Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Moran, William R.
- Abstract:
- Personal papers and collection of discographer, author, and philanthropist William R. Moran. Collection includes sound recordings, photographs, and ephemera as well as manuscripts and research files, including files on singers and correspondence with singers, discographers and others.
- Extent:
- 84 linear feet (169 document boxes, 15 flat boxes)
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], William R. Moran collection, PA Mss 57. Department of Special Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection contains posters, photographs, clippings and artifacts relating to the opera singers of the mid to late 19th century and early to mid 20th century, especially those singers who recorded for the Victor Talking Machine Company in the very beginning of the recording age in the early 20th century.
In addition, the collection contains correspondence with singers and other discographers, manuscripts, and research files includings files kept on early Victor recording artists and early cylinder and 78 rpm disc recordings.
Research files also include those files and correspondence relating to Moran's involvement in the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound (StARS), as well as Victor Talking Machine (VTM) ledger files for recordings from 1900 to 1955, which formed the basis for the Victor Project and the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EDVR), an online database of more than 75,000 recordings made by Victor beginning in 1900 maintained by the UCSB Library.
- Biographical / historical:
-
William Rodes Moran (1919-2006) studied and wrote about opera recordings for his whole life and was an acknowledged expert on the opera recordings of the recording of many early singers, especially those that recorded for Victor Records. With Ted Fagan, Moran founded the Victor Project, a comprehensive discography of the Victor Talking Machine Company from 1900 to 1955. In addition to his discographical work William Moran worked for Union Oil as an exploration geologist, retiring as Vice President for Exploration of Molycorp in 1985. From 1956 to 1989 William was Associate Editor of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin.
- Acquisition information:
- Bequeathed with the estate of William R. Moran.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection has been divided into the following series: I. Correspondence, II. Artist Files, IIA. Subject Files, III. Geraldine Farrar Files, IV. Nellie Melba Files, V. Artist Photographs, VI. Artist Clippings, VII. Albums and Scrapbooks, VIII. Autographs and Artifacts, IX. Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound (StARS), X. Recording Research Files (not Victor), XI. Recording Research Files (for EDVR), XII. Oversize, XIII. Opera Houses, Theaters, and Companies.
- Physical location:
- Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], William R. Moran collection, PA Mss 57. Department of Special Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
- Location of this collection:
-
UC Santa Barbara LibrarySanta Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
- Contact:
- (805) 893-3062