The past comes alive through this extensive collection, for descendants, students, and scholars alike. Now users can search for the student transcriber’s name, the first line of a song’s chorus, and the location of the recordings, alongside poetically rich themes, keywords, places, or even fictional people. The original collection guide limited searches to the name of informant or title of the song, leaving many songs unfound and unheard. Lennertz worked with Deb Kulczak, music cataloger and metadata expert, to create a sophisticated web of descriptors that made the collection more searchable. The tapes and their transcripts convey a riveting story, but it was only part of what they could tell. Metadata Makes the Collection More Visible The fully searchable transcripts are often critical to the understanding and use of the songs, Lennertz said. The audio files captured voices generations old in dialects that have faded in time and are unfamiliar to many listeners today. The scope of the project broadened over the next several years to include the transcripts Parler and her students carefully created. “The project is really about bringing these songs out of their boxes, off of creased tapes, and out into the public,” said Tim Nutt, head of Special Collections. When funding becomes available, these materials will also be offered digitally. The wealth of information documented in the Folklore Collection includes more than just the audio files and their transcripts - there are photographs like this one, musical notations, and class reports chronicling life in the Ozarks. The digitization of the transcripts was funded by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council. The conference caught the attention of the Happy Hollow Foundation, which signed on to fund the audio preservation. In 2005, Special Collections sponsored a conference to discuss preservation options and gather support from researchers. Researchers and archivists had known for some time that the tapes were deteriorating – the magnetized reel-to-reels were demagnetizing and the collection could be lost. The University Libraries later appointed Lora Lennertz, director for academic and research services, to direct the campaign to preserve the tapes digitally, broaden access to their content, and capture for posterity an entire era of Ozark Mountain culture. He worked with the University Libraries’ Special Collections to find them a permanent home in the collection. Cochran of the English Department, the original steward of the collection, recognized the value of the recordings and what they offered listeners. Descendants of her subjects are naturally fascinated by these recordings, finding familiar voices among the hand-labeled boxes of tapes. She and her students spent 16 years trekking across the Ozarks collecting more than 4,000 audio files – folksongs, folk tales, instrumentals and countless conversations. Parler began the University of Arkansas Folklore Project in 1949. Mary Celestia Parler made it possible for some Arkansans to hear the voices of their grandparents for the first time. Mary Celestia Parler in her office in Old Main.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |