A challenge.

[Judah Cohen <jcohen...>]

Hi all.

I'm writing to issue a challenge to everyone, which hopefully will also be
a help to the Jewish music community in general.

Here's the story:Harvard University's Judaica division is in the process of
collecting Jewish music recordings of all kinds.  The directive I have is
to look for EVERYTHING.  And believe me--if they've heard about it, they've
got it.  (I.e., every recording, including CD singles, from the Israeli
group Ethnix; every one of Debbie Friedman's albums; those tacky "The
Complete Bar Mitzvah Party" albums; etc.).  ALL THESE RECORDINGS ARE
AVAILABLE FOR LISTENING TO ANYONE WHO WALKS INTO THE LIBRARY WITH A FORM OF
ID (hint, hint. . .).  While they have Israel and most major American
releases pretty well covered, they are stiLl missing quite a bit
(especially if it's before 1984 or so).

That's where this challenge comes in.  The object: to check against the
Harvard catalog and see which recordings they don't have; then to find a
way to obtain these recordings.  For those who can, here's the process:

1) Contact the Harvard On-Line Library System (HOLLIS) at
telnet:/hollis.harvard.edu/ ; search HU (Harvard University catalog) for
every Jewish recording you know about (this need not be in one sitting :)).
DO NOT WORRY ABOUT BEING TOO OBSCURE.  YOU'D BE SURPRISED AT WHAT'S IN THE
CATALOG.  WE'D LIKE TO SURPRISE OTHERS, TOO.

2) Send a note to me enumerating what is not in the catalog, and, if
possible, how to obtain it.  After checking the catalog myself, I will
forward this to the Judaica Librarian; hopefully, the materials will be
obtained soon afterward (in academic terms, that means at least a year or
so).

I think this could be, among other things, a great way for the songleading
community to preserve its heritage  All these recordings will be collected
under one roof and stored in perpetuity, available for the general public
to listen to in the library.  For those of you who are planning to be near
Cambridge anytime soon, I hope you will take advantage of the collection!
Otherwise, happy checking!

Thanks.  I look forward to hearing your responses.

Judah.

Judah Cohen
Music Department
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA  02138
jcohen (at) fas(dot)harvard(dot)edu
(617) 628-4783

"...I do not feel that my research suffered unduly from the fact that I
enjoyed it." -- Daniel Miller, "Modernity--an Ethnographic Approach" (p. 6)