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College of Music Reel-to-Reel Recordings

Collection Overview

  • Approximately 1700 audio reels (ca. 1955-1985)

Resources

The library possesses approximately 1700 reel-to-reel recordings. There are a few commercial recordings, but the collection consists principally of performances by FSU faculty and ensembles, dating from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s, with the bulk of the collection covering the late 60s to late 70s. Highlights include a production of Globolinks overseen by Giancarlo Menotti and performances from the first Festival of New Music in 1981. Also in the collection are copies, some possibly masters, of the radio show “Songs of Florida.”

As some of the recordings are in poor condition and listening equipment is increasingly rare, we do not provide direct access to this collection. However, we are currently in the process of digitizing the reels and are happy to provide digital copies of recordings via the FSU dropbox service. For on-campus patrons, ask for a digitization request form at the circulation desk. For off-campus users, mail AMLRef@fsu with the details of your request. Please allow at least one week for digitization requests.

A rough list of the collection is available as a PDF file. We have tried to be as complete and accurate as possible, but please be aware that several of the recordings are poorly, incompletely, or wrongly labeled. The list preserves the original numbering so far as possible; occasional inconsistencies occur.