American Memory: Technical summary
URL
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/afccchtml/cowhome.html
Collection Overview
- Description
-
Multi-format ethnographic field collection that includes sound recordings, still
photographs, drawings, and written documents from a variety of European ethnic and
English- and Spanish-speaking communities in Northern California. The collection
comprises 35 hours of folk music recorded in twelve languages representing numerous
ethnic groups and 185 musicians. This elaborate New Deal project was organized and
directed by folk music collector Sidney Robertson Cowell for the Northern California WPA
(Work Projects Administration),and sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley,
and cosponsored by the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress. This
undertaking was one of the earliest ethnographic field projects to document European,
Slavic, Middle Eastern, and English- and Spanish-language folk music in one region of the
United States.
- Source collection
- The WPA California Folk Music Project, American Folklife
Center.
- Technical features
-
The documents in this collections relate to one another in multivalent ways: the performers
turn up in recordings, photos, letters, and reports; the songs turn up in recordings and
transcriptions; musical instruments turn up in recordings, reports, photos, and drawings.
The framing texts for this collection--the various explanatory texts and menus that form the
"home page family" at the web site--are rich in pointers and guidance to the materials
proper.
- Original material formats
- Sound recordings (instantaneous disc recordings)
- Research documents (handwriting and typescript, including song
transcriptions in various languages, field reports, and articles written about the project)
- Correspondence (typescript and hand-writing, english)
- Photographs
- Measured drawings and sketches (musical instruments)
- Number of original items
-
1142 -- (817 sound recordings, 108 research documents [in 9 categories], 4
blocks of correspondence, 168 photographs, 45 drawings)
- Status of collection
- Available online as of November 1997.
- Public access
-
Restrictions associated with this collection will require grantees to
address access management to protect possible legal rights of third-parties.
See notes on
rights and
restrictions provided by the Library to users of this collection.
Aids to intellectual access
- Type & granularity
- MARC bibliographic records. Each bib. record describes a single item, which may
be represented by multiple files. Some audio items were recorded in segments.
-
In addition to bibliographic records for the 108 research documents, there is a menu for the research
documents grouping them into 9 categories. One category (song transcriptions) has
100 items. The 108 items are represented by 214 text files and 765 images.
-
In the menu for the
correspondence, materials are listed in 4 chronological blocks. Each block also
described in a bib record; there is an additional bib record for the entire correspondence.
The 4 blocks are represented by 4 text files and 234 images.
Sample
bibliographic display for a document (song transcription).
Sample
bibliographic display for audio item.
- Linking to digital reproductions
- Bibliographic record contains identifier used in filenames
for all associated files. Bib record contains identifier used in filenames. Identifier prefixes:
a=audio, p=photograph, d=drawing; mnemonic filenames for document identifiers.
Numbering system in place to link searchable text to page images and illustration images.
Digital reproductions
Total file-space for digital reproductions:
5 Gbytes
Audio |
Service
audio |
Service audio |
Marker |
Filename extensions ".ram" and ".ra" |
Filename extension ".wav" |
Formats |
RealAudio |
WAVE |
Sample rate |
n/a |
22.05 kHz |
Word length |
n/a |
16 bit |
Channels |
mono |
mono |
Modem setting |
14.4 Kbps |
n/a |
File size |
30-400 Kbytes (.ra) 1 Kbyte (.ram -- for RealAudio metadata) |
1-12 Mbytes |
Quantity |
944 |
944 |
Sample |
Sample RealAudio |
Sample
WAV |
Research documents |
Archival text file |
Page images |
Marker |
Filename extension
".sgm" |
Filename no hyphen |
Formats |
SGML |
TIFF Group IV |
DTD |
American Memory
(TEI conformant) |
n/a |
Tonal
resolution |
n/a |
1 bit |
Spatial
resolution
(approx) |
n/a |
300 dpi |
Quantity
(approx) |
214 |
765 |
File size |
2-165 Kbytes |
25-240 Kbytes |
Sample |
Sample SGML
document |
Sample
page-image |
Correspondence |
Archival text file |
Page images |
Marker |
Filename extension
".sgm" |
Filename no hyphen |
Formats |
SGML |
TIFF Group IV |
DTD |
American Memory
(TEI conformant) |
n/a |
Tonal
resolution |
n/a |
1 bit |
Spatial
resolution
(approx) |
n/a |
300 dpi |
Quantity
(approx) |
4 |
234 |
File size |
66-165 Kbytes |
35-260 Kbytes |
Sample |
Sample SGML
document |
Sample
page-image |
Photographs |
Service image |
Inline thumbnail |
Additional thumbnail
|
Marker |
Filename ends "r" |
Filename ends "t" |
Filename ends "t" |
Formats |
JPEG/JFIF |
GIF |
TIFF |
Tonal resolution |
8 bit (grayscale) |
8 bit |
8 bit |
Spatial resolution
(approx) |
640x480 pixels |
150x100 pixels |
150x100 pixels |
Quantity (approx) |
168 |
168 |
168 |
File size |
30-90 Kbytes |
8-25 Kbytes |
6-20 Kbytes |
Sample |
Sample
service |
Sample thumbnail |
Sample thumbnail |
Note: Service images and thumbnails for photographs are also available in PICT
format. 640x480 PICT images are 100-300 Kbytes in size; the thumbnails are 9-25
Kbytes. Sample service image
and Sample
thumbnail.
Drawings |
Archival image |
Service image for printing on 8x11 paper |
Service image for display |
Inline thumbnail |
Marker |
Filename ends "u" |
Filename ends "p" |
Filename ends "r" |
Filename ends "t" |
Formats |
TIFF (uncompressed) |
TIFF Group IV (Motorola byte order) |
JPEG/JFIF |
GIF |
Tonal resolution |
1 bit |
1 bit |
8 bit |
8 bit |
Spatial resolution
(approx) |
6200x4000 pixels |
3000x2400 pixels |
1200x1000 pixels |
280x200 pixels |
Quantity (approx) |
45 |
45 |
45 |
45 |
File size |
3.5-4.5 Mbytes |
50-150 Kbytes |
100-300 Kbytes |
10-20 Kbytes |
Sample |
Sample archival |
Sample
printing |
Sample display |
Sample thumbnail |
Note: Also available are versions of the printing image in TIFF Group
IV in Intel byte order. Sample printing image of
drawing.
Library of Congress contribution to Digital Libraries Initiative - Phase II
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