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Guide to the Baker Collection of Wire Recordings ARS.0069
ARS.0069  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Source
  • Sponsor
  • Scope and Contents
  • Indexing Terms

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Baker Collection of Wire Recordings
    Dates: 1940-1964
    Collection number: ARS.0069
    Creator: Baker, Michael H.
    Collection size: 1 box: 37 spools of wire recordings
    Contributing Institution: Archive of Recorded Sound
    Abstract: 37 off-air recordings, primarily of the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in the 1950s.
    Language of Material: English

    Access

    Open for research; material must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Contact the Archive for assistance.

    Publication Rights

    Property rights reside with repository. Publication and reproduction rights reside with the creators or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Head Librarian of the Archive of Recorded Sound.

    Preferred Citation

    Baker Collection of Wire Recordings, ARS-0069. Courtesy of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

    Source

    The Baker Collection of Wire Recordings was donated to the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound by Zachary Baker in 2005.

    Sponsor

    This finding aid was produced with generous financial support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

    Scope and Contents

    Wire recordings, primarily of classical performances from the 1950s, given to the archive by Zachary Baker, Judaica Hebraica Curator at Stanford University Libraries. The collection belonged to his father, Michael H. Baker. Presumably recorded off the radio by Mr. Baker, these wire recordings capture works by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Bartok, Wagner, Verdi, Haydn and others, performed almost entirely by the New York Philharmonic under the batons of Guido Cantelli, Bruno Walter, Arturo Toscanini, and Dmitri Mitropoulos. Soloists include Jascha Heifetz, Robert Cassadesus, Artur Rubinstein, and Gregor Piatigorsky next hit . There are also three non-music recordings; the one regarding the Rosenberg case is a dub from a transcription of a radio play titled "They Must Not Die", produced by the San Francisco Labor Theatre for the Bay Area Committee to Save the Rosenbergs circa 1952 or 1953. Notations on the boxes are indistinct, with some erasure. Spelling has been corrected when known (many are spelled phonetically, as if jotted down from the radio). Different recordings of the same performances are known to have been released commercially, but none in the collection appear to be copies of published releases.

    Indexing Terms

    Baker, Zachary M.