“Banjo
Package” was a Japanese publication (primarily in Japanese, partly in English)
that ceased publication long time ago. The individual who published the periodical
has also passed on.
I
was guided to this periodical in a search for publications on Dwight
Diller.
I
learned that two libraries have this in its collection:
HathiTrust Digital
Library
818
Hatcher S Univ Libr
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1205
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1205
Voice: 734.764.8016
Indiana University
1320
E. 10th St.
Bloomington, Indiana 47405-3907
Bloomington, Indiana 47405-3907
PHONE: 812.855.0100
In each of these libraries the periodical is
available as a digital archive, but is not accessible online; for in-library
research only.
Two
musicians, Scott Zimmerman and Bosco Takaki, both of whom live in Japan,
supported my efforts to locate copies of the journal and identify the issue in
which the interview is published.
Bosco
Takaki told me that the interview with Dwight and several other clawhammer
banjo pickers was published in the “Banjo Package” possibly in the late 1970s
and almost certainly before he met Dwight in the early 1980s.
Carl
Fleischhauer confirmed that he was not the author/interviewer; Dwight had an
early glimmer of a recollection that Carl had done the interview.
Here's an index to issues and further information
about the digital archive is available from Indiana University and the HathiTrust
Digital Library in Ann Arbor, MI
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006937521
Carl Fleischhauer
and a colleague of his at the Library of Congress looked for the Japanese periodical
from the 1970s and 1980s titled “Banjo Package” (later, apparently, “Package”
or “Bluegrass and Old-Time package”).
There are two Hathi Trust links:
The Hathi search option (by volume) for each of the eight or nine
volumes presented never got a hit on "Diller." Full text
searching did not turn up a good reference.
All I had to go on is
Dwight's memory of an interview with a Japanese "Banjo Newsletter" as
he recalled it, and Bosco’s vague familiarity with the publication -- and a
memory that it would have been published before the Bosco met Dwight in the
early 1980s.
Bosco recalled, in
similarly vague terms, that the interview covered several old time players, not
Dwight alone.
That led me to wonder
whether it was a mirror of Dick Kimmel's interview published in the Banjo
Newsletter in September 1975. That interview covered multiple banjo
players: Dwight, Stu Cohen, Bob Flesher, Grandpa Jones, and Doug Unger. (Dick
Kimmel, “Thumpin’ For Clawhammer Pickers: Banjo Set Up,” Banjo Newsletter,
Volume 2, Number 11 (September 1975), pages 4 – 6.)
The periodical was not in the Library of Congress’ holdings, nor did
the Library of Congress have access to the padlock-icon material referenced by
Hathi -- copyright restrictions.
Carl Fleischhauer’s associate at the Library of Congress did a bit
more searching and deduced that Indiana may not have the full run.
According to the Hathi Trust indices, they’ve scanned the following from the IU
collection:
v. 1
v. 2, nos. 11-12
v. 3, nos. 1-8, 10-12
v. 4
v. 5, nos. 1-4, 6-12
v. 6, nos. 1-10, 12
v. 7
If you go to the IU Library catalog, you get the additional
confirmation of what they do and don’t have:
Ø
“Banjo Package” 1975 -- v.1, no.1-v.2, no.5;
v.2, no.11-v.3, no.6
Ø
“Package” 1978 -- v.3, no.7-v.3, no.8; v.3,
no.10-v.5, no.4; v.5, no.6-v.5, no.12
Ø
“Bluegrass & Old-time Package” 1980 -- v.6,
no.1-v.6, no.10; v.6, no.12-v.8, no.1 (so there’s apparently an issue not in
the Hathi Trust listing – v. 8, no. 1)
Appalachian State, meanwhile, apparently has only the following:
Ø
“Package” -- v.4 no.11-12 (bound separately)
Ø
“Banjo Package” -- v. 3, [no.] 7 (78. May)-v. 5, [no.] 12
(80 Oct.)
This means, as my Library of Congress colleague pointed out, that
there are no complete runs anywhere in the U.S. from a library that provides
information for WorldCat.
The actual resolution
to the puzzle came from Indiana University’s Reference
Services Department folklore specialist Moira Marsh Moira Lorraine March (molsmith@indiana.edu) who tells me that “Banjo Package” volume 1 issue 4, pp.
16-18 (1976) is a series of interviews with old-time musicians. The articles are in Japanese except for the
performer names. Included in this item, on p. 17, there is a column devoted
to Dwight Diller. Also, there is a photo of Diller in the next issue (1:5
1976), p. 16.
I’m working with the
folklore specialist at Indian University’s library to get clear copies of the
text. The
articles are in Japanese except for the performer names. I speak Chinese
(and Thai and Viet), and as a consequence of being around the stuff I read
enough Japanese to dope my way through non-technical articles – and should I
actually have an inflated sense of my ability to figure out the Japanese, then
I know I can to turn for help to my many old colleagues from the Japanese side
of my “business.”
Nice Banjo Hangout
community effort!
Thanks to:
Bosco Takaki
Scott Zimmerman
Carl Fleischhauer and
his Library of Congress associate
Carl Baron
Rudy
Very Respectfully,
Lew
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