RE: Record Libraries

[Jack Falk <jackfalk...>]

At 04:16 PM 10/23/98 -0400, you wrote:
>I would suggest they send them to YIVO for sure or possibly to the National
Yiddish Book Center....

To YIVO?  The same folks who eliminated Henry and Loren's positions
five years ago?  I had heard a while back that YIVO was considering
getting rid of their sound archives.  I don't know what actually 
happened.  Is someone out there knowledgeable enough to vouch for 
YIVO's intentions and recent actions in the matter of sound preservation?

Moreover, sound preservation isn't quite enough.  If any institution
intends to keep a culture alive as more than a museum piece, it's
essential that the institution make its holdings available to 
interested users - not just scholars, but proste yidn as well.
Despite the good intentions of several staffers in particular, 
the YIVO sound archives were never quite as accessible as they 
should have been.  One institution that has a pretty good idea
how to do this is the Feher Jewish Music Center (dir.: Avner Bahat) 
at the Museum for the Diaspora in Tel Aviv.  Also, yasher koyekh
Drs. Flam and Mazor at the Hebrew University Archives.

It's one thing to serve the needs of academia.  It's quite another 
to keep Yiddish music alive on the lips of singers throughout the 
world.  Mit a shmeykl oyf di lipn lomir geyn....

Good Shabbos,

Yankl