Sylvia Plath Collections: The Rosenstein Tapes

A few weeks back, Gail Crowther and I discussed a bit the Rosenstein audio tapes which have been digitized by Emory and are available to listen to from the comfort of your home or office. It was mentioned, as well, in my talk with Heather Clark and in this blog post. 

All one needs to do is write to the Rose Library, sign a waiver, and you will receive a login to access the materials in The Keep. The tapes are really interesting but must be listened to with the volume on high, but beware that occasional shouts and laughter and other noises (phones, babies, toddlers, airplanes, cars, motorcycles, sirens, matches being struck) frequently appear and thus you could blow out your eardrums. Please note there is Ted Hughes material in this as well. And, bonus material is digitized home video from Gerald Hughes' Christmas 1964 visit to England. There are two: one is centered in London and features, very briefly, Ted Hughes and Assia Wevill. Another one is from North Tawton, Yorkshire, and Ireland and features many Court Green, Hughes family members, The Beacon, and more. Elizabeth Sigmund (then Compton) appears twice. As well as Plath's cats Tiger-Pieker and Skunky-Bunks. 

Upon listening to nearly all the tapes now, it is evident that the finding aid to the collection is wanting. As critical as that sounds, the finding is still very useful and it takes Plath specialists, sometimes, to really sort things out. Especially since it is clear the tape labels by Rosenstein are, well, fairly inaccurate. The following is a list of actual interviewees. It is organized by Emory's ID number for the audio recording. I have passed this along to them so hopefully the finding aid will be updated too. What is misleading is that though there are two tapes, for example, of Winifred Davies and one with Al Alvarez, there is no indication under their names (as of today) that there is any digital content for them. So please read the finding aid very carefully. I have been listening to the tapes in alphabetical order, but part of me wishes I had listened to them in chronological order. And frustratingly, most of the interview tapes are showing as "undated"; yet Rosenstein's typed notes are dated. The staff really should work with the paper part of the collection to enrich the audio part of the collection.  

I recommend strongly supporting the Rose Library if you take advantage of this opportunity to get archives fever remotely. Even a small amount of money can help and there are several bucket that are appropriate including Digitization (MARBL Fund for Excellence/Linda Matthews fund) and literary acquisitions (Literary Collections Fund).

OK, so, it might be kind of confusing and I am sorry about that, but below is a list of corrections. 

id v5zq0 & id v6mpw are Dr Ruth Beuscher, or, Barnhouse as is listed in the Finding Aid. Dr. Beuscher further exemplifies how dodgy she was as a psychiatrist by reading her therapy notes to Rosenstein. We know she read the McLean files into a tape (that tape was sent to Frieda Hughes), too.  In the finding aid, v6mpw is listed as "Miss Morton" which I think must be intentionally misleading. 

id v48t8 Nancy Axworthy also briefly features Elizabeth Compton Sigmund (who stopped by). Not sure this is worth adding but just thought I'd mention it.

id v79g6 is the second part of Winifred Davies (it continues v48qv).

id v549v is Norman Bailey Part 2. At 57:54 it ends and a couple of seconds later it begins the interview with Dan Jacobson to the end of the tape, about five minutes. 

Then, confusingly, v54jt continues the Dan Jacobson interview for nearly two minutes... but then switches to the beginning of the Norman Bailey interview. Very peculiar... I don't envy the cataloger who has to explain that in the finding aid! 

idv54jt concludes Dan Jacobson; but at about 1:46 in changes to Norman Bailey.

id v62p7 is Edward Lucie-Smith, not Peter Orr.

"Alda" Macedo is Helder Macedo.

In the finding aid under Roche there is an AV listing that reads "interview recording, part three, undated" but there is no [Digital/digitized copy] notation underneath it. Will that be digitized sometime? It's situated in the finding aid just above Box 3 Folder 14.  (It was determined that this tape was blank the whole way through.)

id v76xp is M. L. Rosenthal.

id v54c4 is Nancy Hunter Steiner (Part 1).

id v54b0 is Nancy Hunter Steiner (Part 2) to 3:57; then Richard Wertz to 38:03; then Lorna and David Secker-Walker to 39:06; then "Rudy" & HR making a test telephone recording to 45:57; and then an English man and woman to end.

idv77r3 is Marcia Brown Stern for the first 29 minutes; the rest of the tape is part of Sally Brody.

id v75v9 is definitely Faye Weldon.

id v78dt is J Melvin Woody to about 19:45 and then switches to a completely-unrelated-to-Plath Group Conversation.

id v7b52 is Carl Zorn.

id v7b4x is Carl Zorn until about 38:17 and then switches to a (probably bootlegged?) recording of Aurelia Schober Plath talking about Letters Home and The Bell Jar with an audience. Rosenstein and another woman listening to the recording and commenting.

Also, in the finding aid under Merwin, the reference number for the Lameyer portion of the tape reads id z52r4 but it should be v5zr4. Or vice versa.

And, under Peter Orr, id v6mq7 should be v6mq1. Or vice versa.

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