Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry is a collaborative effort between the National Digital Library Program (NDLP) and the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (MBRS) of the Library of Congress. Individuals from many other sections of the Library and from outside the Library have also assisted in this effort; their contributions are gratefully acknowledged. The project was originally conceived by Samuel Brylawski, head of the Recorded Sound Section. He and Mary Bucknum, Recorded Sound curator, provided overall guidance.
Karen Lund served as project leader, coordinating the efforts of all involved. The team included Laura Gottesman and Marco Samayoa, also from NDLP. The team processed, cataloged, and re-housed the Berliner Collection of manuscripts, photographs, and miscellany, and also selected items for digitization. The database used for the bibliographic records was an Access interface designed by Samayoa with assistance from Lund and Gottesman. The bibliographic records for the sound recordings were copied from records previously created by George Kipper of MBRS. Advice on manuscript processing and cataloging was provided by Meg Alessi of NDLP. Samayoa, Gottesman, and Lund conducted quality review on all digital files received.
In the research phase of the project, the following Recorded Sound reference staff offered assistance: Bryan Cornell, Edwin Matthias, and Janet McKee.
During the audition stage of sound recording selection, the MBRS playback staff were very helpful in fulfilling listening requests and in sharing their opinions and knowledge of historical recordings. They are: Dorothy Geller, Pamela Howe, Rebecca Jones, Larry Miller, David Sager, and James Wolf.
Assistance with programming, database structures, file-naming, and other technical matters was provided by Elizabeth Madden of NDLP and David Woodward and Mary Ambrosio of ITS.
Advice on legal and copyright matters was provided by Melissa Smith-Levine, Emily Vartanian, and Emily Howie. Gottesman and Samayoa conducted copyright research and contacted potential rights owners.
Conservation treatment for items being digitized was performed by Alan Haley, Yasmeen Khan, Andrew Robb, and Mary Wootton.
David Brooks coordinated the receipt and review of image batches from the scanning contractor. Paper scanning was performed by Systems Integration Group, Inc.; thanks go to Dan Pence, Art Brown, Imelda Chase, and Arnold Goodman for their work. Photograph scanning was performed by JJT, Inc.; thanks go to Allison Ross for her work. Thanks also go to the scanning contracting officers of NDLP: Ariel Rosenblum, Tamara Swora-Gober, and Phil Michel.
The sound recordings were digitized in the MBRS Recording Laboratory by Peter Alyea with the assistance of David Sager, and Larry Appelbaum indicating proper playing speeds. Our thanks go to Allan McConnell and his laboratory staff for their efforts. and to the staff of Public Services (especially Jerry Hatfield) for processing our request. Digital photographs of the record labels were taken by James Wolf. Christa Maher provided assistance in making additional digital files.
The film Berliner Family. Home Movies was transferred to tape at Roland House, Arlington, Virginia, and digitized at Bell Atlantic, Reston, Virginia. Our thanks go to the staff at both places for their fine work.
The Special Presentation and Timeline were researched and written by recorded sound historian James Smart. Additional text was written by Laura Gottesman, Marco Samayoa, and Karen Lund. Text was edited by Emily Lind Baker and Jurretta Jordan Heckscher.
The Web page was designed by Tracey Salley with assistance provided by Qun Lai on the special presentation. Andrea Savada and Thadas Jeffers assisted in reviewing the final Web presentation.
Thanks go to the following for their administrative assistance: Nancy Eichacker, Martha Anderson, Tamara Swora, and Margaret Foote.
Thanks go to the following for their assistance with publicity: Danna Bell-Russel and Guy Lamolinara.
Lastly, we extend our thanks to the Berliner descendants, who have contributed many of the items included in this collection and supported presenting Emile Berliner's legacy to the public.
--The Berliner Project Team, June 2001