Since 1985 our holdings have grown to more than 3 million records.
In a 2010 obituary, Cat Coore, the guitarist and cellist for the seminal reggae band Third World, called Gregory Isaacs “the Frank Sinatra of Jamaica.” It was one of those “it’s a stretch” references, necessary throughout the world to make a foreign… read more >>
With a mixed cultural heritage (German/British), mixed-up cultural focus (noise/reggae) and a mixmastered public persona (art school/wild child), Ari Up brought a disjointed beauty to her vocals that remain haunting. I had seen her perform with the Slits @ Tier3 in 1980… read more >>
How to permanently preserve audio materials is a major concern of archives around the world. Us included. After all, isn’t that why we’re here? But ARC does not migrate, i.e; make a copy of an audio object in another medium, ideally more… read more >>
A good friend of ARC, Dan Zanes, has done the impossible; donated ALL, not some, no ALL of his LPs to the library. Sure he threw in a nice pile of CDs (841), but ALL’s a lot, or at least 1,954 discs,… read more >>
Calling All Vipers? Yeah…for a “listening party.” The “records” (*wink* *wink*)just arrived. [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=PLXMkdAXDZw] So maybe it’s not the best Jamaican smuggling scheme I’ve ever heard (my favorite involved a calypso band and a banjo), but its a damn good one. And it… read more >>
Got back yesterday from spending a week in Kingston, Jamaica at the aptly named “Global Reggae Conference” held at the University of the West Indies, Mona. There, I presented a paper about mento music’s role in the 1968 Festival Song Competition on… read more >>
August 11, 1921 – August 13 2007 [dailymotion id=12x6bSM2C1JevjyIf]
So I took the ‘G’ train. I’ve never taken the ‘G’ train. NO ONE has ever taken the ‘G’ train. But two Dutch stops later ( Hoyt-Schermerhorn and Bedford-Nostrand} I was in Bed-Sty, past alternating magnificent and run-down town houses, passing under… read more >>
Today the ARChive got a package from Sanctuary Records that included some really amazing albums. In the glamorous world of ARChiving, what happens normally is that material shows up, it gets cataloged and it gets put away. Now and again, we pull… read more >>
One afternoon in late 2002 (November?), while I was living in Jamaica doing fieldwork on mento for my dissertation, I bumped into Colby Graham at the National Library’s circulation desk. I don’t exactly remember why we started talking – maybe someone suggested… read more >>