ARSC Conference 2021

The 55th Annual ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections) Conference will be held virtually. Join us on-line to find out more about our research on Czech sound recordings. Filip Šír, Martin Mejzr and Michal Studničný will present their papers on Friday 15th within the Eastern European Recorded Sound lecture block.

Down the Rabbit Hole with V+W: Discoveries Multiplying New Paths of Inquiry to Tell a More Complete  Story of Czech Diaspora Culture During WW2
Maristella Feustle, University of North Texas, Filip Šír

Voskovec and Werich were Czech comedians and pioneers of famous avant-garde performances in Prague Free Theater, which later encouraged resistance to Nazi aggression well into the mid-1930s. Both men were forced to emigrate from Czechoslovakia to the USA in 1939. This paper continues and builds on research presented at last year’s ARSC conference, showing new discoveries in the process and progress of uncovering information and documents about the Comic Duo V+W in connection with their work in the USA during the Second World War.

New Records Now In Stock! The beginnings of the Czech Phonograph Market after 1900, Focusing on Selected Prague Retailers
Martin Mejzr, Michal Studničný
This paper will present a research project which aims for systematic research and mapping of the phonograph cylinder and record markets, focusing mainly on Prague and other Czech cities, in the context of the sound industry’s expansion in Central Europe. The project intends to focus on the practically unknown and uncharted pioneering period of distribution and dissemination of the oldest sound carriers in the Czech lands, namely the commercial practices and strategies of individual sellers and the range of products.