SPRING 1999 ISSN 0952-2360 Report on Minimum Cataloguing of Oral History Work Generally
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For further information contact The British Library National Sound Archive 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB ISSN 0952-2360 Tel:0171-412 7440. Fax: 0171-412 7441 SPRING 1999 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive Front cover photograph: ‘Dancing on the Green 1954’ (photo Grace Robertson, Picture Post) 21 NATIONAL SOUND ARCHIVE report on minimum cataloguing of oral history work generally. BBC what’s happening standards, prepared for the EU Radio Scotland have been carrying concerted action HARMONICA. out a separate interview project and Most of these papers will appear in it has been agreed that the recordings the next IASA journal, edited by and catalogue from this will also be Chris Clark (Head of Public Services), housed at the NSA. who chaired the session on wildlife and environmental recordings, the ■ Richard Ranft, Wildlife Sounds first on this subject at IASA for almost ■ Verification of data in the Curator, has prepared a new CD twenty years. He has played a leading National Discography, a database guide to the voices of 107 species of role in the IASA cataloguing rules owned and compiled by Music nightjars. It was published by group, which met for the last time in Alliance (as the combined MCPS ornithological publishers Pica Press Paris: the rules are expected to be and PRS are now known) takes in November and releases many ready for publication in May this year. place at the NSA where label unique recordings, from NSA and information and credits as they other bioacoustic collections in the ■ Oliver Berliner,whose grandfather actually appear on the records USA,collected by 60 recordists in 50 invented the gramophone in 1887, are compared with information countries. visited the NSA on 8 December on supplied in advance by record his way home from the Deutsche companies. The 200,000th product Grammophon centenary celebrations was added to the database recently. ■ The NSA celebrated its first year at St Pancras with a rather more ambitious in Hamburg. At a small reception It was My heart will go on, the single Christmas party than hitherto,fielding a jazz band largely composed of NSA staff. attended by Ruth Edge (Archivist at by Celine Dion (featured in Titanic) Inspired by recordings of Bix Beiderbecke’s small groups from the late 20s, the EMI Records Ltd), Keith Parker – the best selling single of the year band reworked mostly period arrangements,with two more modern Christmas (Assistant Curator, Communications, so far, and on two of the best selling numbers for the occasion, and an example from the impressive oeuvre of Toby Science Museum) and several of the albums of the year! Oakes (Drama and Literature Curator), sung by the composer, along with NSA’s most regular users, he several other classics. In the absence of a bass instrumentalist among our presented the NSA with an advance ■ The Millennium Oral History current ranks we were glad to welcome Gavin Holman of Information Systems, copy of a television programme Project, a joint venture between the Boston Spa, a very accomplished tuba player who joined us for rehearsals and called ‘Caruso for all – the Story of the BBC and the BL, and the largest oral the performance. The band and vocalist went on to serenade guests at the Gramophone’,on which he appears. history study ever mounted, has now ■ Nigel Bewley of the Technical opening of the Manuscript Reading Room at St Pancras on 4 January, a been under way since September. Section has been working on a performance which was again well received. Rob Perks, the NSA Oral History compilation of Dr Ian Russell’s curator, has been attending feed- Village Carols to be published by ■ The International Association of Sound and Audio-visual Archives 1998 back cluster meetings around the the Smithsonian. This indicates conference was held at the new Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris during country to monitor the material international recognition of Dr November.The guiding themes ‘improving access’ and ‘new media technology’ plus being collected by local radio stations Russell’s project to record, preserve the proximity of another new national library attracted a larger than usual and deal with problems as they are and stimulate the uniquely surviving attendance by NSA staff.The NSA’s Director Crispin Jewitt spoke on ‘Copyright Janet Caddock arising.The interviewing programme Christmas singing traditions of south and national archives:the challenge of new technologies’,Rob Perks (Oral History is making good progress and gener- Yorkshire. His complete recordings, Curator) on ‘Oral history collections and their accessibility’ and Richard Ranft ating a great deal of local publicity, some already published on cassette (Wildlife Sounds Curator) on ‘Capturing and archiving wildlife sounds’, while which is beneficial to the NSA and with our assistance, are available for Antony Gordon of the cataloguing section summarised his recently acclaimed helps to raise awareness of the value listening at the NSA. 2 Oliver Berliner (right) with Crispin Jewitt, NSA Director posh speech an upper-class project by Prunella Scales ■ More and more over the last few ‘educated’ classes. I know a young, years I’ve noticed what I can only public-school-educated, regular Army describe as an invert snobbery in officer, who says ‘vurry good feed’, actors, in terms of speech. Young where his father would have said actors especially will, quite rightly, ‘vey good fawd’. take endless trouble to perfect a While a democratisation of regional or urban working class speech is, I believe, to be welcomed accent or dialect for a part, with on sociological grounds, I think as and actors of bygone years. I’m actresses, clergy, male and female Edwin Booth spoke by far the admirable success, but when they actors we should research and working with the speech expert aristocrats, members of the Royal ‘purest’ English of any of them!) – appear in, say, a play by Wilde or reflect the speech of the characters and coach at the National Theatre, family, public schoolboys, county and also recordings of Gladstone, Shaw or Noel Coward, they don’t we play from every walk of society Patsy Rodenberg, who was the first landowners, girls from boarding Neville Chamberlain, Winston seem to ask themselves, ‘How did as accurately as possible – and person to explain to me the schools before 1940, debutantes, Churchill and many other politicians. this particular person speak, given while tapes exist of regional and meaning of the phrase ‘stiff upper politicians from all parties, We can’t wait for our next visit: the life they led, the people they met urban dialects, it is very difficult lips’: it wasn’t anything to do with academics, society hostesses, although the project will take time and the period they lived in?’. nowadays to find records of people British phlegm or courage in the masters of foxhounds etc. My letter and ruthless editing, I’m sure it will I have always been fascinated from ‘grand’ backgrounds, or any face of adversity – it was members was passed on to Cathy Courtney, be of use to actors in future years, by variations in what I would call such people who are prepared to of the British Raj in India speaking who is Project Officer for the and a highly entertaining collection ‘posh’ speech – how, for instance, impart their speech habits or offer through their teeth, so that their National Life Story Collection, and into the bargain. It is wonderful to someone from a county family advice. I was delighted therefore, servants wouldn’t overhear! who felt that, ‘there might be a CD know that we have this Archive at before 1930, and even nowadays, will and indeed moved, to discover I had already written to Crispin in the project’, and a few weeks ago, the British Library and there is so very often say ‘gawn’ and ‘awf’ there was an interest at the National Jewitt, the director of the National Patsy and I spent a fascinating much interest and positive co- and ‘crawss’ instead of ‘gone’ and Sound Archive in compiling what I Sound Archive at the British Library, morning listening to recordings of operation. As an actor, I am very ‘off’ and ‘cross’. I began to wonder will call a library of ‘posh’ speech, and asked if we could hear the Henry Irving, Edwin Booth, Ellen grateful to the staff there, and as when the mid-Atlantic rolled ‘r’ and have already had a fascinating earliest recordings available of Terry and other Victorian and a citizen I’m very proud of the crept into speech of the English time there listening to politicians various speakers: actors and Edwardian actors – (the American whole resource. 3 photographer Maurice Yates. Leaders of the current generation include Nick Waplington, Zarina Bhimji, Roshini Kempadoo, Corinne Day and Anna Fox.