Mintel Archive donated to the Library of Congress ~ November 2020
The Library of Congress of The United States will archive the classical music recordings made by Richard & Judith Mintel. The master tapes, recordings, and other materials associated with them have been recently transported from the Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago to the Library of Congress Packard Center in Culpeper, Virginia; they will be accessioned into the Library of Congress over the next few months and archived there. They will be made available to the public through the Library. The recordings will be preserved for posterity at the Library of Congress as is the case with many other audio recordings from Presidential speeches, to Native American songs, to Hispanic literature on tape, to Mississippi Blues to gospel music. The news of this donation was featured in an article by Maxwell Evans published in Block Club Chicago and in an interview on WGN radio with John Records Landecker. The Hyde Park Herald also published the news about the Library of Congress; this story was in two installments. The first can be found here. The second installment focuses on the history of classical music in Hyde Park and can be found here.
Mintel Archive to be Broadcast on the Beethoven Satellite Network ~ February 2020
Beginning in late February, recordings from the Mintel Archive will begin appearing on the Beethoven Satellite Network produced by host Peter van de Graaff. The Beethoven Network is part of the WFMT Radio Network and provides classical music programming to hundreds of radio stations worldwide. Approximately 150 radio stations in the United States broadcast Beethoven Network segments. In addition, this classical music programming appears on the European Broadcast Union radio stations, the British Broadcasting Company outlets, and the Asian Broadcast Network. In the next six to nine months more than sixty selections from the Mintel Archive will be included in these radio broadcasts.
Programs produced by the Beethoven Network are featured on WFMT’s “Through the Night with Peter van de Graaff” from midnight until 6:00 am Central time. The first recordings from the Mintel Archive to be featured on the Beethoven Network include Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E-Flat Major, K. 364 featuring Elliott Golub, violin, and Martin Abrahms, viola as well as Jacchini’s Sonata in D Major, op. 5, no. 1. with Charles Geyer and Barbara Butler, trumpets, Barbara Haffner, cello. During the months of February and March 2020 almost 20 pieces from the Mintel Archive will be broadcast. The WFMT programming list featured daily will contain more specifics on when Mintel Archive recordings can be heard in Chicago.
Mintel Archive now a part of the WFMT Archive of Recordings ~ September 2019
The Mintel Archive of Recordings was donated to WFMT and the complete Mintel Archive is now housed at the WFMT studios in Chicago. This is in addition to the copy of the Archive available at Northwestern University Beinen School of Music Library.
Mintel Archive now available at Northwestern University Libraries ~ September 2018
The Mintel Archive of Recordings was donated to the Northwestern University Beinen School of Music Library in the fall of 2017; the collections of recordings have been accessioned into the University Library and are ready to be accessed there. At first, the Mintel Archive will be in the form of CDs available to be listened to on-premises or checked out; later the recordings will be placed online using the “Avalon” software. Access to online files may be initially restricted to those associated with Northwestern University although the Internet files will eventually be made available to all interested members of the public. At the moment, the Northwestern Music Library has one collection of audiotapes online for its users, the Robert Marcellus Master Class Audio Archives. The format used is called “Avalon.” Several other university libraries use this “Avalon” software to present audio files to library users, but this format may have some limitations for concert and broadcast recordings. There is a new version of Avalon that is now under development and it is hoped that the new capabilities will better accommodate the Mintel Archive.