Serota collection yields long-forgotten treasures

By , August 25, 2011 12:21 pm

It was the “last box packed.” Now it was the last box to be unpacked. After going through 156 boxes of Cantorial, Yiddish and English-language recordings from the collection of Chicago record producer Barry Serota we stared at this box and knew that once it was opened our job of unpacking would be complete.

However, our work organizing, describing and investigating the music was just beginning!

Barry Serota, had devoted his life to collecting great Jewish music and producing high-quality recordings. Although we knew that this was a wonderful donation to the Judaica Sound Archives, we really couldn’t be sure what treasures we would find. As it turns out, we couldn’t be more pleased!

Of the 1,513 LPs that were unpacked we found at least 100 that were still in their original cellophane wrappers. There were also a few 45 rpm records, over seven hundred 78 rpm discs, 101 digital tapes, and 1,443 audio reel-to-reel tapes.

Benedict Stambler, founder of the Collector’s Guild recording company, had been Barry Serota’s mentor and friend. We were delighted to uncover several test pressings from the Collector’s Guild Archives Limited Edition series. There were numerous other test pressings as well, a few of them acetate.

Test pressings include: an acetate pressing of a synagogue service  radio broadcast led by Cantor Dale Lind made in 1941, a live concert by Cantor David Kousevitsky that was recorded in 1968, and a concert of folk songs by Rosenblatt.

The JSA has now been able to create a special collection of about 60 albums on the Musique Internationale label. This rare collection of recordings by a dedicated lover of Jewish music can now be enjoyed around the world on the JSA website.

The Judaica Sound Archives has greatly enhanced its already extensive collection of Judaic music with this acquisition and we are delighted to be able to share it with you. Recordings that cannot be played on the website due to copyrights will be made available on the JSA Scholar’s Research Station.

A mother’s loving tribute

By , August 1, 2011 1:25 pm

Mrs. Blanche Serota holds a recording produced by her son under the Musique Internationale label.

Blanche Serota visited the JSA in February 2011 to arrange for the donation of  her son’s personal record collection to the Judaica Sound Archives at FAU Libraries.

Mrs. Serota was clearly still grieving over the loss of her son, lawyer and record producer, Barry Serota, when she visited the JSA.  She told me that her son was never interested in making money.  He collected and produced Jewish music recordings just for the love of it.

She wanted to honor his his memory.  It comforted her to know that what he loved so much would find a warm welcome and a permanent home at the Judaica Sound Archives at FAU Libraries.

Ben Roth-Aroni, RSA’s sound archivist, was especially elated about the gift. His  relationship with Barry Serota went back to the early 1970’s when he was employed as Serota’s tape editor.  “When I first heard about his passing, it didn’t sink in right away.  I couldn’t believe it! I was very fond of him. I called Barry’s mother to offer my condolences and to tell her how much I admired his dedication to the preservation of cantorial and other Jewish music. I invited her to visit the Judaica Sound Archives. She was spending the winter in West Palm Beach and I thought she would be interested in what we were doing here.”

Mrs. Serota was unable to make the trip to Boca Raton that winter but we made arrangements for Ben to visit her in Chicago to assess the collection of recordings and Musique Internationale masters that were stacked in her basement.  “I would have to say that it was pleasantly overwhelming!” he reported.  He estimated that there were approximately 100 boxes of recordings, record masters, and reel-to-reel tapes.

Meeting Mrs. Serota face-to-face for the first time, Ben talked about his memories of Barry. She remembered the beautiful voice of Ben’s father, Cantor Zvee Aroni. And so they talked and ate deli sandwiches for lunch.

Dr. Wiiliam Miller (right), Dean of FAU Libraries, looks on as Blanche Serota (middle) and Maxine Schackman (left) pose in front of the new "gold record" honoring Barry Serota.

 By the time Ben left Chicago Mrs. Serota had made up her mind to donate all the recordings she had to the JSA.
The following February Ben personally escorted Mrs. Serota to Boca Raton where she was visibly impressed by what she saw.  Dr. Miller arranged for a JSA  donor recognition “gold record” to be placed on the JSA Sound Angel wall. Mrs. Serota expressed her pleasure in knowing that her son’s memory and his work would be appropriately honored.

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