In 1972, the Museum acquired one of the crown jewels of its world-class holdings: the core of what is now known as the Bob Pinson Recorded Sound Collection. The acquisition of Pinson’s collection, which contained more than 14,000 rare phonograph records and radio transcription discs, doubled the size of the Museum’s recorded-sound holdings and set the institution on its path to becoming the premier archive and research center it is today. This program celebrates the Museum’s fifty-year custodianship of the collection, its significance in advancing the Museum’s mission, and the immeasurable ways the late Bob Pinson helped curate, preserve, and expand the collection as a longtime member of the staff. Featured panelists are Nathan D. Gibson, folklorist and University of Wisconsin-Madison’s audio-visual preservation archivist; Bill Ivey, folklorist and former Museum director, who negotiated the collection’s acquisition; and Tony Russell, scholar and discographer, with whom Pinson worked to research and produce the definitive Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921-1942. The Museum’s Patrick Huber will moderate. Following the panel, the Museum’s longtime curator of recorded-sound collections, Alan Stoker, will lead a listening session and discuss records from the collection, including several of Pinson’s favorite recordings. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Ford Theater. Included with Museum admission. Program ticket required. Free to Museum members.

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