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Chapter 3 Old Time Radio Programs |
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AN OPEN LETTER OF CONCERN TO THE O.T.R. COMMUNITY
This is written as a letter of WARNING and CONCERN to the whole of the O.T.R. community.
Recently, this museum curator has had to write a letter of rebuke to a well known figure within the OTR community who had donated a vast holdings of OTR programs (some found nowhere else), to the University of [name withheld] Special Collections Library and the National Library of Congress. I would like to think that he was unaware that these two institutions are akin to the ‘Black Hole of Calcutta;’ --- What goes in, simply stays there and doesn’t come out. A total violation of the very spirit of the O.T.R. community, with believes in sharing and cooperation. For example, according to OFFICIAL Library of Congress Policy --- In order to obtain an actual copy of an OTR:
- First you must obtain written permission from the donor. Why, or what the logic behind this is, I do not know, but there it is. [NOTE- NBC charges $100 for such a letter]
- Next, only one of their [expensive] technicians is allowed to physically make an actual copy.
And at the University of [name withheld], the situation is even worse. Their logic (or at least their claim) for rejecting our request for copies, was that because we are a both museum as well as an education organization, that we would therefore make copies of these programs available to any of our museum members. No joke, that’s their stated reason. And what gets me is that this is a library that’s saying that.
Even thought I’ve personally have shown them that there are NO COPY-RIGHTS, and even that the program's originator [in this case the United Nations] ALLOWS FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION, even to the point of Over the Air Broadcasting, --- Still no go. They simply won’t allow us to obtain copies. Why? Leaving psychiatric reasons aside, I for one feel that it’s a simple case of; “I’ve got a copy and NO, I’m not going to allow you to have one, “Nyah, neyah-na-nyah, NYAH!”
The problem, and the reason for this letter of concern, is that the situation really isn’t very funny. About a year ago the author himself was in jail, and has personally witnessed more than one individual die Cancer. I say this not to draw sympathy, but simply to state a fact, people are hurting out there, and they need our help. Among the OTR’s that we attempted to obtain via the University of [name withheld] is the following:
The U.N. story # 54, Assignment Narcotics - OCLC: 260433650 Which contains the voices of Harry J. Anslinger (Americans first Drug Czar) who is accredited with creating the Anti-Medical Marihuana Laws, as well as that of Victor H. Vogel who was also instrumental in the dis-information campaign.This program alone, because of who appears on it, is vital to historians, OTR buffs, and lawyers defending cancer patients, who can use the information to help end present day injustices. But due to the fact that we CAN’T obtain these recordings, this is not to be.
Thus to the OTR community, I beg of all of you out there, please, please, don’t just donate anything to any library in a nilly-willy fashion. ASK the following: Will the public have reasonable access to these programs or will you just be keeping them all to yourselves?
PLEASE all of you out there, don’t let this happen again.
Antique Andy
Museum Curator
WANT TO KNOW MORE:
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Due to space / download time considerations, only selected materials are displayed. If you would like to obtain more information, feel free to contact the museum. All our material is available (at cost) on CD-Rom format. Please contact: antique_andy@catholic.org
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