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Rant was not finished when send button accidentally sent: If universities and other entities began to fund archives even remotely in line with the needs and significance of their mission, the situation could be remedied. The long term archival goal advocated by the Library of Congress of making ALL DATA available online might be achievable . . . given the priority and resources dedicated to a moonshot, which seems unlikely. Online also offers archives a sexy way to get their name before the public, become media organizations, broaden access and begin to fulfill their mission. I noted with great interest that Stanford adopted and adapted the Jim Cullum Riverwalk Jazz <http://rwj-a.stanford.edu/home> radio series and website. A laudable undertaking: http://rwj-a.stanford.edu/home I'm hoping they might have a similar motivation to adopt my JAZZ RHYTHM <http://jazzhotbigstep.com/104.html> website when I'm done with it. A kind of interpretive jazz history site with archival and other resources: http://jazzhotbigstep.com/104.html Its been true for centuries that most large historical collections have been amassed by private individuals before donation to institutions. Trust me, the more organized collections -- indexed, digitized, metadata, etc at time of donation -- will be accessed more often, vigorously, in greater depth and more frequently going into the future. Dave Radlauer On Fri, Sep 11, 2015 at 7:42 AM, Dave Radlauer <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Regarding Black Hole archives. > > Archives like say, Stanford University (the Braun Music Library) are > relatively poor, underfunded stepchildren of larger organizations with > other priorities. Their charge is long term preservation, primarily for > scholarly purposes, secondarily for public access and publication. > > I was affiliated with San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation and > contracted by them to digitize and index a large number of tapes that were > donated to Stanford/Braun along with 50,000 other items: articles, books, > memorabilia, photos, music discs and tapes. > > Accessing most of it is now very difficult, time consuming, or expensive. > Very little has been published. I investigated the access and licensing > fees for a CD project. Starting at $500+ and a headache of paperwork made > it unfeasible. > > Other temporary barriers barred access to a large photo collection, though > copies were available at manageable prices. > > Nonetheless, I plan to contribute a large volume of audio material I've > amassed to Stanford/Braun at some time in the future. *However, unlike > most of their material, it will be indexed and digitized*, which is the > most expensive bar to archives providing easy access. Also, in my case, I > plan to publish, disseminate, or post online much of the material -- the > best of it -- BEFORE donation. Agreed, few are in a position to do this > before donating a collection. > > Where else can I be assured the material will remain extant long term, as > a collection, and eventually available in some fashion to scholars, > students, enthusiasts and the public? Assuring same is an expensive > proposition. > > Therefore I blame budgets, administrators with other priorities, > gold-plated university administrator salaries, twisted priorities (SPORTS!) > > > > > -- > hm# 510-848-8323 > cell# 510-717-5240 > www.JAZZHOTBigstep.com > -- hm# 510-848-8323 cell# 510-717-5240 www.JAZZHOTBigstep.com