As we’re a music related archive, this year we’re beginning with an almost complete list of materials donated in 2025. See some other ARC news at the bottom of the page.
So a big thanks to all the wonderful donors who endured those post-partum pangs as they mailed, dropped off or helped us load up the van.
- Heidi Alpert : Another new Special Collection just created is The Gene Alpert Motown Collection, an incredible group of 1,250 Motown and related LPs – Soul, Gordy, Tamela – all mint or near mint. Mr. Alpert was a political scientist and esteemed educator, earning his PhD at Michigan State University. More importantly, at least to our way of thinking, he could mimic the Motown groups’ choreography as he sang along to their music. Support material includes 205 Black music periodicals (including 94 issues of SOUL newspaper and 74 issues of Black Music), 3 Motown mugs, 90 DVDs and DVDs of Motown and other Black artists, lapel pins, posters, t-shirts, napkins and playing cards. Another highlight are the 9 autographed concert programs. And who wouldn’t want the Diana Ross Fanclub membership and a Supremes necklace? The above is one of two 45s of this early Soul single by The Pirates (M-105 and MEL-O-DY 105) in the collection. Members on this 45 ( Otis Williams, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Elbridge “Al” Bryant ) evolved into the Temptations. Thanks to daughter Heidi who handwrote a list of all the recordings and dropped off these 34 large plastic bins of Motown magic.
• Robert Atwood :This double spread of newspaper front pages above are part of a Beatle-based treasure trove of clippings donated by ARC supporter Rob Atwood. Included in six binders, two folio sized scrapbooks and a box of loose clippings and photos are more than 2,000 press accounts of the band’s life and times from publication throughout the world. More than a hobby! We are in awe.
- Vik Bersok : 1,498 seven-inch vinyl singles. This is swell collection of 45s from, 1950s -1980s, many in picture sleeves, and lots of Rock promos. There are also 25 Punk and 28 Blues singles as well.
- Lee Bishop : 840 CDs, 4 CD box sets and 36 copies of the Journal of Old Time Country Music magazine.
- Robert (B.Bop ) Vizet : Mr. Bop is a longtime ARC supporter and generous donor who dropped off some very nice things this years, like a Sony receiver (a 50 pounder), a Rotel pre-amp, 2 DVD players, 2 KLF speakers, 14 books, 210 CDs, and 3 CD box sets.
- Dominique Borel : 84 hard to find Asian Indian twelve-inch vinyl LPs; 11 seven-inch vinyl 45rpm singles; 3 CDs.
- Erik Brady : As we prepared this year-end review we realized we never posted info on this important new Special Collection on our website that came in at the beginning of the year. The Erik Brady Music Collection is a vast group of primarily new and somewhat unheralded music that filled in many gaps here at the ARC – like the 49 Lambchop recordings to supplement our 8. Then again there are 30 Dinosaur Jr., 16 Giant Sand, 27 John Vanderslice, 71 The Beautiful South and 48 Spoon recordings. Who else was saving the Jack’O’Nuts, the Waterstrider, and Dr Dog? Far and away the most important material are his 6,240 live off-the-board CDRs. Eric was friends with many New York DJ’s and gig sound technicians that allowed incredible access resulting in the preservation of thousands of crystalline performances. There are also heaps of slightly more mainstream artists, including 175 CDs and LPs by Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention and a pile of lesser known Hendrix (above). All-in-all the collection numbers 17,566 items. The vast majority are mint, near mint, or sealed; variously original releases, reissues, promo copies, iterations and variations, foreign releases and the occasional bootleg. And three cheers to Eric for the 22 Pere Ubu’s! and thank to his father Bob for making the donation happen.
- Tim Broun : After five years archivist Tim has left us to live in Paris, but along the way he forgot to take his enormous and superb music collection! Among the donated items are things like this Clash poster from the bands historic set of performances at the Bond in NYC, a blue plastic Devo helmet, 2 calendars on plywood w/ artwork by Lydia Lunch, and a set of tiny Run DMC figurines complete with a DJ turntable. All-in-all there are more than 1000 Lps, 720 forty-five singles, 309 CDs, 277 books, 68 band Tee shirts, and thousands of pieces of swag and memorabilia. The paper flyers, photos and press kits fill 7 thick binders.
As a youngster Tim did an amazing number of drawings about bands and songs he liked. Here’s one of DM. He also made quality choices in his collecting, like lifting a Liquid Liquid setlist from the stage and this Lee Perry Rasta-in-a-box.
- Ben Carlson : 43 Commercially released Bob Dylan cassettes.
- Eloy Cepero – The scope and quality of this donation created the Eloy G. Cepero Cuban Music Collection. Eloy is an Cuban born musicologist and broadcaster in Miami specializing in Latin and Cuban Music. In a 50 year career he has interviewed hundreds of musicians on the radio and on his TV program – an amazing overview of the artists who have informed and shaped Latin music. The first portion of this amazing collection donated this year included 5,414 twelve-inch vinyl LPs of Latin & Cuban music, 40 Videos in various formats by Bobby Jimenez and Emilita Dago, reel-to-reel audio tapes by a wide variety of Latin artists and hundreds of pieces of sheet music. Eloy is the co-author of Enciclopedia Musical Cubana, and author of Grandes Leyendas Musicales: Orquestas Cubanas: 9, and La Mujer en la Música Cubana Volumen 4: Articulos. A Google Books review mentions, “He is the owner of one of the largest “private collections” about the Cuban music in the United States.”
- Richard Dorfman : small collection of concert programs.
- Paul Dougherty : 73 music book, most on glam and proto punk music. Yet one of our faves is White Bicycles : Making Music in the 1960s by our pal, Joe Boyd. Plus 316 file folders containing tear sheets, press clippings and photocopies on Punk music.
• Jacob Edgar : Jacob organized the 14,720 CDs that comprise The Jacob Edgar & Putumayo Collection, along with his partner @ Putumayo, Dan Stoper. Dan, as we mentioned passed this year and was a long time supporter, with annual donations of the records he was issuing. Jacob also ran Cumbancha, issuing a wide range of world music with Asian, European and North American recordings coming our way.
• Larry Elkin : 172 twelve-inch vinyl LPs; 128 seven-inch vinyl 45rpm singles; 101 CDs.
• Marcia Elliott : 49 CDs and a few DVDs, LPs and songbooks.
- Patrice George : This familiar ARC donor returned from Sweden with five Spotnicks discs to add to our collection of
covers featuring space helmets - Goddard Community Center : 6 ten-inch 78rpm shellac discs
- Jordyn Green : vintage rock posters
• Jon Hafter : From our man in LA, 51 books
• Paul Henerlau : 235 CDs
• Constance Pappas Hillman : 22 music magazines; 15 CDs; 2 autographed CDs by Chris Hillman; 5 books and Chris clippings.
- William Houghtaling : or Wilbur, a local upstate pal, made two large drop-offs in 2025 – a treasure trove of Hillbilly and early Country music materials. We counted 53 seven-inch 45rpm singles; 49 press kits with photos; 1 record tote; ticket stubs; 136 cards and letters from musicians; 358 music postcards; 23 glossy 8×10” B&W Country artist promo photographs, 18 autographed photos of Buck Owens, Carl Story, Patsy Montana, Montana Slim, Stonewall Jackson, the Light Crust Doughboys, Reba McEntire, Ian McLagan of the Small Faces and Ralph Stanley; autographed pictures and posters by Todd Rundgren, Richie Fury, and Donovan, 23 glossy flyers/one sheets; 4 Grand Old Opre napkins; A Martha White flour bag (the Light Crust Doughboys sponsor); a Tanya Tucker Styrofoam promo record store display; 9 color 4×7”color family photos of Buddy Guy. This year’s pile of Country 78s brings the total number of C&W and Old Timey shellac discs to over 1,000. PLUS a great many artifacts pertaining to Wilbur’s years as an UpState NY radio host and an overview of the 17 or so bands he’s been in!.
- Gary Johnson : Gary runs the Rockaway Record store in LA and is another saint of a donor who always sends an annual pile of great import. This is material he could sell, but donates to ARC instead. This year’s haul includes: 90 rare cassette and CD recordings by the LA band X, including unreleased demos, and live recordings, The Beatles/Songs & Pictures Of The Beatles –This batch includes two late 1970s counterfeit LPs with source 35 metal parts (mothers, stampers, masters) used in the manufacturing of these LPs, and the metal printing plates used in fabrication of the covers; Indian Puddin’ & Pipe – 2″ reel-to-reel master tape of unreleased 1970 recording session; William Claxton’s Jazz Life book, pricey Taschen deluxe edition; 36 CD vintage long boxes (XTC, Stooges, MC5, Velvet Underground, The Cure, The Litter, Kraftwerk, Tom Waits, Johnny Thunders, Love, etc); 4 unreleased test pressing LPs on Los Lobos Records from 2016); 7 Ralph Records unreleased 10″ test pressing LPs (1990s); 3 copies of the Gary Johnson/Dylan Gardner signed split 45 tribute to Jonathan Richman; Ron Kane (Decayes) personal homemade cassette collection including “Sunday Funnies” radio shows (38 tapes); 3 copies of Todd (Wathen) rare 1979 privately pressed LP (2013- With Love…From Me To You); 65 unreleased demo cassettes; 15 Creedence Clearwater Revival homemade cassettes of rarities and interviews; 12 homemade live cassettes, including Queen, Pink Floyd, etc; Fred Neil – Lot of 10 unreleased reel-to-reel tapes (late 50s/early 60s); 11misc. 8-track tapes; Large MTV Pez dispenser in shape of Moonman award; 3 spoken word Japanese LP box sets; 10 CRC library music LPs; Ragnarok – 1977 Live in New Zealand master reel-to-reel tape; 3 Bubble Book illustrated storybooks, each with three 5.5″ 78 rpm records (1919); two reel-to reel tapes of live 1975 Splinter concert; Led Zeppelin – 40th Anniversary CD box set (Chinese counterfeit); Live Meat Loaf 1977 concert reel-to reel tape. And so much more, but let’s end with a large bundle of The Shaggs promo posters. Whew…
- Roy Kaufman :120 twelve-inch vinyl LPs; 223 CDs; 13 cassettes; a portable record player, a nice turntable; 8 Carol Friedman photos of Lena Horne; a Latin Quarter brochure and assorted singles, post cards and books.
• Anne Leighton : Assorted swag, music magazines, books, clippings and an autographed CDs by Carmine Appice. - Sharon Mahoney : 8 twelve-inch vinyl LPs.
- Richard Markwalter : Daughter Zoe organized this collection that we just picked up at her father’s recently closed amp and guitar repair shop in Fishkill NY. We filled the Subaru with 6 portable transistor radios from the 1960s, 2 larger portable radios and a mico-mini transistor (above), 4 hi-end receivers and power amps, a turntable, 2 CD/DVD players, 12 tube and guitar technical guides and manuals, a mystery CB or short-wave contraption; 187 music books and songbooks, Grateful Dead poster, and 8 boxes of great condition of 700 LPs, including 100 jazz and 100 blues
- Renee Pappas : Renee is a longtime supporter and ARC advocate. She was married to Atlantic Records genius, Jerry Wexler, and recently donated a few amazing pieces from her collection. Part One of the Jerry Wexler Collection, including 40 CDs, 19 music DVDs, 14 books, 2 unreleased Linda Ronstadt CDs produced by Mr. Wexler, oversize contact sheets and 7 photo CDs of Jerry’s parties and events shot by Bob Gruen, one photo CD of Janice Joplin shot by Bob Gruen; hundreds of clippings, paper memorabilia assorted photos and notes by Mr. Wexler
Here’s a matchbook cover featuring Mo Ostin, Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun. When we contacted Ms. Ronstadt about the discs she asked to hear. They said they also had copies and perhaps this material will be available soon?
Below one of the party photos – Jerry, Shelly and Paul
- Joan Rickert & Evan Shatz : 21 twelve-inch vinyl LPs.
- The Rolling Stones : Thanks to Jane and Rachél at Raindrop for facilitating the boxes-O-garb…. 416 Rolling Stone Hoodies
- Lilian Rosenthal : Another mop-topper collection came from Lilian, including page after page of Beatles trading cards – 60 original series, 51 series 2, and 47 series 3 cards. Other Beatlelalia include 193 newspaper and magazine clippings, 2 promotional press photos, 4 posters, 13 fan magazines and 1 book. There’s also one lonely Bob Dylan concert ticket stub.
- Catherine Sabino : 7 ten-inch Jazz 78rpm shellac discs.
- Andy Schwartz : 3 music books.
- Maynard Solomon : Mr. Solomon co-founded Vanguard Records and the 2,500 records he kept are a wide range of Folk, Rock, Jazz and Blues, most unplayed, many sealed or mint, 2000 or so issued by Vanguard. There are 7”commercial reel-to-reel tapes of the label’s releases with the same covers as their LPs and dozens of Yiddish 10” and 12” shellac 78s and LPs. Welcome surprises include the 60 white label Folkways LPs, our new Holiday favorite LP, Chocolate Covered Matzohsby Herschel Bernardi. and the three scarce UK folk 45s in picture sleeves on Topic Records pictured above.
Then again, the test pressing (above) of avant-garde vocalist Patty Waters, College Tour, ESP-Disk, 1055, in perfect condition, is pretty sweet! A big thanks to Maynard’s son Mark for this important collection.
- Margaret Sumner : 181 cassettes, 33 DATs and a packet of info and playlists from Wisconsin radio stations.
- John Szwed : As he did last year sent thousands of music magazines, mostly jazz mags, including a complete run of Cadence magazines, that’s 410 magazines from 1976 to 2011, 209 Jazz Life, along with a vast smaller runs from Jazz on CD (UK), Journal of Jazz Studies, Living Blues, Shuffle Boil, Signal to Noise, The Wire and many others.
- Richard W. Wheeler : 283 twelve-inch vinyl LPs, mostly County releases.
OK, now…
To Support ARC with YOUR tax deductible donation:
To help build the Collection: Don’t forget to continue to send great things. What we most need are early 50s and 60s Blues, Rock, Soul and Country LPs. Any World. Music LPs. Strange things – the stranger the better. Foreign releases. Junk. We love junk. Fanzines – esp foreign. The obscurer the betterer. Flyers and handbills. And don’t forget to send working music related pin ball machines and jukeboxes. Oh, and seven-inch 45rpm record inserts (spiders).
We’re working on an exhibition featuring record cover where someone or something is wearing a space helmet. You know what they say, Mars needs Women – ARC needs Space Helmets. Have a look at our gallery and send us ones we don’t have.
So scour your basements and attics. STOP paying for those storage facilities. De-clutter and Do good.
Cataloging continues as always, mainly this year we focused on seven-inch singles and we’re up to 143,297 and counting. Just about another 150,000 to go. Also cataloged our 17,643th music book .
Sadly, after 5 year, archivist Tim Brown has left to live in Pais. Happily we’ve added Joe Garden, a local record mavin to our crew. Fred Patterson, after more than 25 years is still Head Archivist. Interns Asher and Lilac are back in school.
Keep in touch! B.george