough to see this project to completion. There are just too many hours of recordings to catalog, digitize, and archive (with the appropriate metadata). The Preservation Unit and the Sousa Archives both want the tapes to be digitized under their own auspices. The EMS would love to have the space that these tapes are taking up. Everybody involved wants to see the collection transferred somewhere with a long term preservation plan, a disaster plan, and some level of access.

Any preservation plan would be up to the Director of the EMS, but assuming that he does want to preserve the collection as a whole while providing access to the collection it its entirety, I think there is an option which may make everyone happy.

First, I complete the item-level evaluation of the EMS items and I catalog everything. I also document the original order of the the closet with photographs, just so we know the context of how these materials were originally accessed.

Through this, we identify what is unique, master recordings, and most in danger. We could then, have Josh or Scott digitize those prioritized recordings. The rest of the recordings could be digitized as part of an Independent Study or Practicum through the University of Illinois Information School (formerly the Graduate School of Information Science). I believe that I could establish, with the help of the Information School administration, such a program where we could get a qualified graduate student (or two) to work on these materials. Such graduate students could work with the current Director of the EMS as well as other Preservation experts on campus, like Josh Harris and Scott Schwartz. Such students would learn about preservation, metadata creation, and collection development. They would be getting hands-on experience and course credit in exchange for their time.

During this process though, I would argue that the collection should stay together. When the project is completed. As much of the physical collection can enter the Sousa Archives as their Director sees fit. The Sousa Archives can also address copyright and general accessibility issues to the public at that point.

Although it may pose a bit of a challenge, it may be possible to move the entire collection out of the EMS while this digitization project is taking place (so the EMS can utilize this space). Again, I think there is value in keeping the entire collection together until this project is complete.

Upon completion, the EMS would have access to a database, probably in the form of a hard-drive (which would have backups). They would have access to all of the materials that they currently have access to. The footprint of the collection will disappear from the EMS but access to the materials will remain unchanged (or in reality, it may actually be better since you won’t have to be near a tape deck to listen). Through this project, I believe a lineage would be maintained helping to bridge the EMS’ past with their changing future.  Additionally, I also believe such access would greatly benefit the teaching mission of the EMS.