On June 17, Howard Glasser and Tom Stern toured the new Archives and Special Collections facility and met with archivist Judy Farrar regarding next steps in planning for the future growth of the Howard T. Glasser Archives of Folk Music and Letter Arts. Established in 2003, the mission of the Howard T. Glasser Archives of Folk Music and Letter Arts is to preserve the artistic and musical collecting legacy of retired design professor Howard T. Glasser. The initial donation, digital copies of his Scottish recordings, many original Eisteddfod recordings, and programs and flyers from the Carnegie and URI ceildhs, forms the core of the collection. The Howard T. Glasser Archives Fund was established the following year to help maintain these fragile materials, many of which reside on ageing magnetic reel to reel recording tapes. To date, the fund has enabled staff to pay for digital conversion of a related collection, the recordings of Paul Clayton, and a selection of the Eisteddfod recordings. The fund will also be used to begin conversion of the Tryworks concert recordings.
The archivist welcomes suggestions for donations of potentially important historic material to the collection from folk song groups, coffeehouses and other folk music venues, collectors, artists and musicians to document the folk music “scene” in New England. Contact Judy Farrar via email at jfarrar@umassd.edu.
