Posts tagged: Nathan Tinanoff

What will happen to the JSA?

By , October 11, 2010 10:32 am

 

phonograph-jsa-bigThe question that everyone has been asking me since Nathan Tinanoff resigned his position as Director of the JSA on September 30th  is,”What will happen to the Judaica Sound Archives?

The JSA will continue to thrive…but, there will be changes.

What will stay the same?

1. The JSA will continue to have the largest online collection of Judaic music and voice in the world.

2. The JSA website (rsa.fau.edu/judaic) will continue to delight you with collections featuring performers of the past, cantorial greats and new artists.

3. The JSA Research Station will continue to bring Judaic music to scholars and students at institutions of Judaic studies around the world.

4. The JSA blog will continue to bring you information about new music collections and the goings on at the JSA at Florida Atlantic University.

5. The JSA will continue to be found on the 5th floor of the Wimberly Library on FAU’s Boca Raton campus.

What will change?

The JSA will no longer stand alone.  It is now part of a family of sound archives at FAU Libraries.  The newly formed Recorded Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University Libraries is larger and more diverse. The JSA  will join a preservation effort that includes not only Jewish culture but also classical music, opera, jazz and American folk and pop.

I am pleased to accept the position as Director of FAU Library’s Recorded Sound Archives. I have worked closely with Nat Tinanoff since the inception of the JSA. As the JSA’s Assistant Director I have seen it grow from a few thousand recordings into a major Judaic music resource.

I look forward to building upon our success as we develop FAU’s Recorded Sound Archives.

A good friend is hard to find . . . . impossible to forget.

By , October 13, 2009 2:35 pm
 From left: Hedvah and Ben Aroni, Louis and Rouhama Danto

From left: Hedvah and Ben Aroni, Louis and Rouhama Danto

In today’s blog the JSA thanks and honors two great friends: Louis and Rouhama Danto. If you are one of the people who have been impressed and amazed by the incredible collection of recordings that the Judaica Sound Archives has received from the estate of the late Jack Saul, you might be wondering, “How did Jack Saul know about the JSA?”

Good question. And the answer is: Cantor and Mrs. Danto.

The JSA became acquainted with Cantor and Mrs. Danto about three years ago. They were known to JSA’s sound archivist Ben Roth-Aroni as friends of his mother and father, Cantor Zvee Aroni. The couple lives in Toronto, Canada and Ben urged them to visit the Judaica Sound Archives on their next visit to South Florida. On February 20, 2006 the JSA staff had the opportunity to meet this remarkable couple.

They were immediately impressed by what they saw and what the JSA was trying to accomplish. At the time, the JSA website was just beginning to put some of the music on the internet. Having a Cantor of Danto’s stature agree to allow us to put his albums on our website was a real coup! Cantor Danto signed a contract with us and about six months later his beautiful voice could be enjoyed by listeners around the world.

Dantos visit JSA (from left) Rouhama Danto, Ben Aroni, Cantor Danto, Nathan Tinanoff

Dantos visit JSA (from left) Rouhama Danto, Ben Aroni, Cantor Danto, Nathan Tinanoff

If that was all that we had to thank the Dantos for it would be more than enough. But there is more.

The Sauls and the Dantos knew each other from the years that Cantor Danto officiated a the Park Synagogue in Cleveland. The Sauls were part of the congregation and the Cantor often visited their home to listen to Jack Saul’s record collection and to talk about music. They told Jack about their experience with the JSA and how impressed they were with our genuineness and our professionalism. Although he was somewhat reluctant at first, Jack eventually agreed to visit the JSA “to see for himself.”

From left: Jack & Hinda Saul, Louis Danto

From left: Jack & Hinda Saul, Louis Danto

Jack Saul had spent a lifetime collecting sound recordings.  It was his passion.  It was his life. Now, with the encouragement of his good friends Louis and Rouhama Danto, Jack Saul was able to find a place that could take on the responsibilites of guardianship for the collection that meant so much to him.

For more information about Jack Saul and his record collection click the Jack Saul link on the right menu under the CATEGORIES heading and scroll down.

Cleveland sound recordings get a new home at FAU Libraries

By , October 5, 2009 10:29 am

many hands BLOGThe excitement we were all feeling when the truck from Cleveland, filled with recordings from Jack Saul’s collection, pulled up to the Library’s loading dock was quickly replaced by focused activity. Everyone had a job to do and immediately jumped into action. Unloaders moved the boxes from the truck to pallets which were then moved with a handtruck through the Wimberly Library lobby into the elevator to the fifth floor where they were stacked for later unpacking. Other boxes were placed on carts and deposited in other areas of the library.

Of the 730 boxes in this shipment 255 are filled with recordings headed for the Judaica Sound Archives and the FAU Music Department’s Jazz Sound Collection. The remaining 475 boxes contain vintage 78 rpm recordings which will form a new FAU Library collection.

Transporting boxes through the Wimberly Library lobby

Transporting boxes through the Wimberly Library lobby

Removing boxes from elevator on Wimberly Library's 5th floor

Removing boxes from elevator on Wimberly Library’s 5th floor

FAU Libraries unpacks truckload of recordings

By , September 30, 2009 1:58 pm
Truck backing up to Wimberly Library loading dock

Truck backing up to Wimberly Library loading dock

I cannot express to you the excitement on the morning of Friday, September 11, 2009 as the entire staff of the Judaica Sound Archives and volunteers from other FAU Library departments waited for the arrival of the truck which had been loaded with recordings from the Jack Saul collection in Cleveland.

Nat had been preparing for a week, finding areas of the Wimberly Library where the boxes could be stored until they are unpacked, rounding up volunteers, assigning work tasks at the loading dock, measuring entranceways to make sure that the pallets loaded with boxes could fit through, arranging for carts to be available where the pallets couldn’t fit, etc. With his incredible organizational skills and attention to detail the operation felt like a well-designed military operation. Everything went perfectly! Within 4 hours all the boxes had been unloaded and stacked in their designated areas.

720 boxes of phonograph recordings to unload

Nathan Tinanoff directs the off-loading

Nathan Tinanoff directs the off-loading at the loading dock of FAU Libraries

Judaica recordings jam-packed from floor to ceiling

By , September 24, 2009 4:16 pm
Jack Saul's Cleveland home

Jack Saul’s Cleveland home

After Jack Saul died in May 2009, Nathan Tinanoff of the Judaica Sound Archives was called to the Sauls’ home in Cleveland. The Saul family wanted to donate the Judaica portion of Jack’s huge collection of sound recordings to the JSA. Although Nat had spoken with Jack Saul several times over the years and had been told by many people of his incredible collection of recordings, he was still unprepared for what he found. The small suburban bungalow was unremarkable.  But what was inside was remarkable indeed!

What Nat saw were stacks of records! Stacks of records in the living room. Stacks of records in the basement. Stacks of records on the stairs. Stacks of records on the dining room table. The house was literally jam-packed with phonograph recordings, tapes, and CDs.

JS-basement

JS-Living-Room

Jack Saul's staircase

Jack Saul’s staircase

The first task that Nat faced was to locate the Judaica recordings. He was able to identify over 12,000 recordings that could be added to the archives. But there were other treasures that he discovered.  For example, he found tens of thousands of 78 rpm phonograph recordings that were in mint condition.  Even though they weren’t Judaica, he knew they were important.

When Nat returned to Florida he and Dr. William Miller (Dean of FAU Libraries) had a talk.  Dr. Miller agreed that the collection of 78 rpm recordings were just too rare and valuable to be left behind.  Dr. Miller decided to bring those records to FAU Libraries to start a new collection of vintage phonograph recordings at the Wimberly Library.

LP albums headed for JSA in Boca Raton, FL

LP albums headed for JSA in Boca Raton, FL

Uncovering a treasure trove of Judaica recordings

By , September 23, 2009 9:53 am

We were delighted when Jack Saul visited the Judaica Sound Archives in February 2009. He was accompanied by his wife, Hinda, his son Ken and daughter-in-law Julie. Jack was well-known to us because he had amassed what we believed to be the largest private collection of sound recordings in the USA, maybe in the world.

Nat shows Jack Saul old phono

Jack Saul and Nathan Tinanoff examine an old Victrola at the JSA in February 2009

Jack Saul and his family were impressed by what they saw at the JSA.  As he walked down the aisles of shelves holding tapes, CDs and LP phonograph albums Saul would stop from time to time to comment about a recording. He was very knowledgeable and seemed to know every one of his tens of thousands of recordings personally.

Jack Saul at the JSA in February 2009

Jack Saul visits JSA 2-6-09

According to Arlene Fine of the Cleveland Jewish News Jack Saul filled his modest home with over 150,000 phonograph records. Over 36,000 of these have been donated by his family to FAU Libraries. About 12,000 of the recordings will be added to the JSA’s collection.

After his untimely death on May 1, 2009 we learned that the Saul family wanted to donate all of the Judaic recordings in the collection to the JSA. So it was with a mixture of heavy heart and anxious anticipation that Nathan Tinanoff, Ben Roth and Bill King went off to Cleveland to supervise the selection and packing of the recordings that were headed to FAU Libraries.

(Bottom) Ben Roth; standing from left: Bill King, Hinda Saul, Nathan Tinanoff

(Bottom) Ben Roth; standing from left: Bill King, Hinda Saul, Nathan Tinanoff

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