Dean Sharon Bostick holds a recording titled "K.C. Ork - Thurs., Nov. 23, 1944."

Unique recordings gain new life

By: Derek Simons

Posted: 1/14/08

Eight months of grant-writing teamwork paid off when UMKC Chancellor Guy Bailey recently received a check for $502,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Marr Sound Archives, housed in the Miller Nichols Library (MNL), now has the means to breathe new life into the J. David Goldin Collection.

Live radio broadcasts in the 1930s and '40s were usually aired and then lost forever. But the Goldin Collection has 9,949 recordings of these broadcasts.

Technically called "instantaneous-cut acetate recordings," these 16-inch discs each hold 30 minutes of radio history. The material recorded includes everything from concerts and radio skits to newscasts and advertising.

"They are a hoot," Dean of Libraries Sharon Bostick said. "You really should listen to them. We're calling them the Podcasts of the time."

The recording technique predates the German invention of open reel-to-reel tape recording, which only appeared toward the end of WWII, when the first tape machines were airlifted out of Berlin.

Cut directly into a cellulose-nitrate layer covering an aluminum base, the discs have three holes instead of the normal single hole on commercial albums. These extra holes provided the torque necessary for rotation while undergoing the recording process of the cutting head. During the war, the aluminum base was substituted with glass, making these discs even more delicate.

Goldin, a radio historian, donated the collection in batches from 1995 to 2001, but the recordings had no printed jacket covers or information about what was contained within, according to Bostick. A general cataloging has been done, but the Mellon grant will permit five staff members to spend three years exploring the contents fully.

Bostick said Bonnie Postlethwaite, associate dean of libraries, will be the primary investigator.

"This is a very complex project," Bostick said. "You're digging in deep to find out exactly what is on these historic discs. It takes extremely skilled researchers. This work will permit the entire collection to be easily accessible to researchers around the world."

With the upcoming MNL expansion, Bostick said she is excited about plans for moving the Marr Sound Archives to new spaces on the third floor.

"There will be studio space and wonderful listening booths," she said. "The recordings themselves will be safely housed in the robot [automatic retrieval system]."

For now, a small part of the Goldin Collection can already be heard on the Marr Sound Archives Web site in the section called "Voices of World War II: Experiences from the Front and at Home." Visit http://library.umkc.edu/spec-col/ww2/pearlharbor/ph.htm to hear period newscasts about Pearl Harbor.

dsimons@unews.com