NRR Project: Harvard Vocarium record series
Curated by Frederick C. Packard, Jr.
1930 -- 1955
I cannot do better than the explanatory essay written by Matthew Rubery for the National Recording Registry, which you can read here.
Basically, Professor Frederick C. Packard, Jr. of Harvard decided that it was important for people to hear poetry aloud, as opposed to the silent reading that had been going on for centuries. He thought he’d record the great poets of his day, starting with T.S. Eliot and continuing with hundreds of writers, including William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, and Ezra Pound.
The result is compendium of invaluable information regarding the author’s intent. To hear them speak their own words strongly inflects the sense in which they express themselves. The recordings are uneven in quality – not everyone is cut out to perform their writing. However, when some fortunate, gripping recordings were made, they reveal new bursts of nuance that help to set the writer down in relation to his or her work.
Today, the Harvard Vocarium still exists, and a substantial portion of it is available online, here. A click on “the listening booth” tab on its site will lead you to selections from the collection.
The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Highlander Center Field Recording Collection.
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