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Czech researcher checks out Mills Music Library

December 22, 2017
Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) logo

Filip Šír, Department of Digitization and New Media, National Museum, Czech Republic, visited Mills Music Library earlier this year when he came to the United States on a research trip funded by an ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections) Research Grant to find out how he and his colleagues could help to preserve the sound cultural heritage of the Czech diaspora, and he wrote about his visit in an article appearing in the Number 145, Fall/Winter 2017 issue of the ARSC Newsletter. What Šír found most interesting here were the many Czech (Bohemian) recordings we have on 78rpm records, and our numerous old record label catalogs.

Label of 78rpm record Odeon 17140-A, a polka titled Bobeček, recorded by the group Kapela pana Hermana, Praha, from the Ford Porter Collection, Mills Music Library
Label of 78rpm record Odeon 17140-A, a polka titled Bobeček, recorded by the group Kapela pana Hermana, Praha, from the Ford Porter Collection, Mills Music Library

He also enjoyed meeting James P. Leary, who has been spending a lot of time here working on the NEH grant-funded project Local Centers/Global Sounds since retiring last year. Šír notes that Leary told him how important Wisconsin was for the Czechs who had immigrated to Chicago and then sought to move throughout the upper Midwest during the past one hundred and fifty years.

We were honored by Šír selecting us as one of his destinations, and we are pleased he enjoyed his visit. We welcome all visitors, whether you’re a grant-funded researcher or simply a person curious about music!