Following the death in 2006 of Peter Kennedy, the folklorist and collector, the Library that Peter collected over many years has now been transferred to the care of Halsway Manor Society.
The collection includes:
- the library of around 3000 books which includes presentations from Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles, Douglas and Helen Kennedy, the Kennedy-Frasers and others
- a collection of journals and magazines
- about 3000 "78 rpm" records consisting of early recordings of Scottish song and instrumentals and English song and copies of field recordings made by Peter Kennedy and other collectors
- 50 test pressings of recordings of folk dance music supervised by Peter Kennedy
- about 3000 Long Playing Records including a significant collection of commercially pressed records of folk/world music and Field recordings made by private individuals (other than Peter Kennedy) and commercial companies. The largest item within this latter group is the collection of recordings of African music and customs.
- a collection of around 500 commercial CDs and DVDs
- a large collection of Reel-to-reel Tapes including Peter Kennedy's original field recordings and similar material, duplicate tapes of the collections of Alan Lomax and Frank Warner and Children's games collected by Father Damian Webb.
Halsway Manor Society, with the support of the Kennedy Family, will be discussing the specialist conservation requirements of the reel to reel collections with appropriate national organisations and transferring these to a national collection with suitable conservation facilities. |