Ishmael Reed, African-American novelist, poet, and publisher, was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on February 22, 1938. Reed moved with his mother to Buffalo, New York in 1942. His mother worked in various wartime industries and Reed attended public schools, graduating in 1956. He also played violin and trombone and began writing a newspaper column on jazz for the Empire Star Weekly when he was thirteen. He enrolled as an evening student at Millard Fillmore College, the night school division of the University of Buffalo, and worked as a clerk at the Buffalo public library during the day. His writing ability was quickly recognized, and he moved into the bachelor of arts program at the University of Buffalo. He withdrew in 1960 because of a "dire shortage of funds" (Gates) and a "wide gap between social classes" (Gates). To escape "the artificial social and class distinctions that he associated with American university education," (Gates) he moved to Buffalo's Talbert Mall Project. Daily exposure to systematic poverty cycles in the projects led him to political activism in the civil rights and Black Power movements.
Content types:
Performed music, Spoken word, Two-dimensional moving image, Text, and Still image
Formats:
Pressed LP disc, LaserDisc, Open reel tape (unknown material), Analog audiocassette, VHS (including SVHS and VHS-C), Betamax, Text document, Photographic print, and Microfilm
Extent:
Approximately 20 recordings, microfilm, 65 feet
Repository/Collector:
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
With over 300,000 recordings on tape, disc, cylinder, and piano roll, the Historical Music Recordings Collection is both the depository for University of Texas at Austin recordings and those of select orchestras, radio stations, national and international arts organizations. Named collections within the HMRC include: Irving Feld Radio Dramas; UT Radio House Transcription Discs; Mary Henrietta Chase Collection of Bing Crosby Lacquer Discs; KUT open-reel tape; Longhorn Radio Network open-reel tape; KMFA "20th century Romantics"; Austin Symphony Orchestra; Houston Symphony Orchestra; HMRC-CDs; 16-inch transcription discs (general collection).
Content types:
Performed music, Sounds (Other than music & language), and Spoken word
Formats:
Pressed LP disc, Pressed 78rpm disc, Pressed 45rpm disc, Lacquer disc, Optical disc (including CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, VCD), Metal disc, LaserDisc, Cylinder, Analog audiocassette, Digital compact cassette, Digital Audio Tape (DAT), Polyester open reel tape, Acetate open reel tape, Motion picture film, VHS (including SVHS and VHS-C), Betamax, U-matic (including U-matic S), Text document, and Piano rolls
Extent:
300,000 items
Repository/Collector:
The University of Texas at Austin, Fine Arts Library