Capitol Records: Constructing a Searchable Database for Large Manuscript Collections

Abstract

In the latter 1970's, Brigham Young University acquired a collection of popular song orchestrations created by Capitol Records for recording sessions during the 1940s and 1950s. The collection numbers 15,000 song title manuscripts that are represented by approximately 115,000 instrument charts. Previously, access to this collection was through an alphabetically arranged title index. With the assistance of student research assistants and IT, we began a project creating a database using the Python Web application ATOM. This presentation will discuss steps taken and challenges to create a searchable database for the Capitol Records Orchestrations.