Archives

Lest we all think I'm only here for fun/recuperation... It occurs to me that I never posted about the (comparatively dull) news that I've visited my first archives in Vienna! Namely, the manuscript collection of the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus (formerly the Stadt-und-Landesbibliothek) and the Musiksammlung (Music collection) of the same institution. Both trips were smooth and encouraging - which is good news, as these were the most laid-back archives I'll be dealing with, allowing a fair number of requests at a time and providing a generous photography/duplication policy.

This week I'm making my first visits to the Nationalbibliothek's collections (the Theatre Museum library, the music collection, and the manuscripts and rare books collections) as well as the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, all of which are a bit thornier than the Wienbibliothek, but I think - I hope - manageably so. The hope is that by the end of this week I'll know how much I'll be able to track down on this trip, and make plans for how to request scans/photographs from back in Boston of anything I either can't get ahold of this trip, or discover subsequent to my departure.

Basically, I think by the end of this week I'll have a vague sense of what the future looks like, and I think that's... dare I say... NEAT??

Here's a picture I took the other day, when I did not want to leave the house (because sick and sad) but I did. I'm awful glad I did, too - Vienna is nicely teaching me that it's important to be in the world!