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By Maxine Schackman, November 3, 2011 6:07 pm

On Wednesday, November 2, 2011 FAU students and staff vistied the archives, checked-out the demonstration of obsolete audio equipment and browsed through vinyl LPs as part of the first ever Snap-shot Day at FAU Libraries!

The free record give-away will continue through the month of November on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:30 to 3:30 on Wimberly Library’s 5th floor.

Students also enjoyed demonstrations of the Recorded Sound Archives antique and obsolete equipment. Many had never seen a 78 rpm recording, a Victrola phongraph, an 8-track tape player or a 45 rpm record changer before.

FAU students hear 8-track tapes for the first time and learn about how this technology began and why it died out.

RCA Victor 45 rpm record changer circa 1948 - 1955

1924 RCA Victor Victrola 78 rpm player.

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By Maxine Schackman, September 2, 2010 3:45 pm

Several of the Vogue Picture records in the Recorded Sound Archives at FAU Libraries capitalize on America’s love affair with Latin rhythms during the 1930s , 40s and 50s.

During the Prohibition Era (1920-1933), Havana, Cuba was a popular tourist destination for Americans seeking fun and excitement. One of the pleasures they discovered there was the rhumba. Popularized by performers such as Spanish-Cuban bandleader Xavier Cugat and Desi Arnaz, Latin ballroom dances and rhythms became a common staple of American entertainment for decades.

Riding this wave of popularity Sav-way produced several Latin-themed recordings and a series of recorded rhumba ballroom dance lessons. By today’s standards the music seems somewhat watered down and mild.  Nevertheless, these recordings give us a true representation of Americanized Latin music as it actually was during the mid-20^th century.

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By Maxine Schackman, August 18, 2010 3:52 pm

The Recorded Sound Archives at FAU Libraries has been sorting, organizing, washing and digitizing tens of thousands of vintage 78 rpm recordings since we received a large donation of the discs from the estate of Cleveland collector, Jack Saul.

Hundreds of boxes containing vintage 78 rpm recordings remain stacked in the hallways while others are being opened by volunteers. The black shellac discs are piled high on work tables for volunteers to sort.

Opening the first box containing Vogue Picture Records caused a commotion that I could hear all the way in my office down the hall. Volunteers had discovered over 20 recordings that were stunningly beautiful. This was the first time any of us had ever seen such lovely artwork embedded within an entire record. “It’s like finding an unexpected treasure,” one of our volunteers told me.

The Recorded Sound Archives has now inventoried 62 different pictures on 32 two-sided 78 rpm discs. The pictures, together with the songs embedded within them, provide a glimpse into the post WWII American pop scene. The recordings feature the big band sounds popular at the time, swing sounds for teenagers, hillbilly/country songs, children’s songs and stories, and reflecting a growing interest in South American culture, Rhumba dance lessons and music with a Latin beat.

Despite Sav-Way’s inability to attract big-name recording talent, these beautiful discs are appealing to collectors who value them as standouts among the drab black shellac records of their day and because the limited number of different titles (74) make them more valuable as a complete set.

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By admin, July 19, 2010 8:36 pm

Historic sound snapshot from our past.

Visually stunning picture records, historic radio transcriptions such as President Roosevelt’s speech to the U.S. Congress following Pearl Harbor, and hundreds of original recordings by Italian tenor Enrico Caruso are among the treasures being inventoried at the new Recorded Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University Libraries.

These relics of the recording industry are among an estimated 50,000 vintage records that were recently donated to FAU Libraries and used to create its “Vintage 78s Collection.” The records, along with extensive holdings of Jazz recordings and Judaic music, inspired FAU libraries to recently establish the Recorded Sound Archives with more than 150,000 phonograph records and other sound recordings.

“This makes us one of the top 20 libraries in the nation for sound recordings,” said Dr. William Miller, dean of Libraries at FAU. “People know….that we are a library interested in rare and historic recordings.”

Unpacking the recent donation of tens of thousands of recordings from the estate of Cleveland collector Jack Saul has been daunting, but with the help of staff and volunteers, the materials are being digitized and eventually will be available on FAU Libraries’ website.

The Recorded Sound Archives has three major collections:

(1) Vintage 78s Collection: Early disc recordings were dubbed 78s, referring to their playing speed of 78 revolutions per minute, and were produced between 1901 and the mid-1950s. Music, speeches, radio transcriptions and even movie soundtracks were produced on 78 rpm records.

(2) Jazz Collection:  The Recorded Sound Archives is creating an inventory of the more than 20,000 jazz recordings donated by Dr. Henry Ivey in 2006 and later transferred to the library from FAU’s Department of Music. Volunteers are currently entering information about the recordings into a database so that musicians and others will be able to easily search for what they want.

(3) Judaica Sound Archives:  The Judaica Sound Archives (JSA), created in 2005, established FAU Libraries as an international leader in the collection and digitization of early phonograph recordings. It now boasts a collection of more than 15,000 non-duplicated recordings. Its website offers listeners over 11,000 songs in English, Hebrew and Yiddish.