{"id":2676,"date":"2013-06-28T14:49:37","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T14:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/faujsa.fau.edu\/blog\/?p=2676"},"modified":"2026-02-04T16:20:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:20:54","slug":"boca-magazine-blog-highlights-fau-sound-archives-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/about-the-rsa\/boca-magazine-blog-highlights-fau-sound-archives-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Boca Magazine highlights FAU Sound Archives Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<aside>By: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bocamag.com\/blog\/author\/john.thomason\/\"> John Thomason<\/a><\/aside>\n\n\n\n<aside>Jun 28th 2013<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p>n a small room on the fifth floor of FAU\u2019s Wimberly Library, zippered bags clutch dozens of record sleeves of vintage children\u2019s music, relics from another time. There\u2019s Bongo, a circus bear unicycling on a tightrope and voiced by Dinah Shore. There\u2019s \u201cI Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,\u201d whose record sleeve depicts just that. There\u2019s the Three Billy Goats Gruff, Pinocchio, Little Toot and Humpty Dumpty. One album cover, featuring Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird, includes a pencil-written note in the margin: \u201cTo: Dick Hertz. Birthday, Jan. 20, 1951. From: Mommy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/kiddie2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"750\" src=\"http:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/kiddie2.jpg\" alt=\"Ben Roth Showing how records are cleaned\" class=\"wp-image-2686\" title=\"kiddie2\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/kiddie2.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/kiddie2-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/kiddie2-1024x731.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>These forgotten treasures are currently the domain FAU\u2019s Recorded Sound Archives (RSA), which began in 2009 as an extension of its popular Judaica Sound Archives; nowadays, the institution restores and digitizes lost and important music of all kinds. These recently obtained children\u2019s record sleeves, their once-vibrant cover art damaged by flood and mold from Hurricane Sandy, are mostly second copies from the vast collection of Peter Muldavin, the world\u2019s foremost expert on vintage children\u2019s records. When his Long Island storage facility suffered storm damage, he donated its contents \u2013 786 records \u2013 to the RSA, whose passionate archivist, Ben Roth, is a friend. Some of the 78 rpm records date back to the 1920s, bearing price tags of a quarter a piece.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/kiddie1pk-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1200\" src=\"http:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/kiddie1pk-2.jpg\" alt=\"Close Up of Children's Recordings from Hurricane Storm Sandy\" class=\"wp-image-2690\" title=\"kiddie1pk-2\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/kiddie1pk-2.jpg 1800w, https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/kiddie1pk-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/kiddie1pk-2-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The restoration business, on Roth and company\u2019s end, is a long and painstaking one. They are still in the process of entering all the data, with plans to release some of their results through their website starting in January. Roth showed me a bit of the RSA\u2019s fascinating restorative process, some of whose accoutrements look like something out the old Mousetrap game. First, the records are dipped, like strawberries in chocolate, in a motorized tank devised for cleaning jewelry, in which ultrasonic waves eliminate the ingrained dirt. Then they are positioned in front of an industrial hair dryer haphazardly duct-taped into position on a metal stand \u2013 an appropriately primitive way of cleaning these analog goodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for the damaged, crackly sound of the records, that can be polished by more modern means \u2013 Sony\u2019s Sound Forge computer software. The sleeves have been photographed and inventoried for digital restorations, but unfortunately the originals in the zipper bags will be discarded \u2013 their damage is too severe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you make an appointment, you may be able to listen to some of these recordings in the RSA\u2019s headquarters, while admiring the collection\u2019s vintage turntables, including an entirely hand-cranked 1911 Victrola and a 1924 credenza model that Roth says \u201ccost more than a car\u201d at the time of its manufacture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Link to original blog post: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bocamag.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/28\/record-time\/\">http:\/\/www.bocamag.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/28<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bocamag.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/28\/record-time\/\">\/record-time\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: John Thomason Jun 28th 2013 n a small room on the fifth floor of FAU\u2019s Wimberly Library, zippered bags clutch dozens of record sleeves of vintage children\u2019s music, relics from another time. There\u2019s Bongo, a circus bear unicycling on a tightrope and voiced by Dinah Shore. There\u2019s \u201cI Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,\u201d whose [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[118,192,25,27,310,360],"class_list":["post-2676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-the-rsa","tag-childrens-music","tag-hurricane-sandy","tag-kiddie-records","tag-peter-muldavin","tag-rescue","tag-vintage"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Boca Magazine highlights FAU Sound Archives Collection - Recorded Sound Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read how Boca Magazine highlighted the FAU Recorded Sound Archives\u2019 vintage and historic music collection \u2014 preserving rare recordings for all to enjoy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/about-the-rsa\/boca-magazine-blog-highlights-fau-sound-archives-collection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Boca Magazine highlights FAU Sound Archives Collection - 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