Hi David,
Dumb question: Did you mention Neubauten in the subject line to be cute
or because we know that they have/had unique Neubauten recordings?
thanks,
Brandon
On Mar 3, 2009, at 11:23 AM, Dave Lewis wrote:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090303/ap_on_re_eu/eu_germany_building_collapse
The sub-standard building practices of the 1970s are coming back to
haunt us, and unfortunately a fair number of such structures are used
to house archival materials, as this one was.
While I'm not Bill Schurk, and apologize for sticking my neck out in
speaking out about what is not my problem, a few years ago the Center
for Popular Music at BGSU was moved out of its 1970s poured concrete
building -- where the materials were organized and well cared for --
and placed in deep storage elsewhere on campus. Last I heard it was
inaccessible. There is another poured concrete structure at the
University of Cincinnati -- thankfully one that does not hold an
archive -- that will need to be torn down at some point, as it is both
sinking and tipping over.
Of course, none of us in the 1970s knew that the poured concrete fad
would primarily result in buildings that would turn out to be
non-functional in the long term. As this story unfolds, the effect on
archives of all kinds -- including sound recordings -- will be better
known. If your archive is in a 1970s university building, you might
need to develop a good "Plan B" in order to avoid the fate of the
Center for Popular Music. And if that facility has reopened, I sure
would like to know about it.
Uncle Dave Lewis
Ann Arbor, MI
____________________________________
Brandon Burke
Archivist for Recorded Sound Collections
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6010
vox: 650.724.9711
fax: 650.725.3445
email: burke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx