U of Manitoba refuses record collection
The University of Manitoba has politely refused an unexpected offer from a Toronto doctor to take a massive collection of vintage records off his hands.
What is a private individual supposed to do with a 56,500 vinyl record collection that has records as old as 1913?
I would think that a university or a museum would be a good place to donate a collection like this. I would be wrong. The University of Manitoba, like all government institutions, takes the short sighted, short term solution. Their response to the donation offer, is that this is too big for them to deal with so dispose of it some other way. But I suppose this makes sense. Most universities don't care about any culture other than their own, and their funds are all earmarked for raises rather than educating students or preserving historical records.
It seems to me that a collection of this size just might have some rare recordings that otherwise no longer exist. I would think that at the very least the university should make an attempt to catalog and review the collection to see if it is worth saving. I would think that even if the university decides that after review it still doesn't want the collection, they should be able to help find a home for this collection. Breaking up a collection of this size, and dispersing it to multiple collectors around the world is not a great way to preserve a valuable historical record of popular culture.
But I am not employed by a government agency, so I am able to see the value in a collection of this nature. And I am saddened to think that due to government short sightedness some of these recordings may be lost to the public forever.
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