I've been advised that my previous message with
this heading arrived in someone's mailbox as an attachment, so this is a re-send
in hopes that it will come through to the List in regular email
format. The original message did come to me as email, so not sure why some
people are receiving it as an attachment. But anyway--!
Steve G.
----- Original Message -----
From: Steve
Green
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 3:00 PM
Subject: Demo Tapes, etc. in Archives Hello List.
This is different from but tangentially related to
the question concerning making available oral histories where no release forms
are on file:
I would be interested in hearing from archivists
who have found themselves dealing with collections of organizational records
that include materials submitted to the organization by people not affiliated by
that organization. Specifically, I am thinking of the many types of
organizations that may have sponsored a performance event to which people
applied by sending demo tapes (audio or video), promotional packets, photos,
etc. I'm trying to assess how an archive that houses the organizational
records should address these materials from third party sources.
In the past 15 years I've worked in a variety of
archival settings, but most of these were inclined to accept or actively collect
records from such entities as recording labels, music festivals, and arts
organizations. It often has been the case that the archives ended up with,
say, tapes (published and unpublished) submitted to a record label, a song
publishing company, an arts organization, etc. by people interested in either
being accepted for a performance roster or getting their material recorded or
published. Keeping these submissions is helpful in demonstrating or
documenting the scope of the organization's activities, but since each
submission probably reflects copyrighted work(s), what is the consensus about
the limitations on a) receiving these into an archive, and b) making them
available to researchers?
Often the sheer number of these items precludes any
kind of individualized "search" for controlling parties to obtain clarification
of their status. For a specific example, I can think of a southern record
label and music publishing firm that received tapes on a daily basis (ca.
1965-1985) from aspiring song writers and recording artists often accompanied by
typed or handwritten lyric sheets and correspondence. Taken as a whole,
the body of such material amassed by the company over a period of several
decades can reveal a tremendous amount about the hopes and dreams of ordinary
"amateur" musicians as well as their circumstances, their treatment during the
quest for public recognition, and their stylistic influences and contributions
to popular music. In short, the materials provide a flip side to the portrait of
American music most often revealed through "published" and or "commercial"
channels. But-- and herein lies the rub-- none of these people imagined
that their demo tapes (often homemade) would end up in a public archive.
There is nothing that explicitly permits these materials to be kept or made
available outside the context of the original submission. I am inclined to
think that such materials might be made available, if at all, for personal use
and study only under Fair Use, but I would appreciate hearing the
interpretations of others who've found themselves addressing similar
collections. Surely, the records of book publishers include all manner of
unpublished manuscripts, so what is the status of such materials as far as an
archive is concerned?
I suppose there is a precedent set by
correspondence since most of us, when we write a letter, do not anticipate that
the papers of the person (or organization) we are writing might one day end up
in an archive. Wasn't this the gist of the famous Sallinger case?
Does this mean that anytime someone drops a letter or other item in the mail,
there is the potential for it to surface many years later in an archive open to
the public? The difference here is that the material refrred to above was
submitted originally in hopes of financial gain and / or public artistic
exposure.
Since archives are usually without any forms to
help govern the use of such material, what guidelines have people used in
administering these things?
Thanks for your thoughts,
Steve Green
Western Folklife Center
501 Railroad Street
Elko, NV 89801
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