Help Save The World's Largest Music Collection

I would have thought the world's largest Music Archive would have been located at the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, or in the Archives of one of the Big 5 record companies. Apparently, none of these come close.

The world's largest Music Archive is owned by one person: Paul Mawhinney. He has spent his life collecting records, and has massed a staggering archive which includes over three million vinyl records, and over 300,000 compact discs -- all in pristine condition. Many of the titles have never been listened to. The number of rare and collectible titles he has must number in the tens of thousands, if not higher. For some titles in this archive, a collector would pay thousands of dollars for just one album.

It makes my piddly little CD collection of some 800 units look like a drop in the bucket.

But Mawhinney's archive is under threat of being discarded. Due to age and failing health, Paul Mawhinney has no option but to sell his collection. Pundits have suggested the archive is worth approximately $50 million.

The problem is, there are no buyers.

Mawhinney even tried to pawn the archive on eBay. If my memory serves me correct, the highest bid was about 1.5 million, and the winning bidder did not pay. He has offered the collection to Museums, collectors, Libraries, and Universities, and not one of them wanted to purchase it.

Much of the collection does not exist in the digital realm. Mawhinney has vinyl in his collection that stems as far back as the late 19th century. His estimations is that perhaps as much as fifteen percent of the vinyl released from antiquity through the 1940's have ever been digitally remastered.

In other words, this archive is the most complete account of American 20th Century Pop-Culture -- anywhere.

I think it's an utter shame that this collection could wind up in the landfill. It belongs at the Smithsonian; it belongs at the Library of Congress -- it belongs at a University... any University.

If you want to learn more about this archive, and what you can do to help save it, I would suggest visiting the website, or viewing the video available here.

You could also join the Facebook Group "Save The Music", which currently has an appalling 85 members.

I consider myself to be quite the audiophile. I don't think I've ever thrown out a CD, and I've often bought an album for nostalgia, without ever having an intent of enjoying it -- or even if I did enjoy it as a youth. My personal CD collection is an archive as much as it is my music library. In my travels, I have found great difficulty obtaining certain albums, and have often learned that many titles I remember listening to as a child were never released on Compact Disc. Given the fact that the next frontier for music is the kind that only exists digitally, I find it disturbing that there are entire generations of music that is being forgotten.

Vinyl eventually wears out or gets brittle. Magnetic tape is easily erased with magnetic fields. Compact Discs were designed to last 20-25 years. Hard drives will fail. It is obvious that music is going "format-less" -- that is existing only in the digital realm. What remains of the last 5 generations of music should be preserved for future generations. Mawhinney's archive is the most complete of any on this earth. Some institution should take responsibility and properly manage the archive before it is gone for good.