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
. 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.