World Records: The Mayrent Collection of Yiddish 78s & the Future of Historic Sound Recordings
“World Records” celebrates Mills Music Library‘s acquisition of the Mayrent Collection of Yiddish 78s. This conference and concert will focus on the important role that Mills and other sound archives play in historical study and the cultural continuity of communities. The Symposium will also include discussions of critical issues related to preservation, dissemination, technology, ownership, and copyright.
The Mayrent Collection contains over 9,000 inventoried and digitally remastered Yiddish recordings made between 1901 and 1956, providing an invaluable soundtrack with which to study and understand the Jewish world, including Yiddish theater, popular and traditional music, cantorial songs, poetry, drama, and event ballads.
Symposium events will be held on Thursday March 14 and Friday March 15. A full compliment of presentations are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, covering topics such as American vernacular musics (Scandihoovian, Polish, hillbilly, tamburitza, blues, and more), collection management and access, digital folklore, and the legal standing of historical recordings and their use. A live concert on Thursday night will feature traditional musical genres found in the Mills Library sound collections.
All events are free and open to the public.
SYMPOSIUM DETAILS
Concert
- When: Thursday, March 14, 7:00pm.
- Where: UW-Madison Mosse Humanities Building, Morphy Hall, 455 N. Park Street.
- Musicians: Goose Island Ramblers: Bruce Bollerud, Klezmer: Sherry Mayrent, Henry Sapoznik, New MadCity Ramblers: Bill Malone, Tim Meehan, Henry Sapoznik, Tamburitza: Richard March.
Presentations
- When: Thursday, March 14, 2:00-5:30pm and Friday, March 15, 9:00am-5:45pm.
- Where: UW-Madison Education Building, room 159, 1000 Bascom Mall.
- A schedule of presentations available HERE, and bios for all presenters are available HERE.
Register for the event by clicking here or by sending an email to mayrent-institute@cjs.wisc.edu. (Registration is suggested but not required.)