Minutes of the AES Historical Committee Meeting
at the 113th AES Convention, 2002-10-07, in Los Angeles, CA

Attending: Dale Manquen, Bob Crow, Ted Sheldon, Alex Balster, Dave Huber, Fred Thal, Dave Read, Michael Murphy, John Stroda, Nick Bergh, Al Grundy, Jim Hunter, Lou Manno, Paul McManus, John Chester, Irv Joel, Jay McKnight (chair)

Chair Jay McKnight called the meeting to order at 13:05.

1. Introduction of Attendees

Persons attending introduced themselves.
 
2. Approval of Agenda

The Chair indicated several items to be added to the agenda, and they appear below as they were addressed.
 
3. Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the previous meeting in Munich, Germany were approved as distributed.
 
4. The current Historical Committee report to the AES Board of Governors is posted on the HC web site.

 
5. Ongoing projects
1. Report from this convention.

Dale Manquen reported on efforts to arrange for presentations and mount the exhibitions that have occurred at this convention. He recognized and thanked those who made contributions, including Robert-Eric Gaskell, Paul McManus, Mike Spitz, Nick Bergh, and Wes Dooley.
2. Website Updates

Chair McKnight noted changes in the AESHC web site, http://recordist.com/aeshc/. Recent changes and additions are listed in "What's New".
3. New Projects

Chair McKnight indicated that the AESHC is always interested in new projects. He outlined the method used to start new projects, and encouraged anyone wanting to commence a project to contact him.
4. Oral History Project

Irv Joel reviewed the current progress of the oral history project. Some 80 interviews have been completed. Help is needed to propose persons in the history and development of audio who should be interviewed regarding their experiences. Others are needed to conduct the interviews. A camera is now available in Europe as well as North America to facilitate interviews there. Most interviews average about one hour; to date the longest one is three hours.
5. AES Archives

Roger Furness reported that the AES Archives project has seen some progress recently. He indicated that the archives is partly at headquarters and partly stored elsewhere. Because of the headquarters renovation,  much of the historical material has been moved to secure storage. Shortly, these materials will be moved back into the headquarters and organizational work on them will commence.
6. New business
1. Historical Exhibit at the 114th (Amsterdam) Convention

Alex Balster informed the Committee about activities planned for the Amsterdam convention in 2003 March. He indicated that experience has proved that foreign languages can be troublesome for individuals. This year's exhibition will concentrate on special measuring devices (e.g., a laquer measuring device). He invited everyone to come to Amsterdam and participate in the AESHC activities.
2. "Library of Historical Episodes"

Dale Manquen discussed his proposal for an "AES Library of Historical Episodes." It is clear that the very interesting exhibitions mounted by the Historical Committee at AES conventions should be preserved. At this 113^th annual convention, the presentations and their associated audio/visual materials have been captured digitally as an historical record of events. They preserve the history of audio, and we hope to make them available for use by AES sections and schools. They serve the goal of making available transportable exhibitions. To further expand use, options include producing a CD-ROM or streaming content from a web site. We would like to make this convention's "When Vinyl Ruled" exhibition and presentations available in at least one of these ways.
3. Ampex Historical Website

Dale Manquen discussed briefly the Ampex corporate web site. Several hundreds of people interested in Ampex audio recorders are seeking to mentor interested people in the use of Ampex machines. Ampex documents (e.g., manuals, sales sheets) will be scanned and posted, to make them available to the audio community as an aid to the mentoring work.
4. Jensen Loudspeaker Archive

Jim Hunter mentioned that Jensen, the speaker manufacturer, has gone out of business. Jensen archival material, including 72 notebooks from 1936 and following, have been acquired by Lou Manno's Audio History Library.
5. Audio History Library

Lou Manno's Audio History Library has archives of some 600 companies in the history of audio dating from the early history of audio. The AHL intends to build a digital library for all.
6. Book of  Photos of Historical Audio Equipment

Dave Huber is working on a book of photos from the history of recorded sound. The AES timeline will be the basis of the work. Huber is seeking photos and other resources, along with permissions, to use in the work.
7. Directory of Archives

Ted Sheldon discussed the goal of creating a directory of archives and repositories, institutional and individual, as a project of the HC. He noted that one AES Standards Committee has a project to do this, and noted that it is more appropriate in the HC. He asked that anyone interested in helping contact him.
7. Next HC meeting

The next Historical Committee meeting will be at the 114th Convention, in Amsterdam, in 2003 March.

The meeting adjourned at 14:05.

Minutes prepared by Ted Sheldon, AESHC Secretary, 2002-12

Edit & html, J McKnight, 2003-03-03