Help save Priceless Big Band Artifacts

The building that housed our unique archive has just been sold, and we need to vacate the premises by April 15th.

We're asking for your help:

-->Do you know of a venue – be it a museum, university, library, or even a private office or room – that we could partner with? We must find a safe place to house our archives, ideally located in Central New England.

-->You may help us financially which we desperately need. We’ll be packing up the collections carefully, and will need to purchase boxes, bins, and other packing materials. We will need to hire a moving vehicle, and potentially the costs of rent or storage as well.

Your donations are tax-deductible to our 501(c)(3) organization, and every penny will go to help preserve these materials. Click the link below to contribute. View more on our website:

americanbigband.org

You may know Dan Gabel from the bandstand, leading one of his groups like Dan Gabel and The Abletones, or on tour with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, or perhaps you’ve heard recordings or arrangements. You may also know how passionate Dan is about this music.

The ABBPS is a non-profit with a mission near and dear to Dan's heart – preserving, promoting, and performing big band and the Great American Songbook, and keeping this music in our schools.

We’ve had many successes – just take a look at some of the original manuscript arrangements, autographed photos, programs, recordings, and more. You can see our youth big band ensemble online, bringing to life the music on these unique old manuscripts…

However, that mission is now in peril.

We need to find a new venue ASAP to continue the important preservation work of this unique musical art form. That’s where you come in.

Your help right now can ensure a secure future for this treasure trove of wonderful music.

Here is what we have:

-thousands of original hand-written manuscript arrangements from the 1920s-1970s

-hundreds of valuable photographs, autographs, big band ephemera

-numerous artifacts donated by family members of musicians and bandleaders

Scope:

-materials in the current facility include mostly boxes of arrangements of various sizes. There are vintage 1920s drums, band fronts (stands), and some other miscellaneous materials. Most are in bins, boxes, or the original vintage band boxes.

-Essentially, one room's worth of materials; the room is approximately 12' x 14'+

Here is what we need:

-a venue to house these materials ASAP

-transportation (a rental van/truck)

-help to move, loading, and unloading to the new location

New Venue:

MUST:

-be a safe, dry, appropriate storage for priceless materials

-be available ASAP

-be somewhere within driving distance of the current location (West Boylston, MA)

IDEALLY:

-is a permanent or semi-permanent location (avoid moving twice)

-offers semi-regular access to archives

-could have additional space for archival growth (as there are several other potential acquisitions from major names associated with the big band era)

Thank you for your time and consideration. See you on the bandstand.

Examples! Here are some preserved audio recordings and photographs:

The student group excels at classic jazz and swing, and also the dance band tradition by playing a polka in an authentic style!