Arguably of more importance than the loss of unique (1 specimen only) 78
records are the loss of unique newspapers and political leaflets, which are
legion. The latter naturally had a lower "survival rate" than mass
produced-and-comparatively durable phonograph records. This is not to say
that saving ultra-rare 78s are unimportant, but there is a whole mass of
written culture out there that is one breath away from extinction.
Fanzines are another example of small circulation and thus endangered media.
The rise of the Adobe pdf format over the past decade and the crashing
price of computer storage space has been a boon to preservation of rare
written and photographic material. It's very satisfying to save something
in this way for future generations and I urge those archive rats on the
list to do their best to preserve and share when they come across unique
material in their research pursuits.
Tim Davenport /// Carrite
Corvallis, OR USA
====
Message: 8
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2014 15:53:10 +0100
From: David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com>
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Rarest records
On 4 August 2014 15:11, Andy Mabbett <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:
> but the thesis that some 78rpm records constitute the only surviving
> example of a particular recording, with no master in an archive
> somewhere, sent chills up my spine.
This is surprisingly common with indie records. Frequently, a few
hundred pieces of vinyl are the *only* copies of the music in
question.
- d.
