Papers of Dore Schary, a playwright, motion picture executive, and activist in Jewish and liberal political causes documenting both his personal and professional life. Included are general correspondence; microfilmed scrapbooks; scripts and production material for plays and motion pictures; records pertaining to MGM; non-dramatic writings, speeches (many in recorded form), and an autobiography and a family memoir; home movies and photographs; correspondence, reports, lists, financial records, and speeches from his tenure as national chairman of the Anti-Defamation League and subject files on other organizations with which he was involved such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Jewish Committee, and the Democratic Party; and personal and biographical information. Documentation in the production files varies but may include correspondence, notes, variant drafts of scripts, clippings, financial records, publicity, stills, designs, and casting information. Records of Schary's years as executive producer, studio head, and vice-president at MGM include reports of executive meetings, correspondence and memoranda, and scattered financial reports. Also present are papers pertaining to the career of Schary's wife Miriam, painter M. Svet. The collection is arranged in four parts: the Original Collection, the 1968 Additions, the 1977 Additions, and the 1981 Additions. The Original Collection dates 1923-1962 and is organized in these categories: Biographical and Personal Material, General Files, General Writings, and Production Files. The 1968 Additions date 1933-1952 and consist of Production Files only. The 1977 Additions date circa 1920-1980 (though primarily 1956-1977) and again contain Biographical and Personal Material, General Files, General Writings, and Production Files, as well as a new category, Anti-Defamation League Files. Finally, the 1981 Additions date 1924-1980 (primarily 1974-1980) and include the same categories as the 1977 Additions plus a separate category for Disc Recordings. The Original Collection includes other disc recordings, and tape recordings are present in all but the 1968 additions. Some records are present only in microfilm format.
Content types:
Still image, Two-dimensional moving image, and Spoken word
Formats:
Acetate open reel tape, Lacquer disc, Pressed LP disc, Photographic print, and Microfilm
Extent:
74.2 c.f. (203 archives boxes, 1 record center carton, and 1 flat box), 37 reels of microfilm (35 mm), 26 tape recordings, 231 disc recordings, 55 reels of film, and photographs
The Packard collection includes approximately 2,500 discs created, produced, commissioned, or collected by Frederick C. Packard, Jr., during the years 1933-1963. The collection forms part of the Woodberry Poetry Room. While it does not contain a complete inventory of his work, the collection features substantial numbers of discs from all stages of the recording and production process, and constitutes the single-largest aggregate of his recordings of spoken literature. In addition to the discs he created for publication, the materials include rare outtakes; original recordings never reproduced or intended for commercial release; Harvard-related language lessons, lectures, sermons, theatrical, radio, and musical performances; and the voices of Harvard students and professors recorded in his role as Professor of Public Speaking. The collection also features listening copies that Packard (and Woodberry Poetry Room curator John Lincoln Sweeney) created based on exchanges he arranged with the Library of Congress, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Radio Éireann.
Content types:
Performed music and Spoken word
Formats:
Lacquer disc, Pressed LP disc, and Metal disc
Extent:
30 linear feet (90 boxes of discs, 17 boxes of original sleeves, and additional ephemera)
The Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) was established by the War Department on May 26, 1942 to entertain, inform and connect troops to back home. The broadcast were also intended to counter propaganda broadcasts by Tokyo Rose, Axis Sally and other radio personalities supported by the Axis alliance. The AFRS network was launched with a five hour broadcast on July 4, 1943. The network quickly grew and by the end of World War II included 300 stations, broadcasting to troops around the world. Programs were distributed to stations on 16" polyvinyl discs that contained fifteen minutes of information. Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra and other major stars of the day performed on the network free of charge as their contribution to the war effort. Radio networks and record labels provided free access their programming and recordings to help develop programming for the network. In addition to bringing the troops programming from networks and the record labels, the service also created original programs like Jubilee which featured African American bands and entertainers. The AFRS network continued broadcasting through Korea, Vietnam and other subsequent wars and conflicts. Now known as the Armed Forces Network, the service continues to entertain servicemen and servicewomen stationed around the world.
K-R-A-B were once the call letters of a non-commercial, educational FM radio station (107.7mhz) in Seattle, Washington. Going on the air in 1962, it was the fourth listener-supported station in the country. The KRAB Archive is the only authoritative online source of information documenting the history, philosophy and accomplishments of the station. The online collection contains digitized audio, text publications such as program guides, flyers and posters, photographs, correspondence, FCC filings, and short articles about the station. The collection also contains some ephemera and audio of other KRAB Nebula stations, as well as a listing of online archival resources of other "community" radio stations.
Content types:
Performed music, Sounds (Other than music & language), Spoken word, Still image, and Text
Formats:
Pressed LP disc, Optical disc (including CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, VCD), Analog audiocassette, Polyester open reel tape, Acetate open reel tape, Open reel tape (unknown material), Digital audio file (including MP3, WAV, AIFF, etc.), Photographic print, and Text document
Extent:
Online: >600 hours of digitized audio; >1,000 program units; >320 digitized program guide pamphlets or tabloids; comprising >30gb of online disk storage. Physical: >1,200 7" reels of audiotape; >500 cassette tapes; >300 8x5" 12 page program guides; >400 8x11" multifold tabloid program guides; Misc news clippings, posters, flyers, brochures, and Board of Director minutes.
The Arthur B. Church KMBC Radio Collection contains multiple episodes of The Brush Creek Follies featuring the Rhythm Riders, Oklahoma Wranglers, and Midland Minstrels. Most of the collection is related to the events of WWII, FDR, and Harry Truman, D-Day invasion coverage, reports on the signing of treaties, the dropping of the atomic bomb, coverage of the activities of President Roosevelt and Eisenhower. Other highlights include broadcast about the Cold War, Harry Truman's speeches to a multitude of different groups, events at the White House, some of Roosevelt's fireside chats, national news coverage, film footage of KMBC's dedication as well as a segment of the Microphone Personalities, recordings of Pun and Punishment (9/22/60), coverage of Truman and Churchill at Fulton, MO, Churchill's famed "Iron Curtain" speech, recordings of the Texas Rangers. Also included are W.S. Hedge interviews Arthur B. Clarke (6/22/66), KMBC's 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (3/24//48), Church's last KMBC broadcast (1/15/51).
Content types:
Performed music, Sounds (Other than music & language), Spoken word, and Two-dimensional moving image
Formats:
Pressed LP disc, Lacquer disc, Metal disc, and Motion picture film
"The Bill Cosby Radio Program" was a daily syndicated radio series of roughly 5-minute comedy inserts by Cosby and produced by Frank Buxton (who also served as the show’s announcer and comedic "straight man"). Along with sound man Gene Twombly, Cosby and Buxton improvised the episodes, which were syndicated to more than 200 top-40 radio stations around the nation on transcription discs by The Coca-Cola Company and distributed by McCann-Erikson (Coke’s ad agency). The show marked the beginning of Cosby’s long association with Coca-Cola and was the debut of many characters from Cosby’s comedy. This collection features twelve radio broadcast transcription discs (one 12-inch disc and eleven 16-inch discs) of "The Bill Cosby Radio Program" containing programs #21-130 (1968 Jan 29-Jun 24) and programs #141-145 (1968 Jul 15). The disc labels contain the original program description and art.
Content types:
Spoken word
Formats:
Pressed LP disc
Extent:
12 items
Repository/Collector:
UMass Amherst Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives