Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Savada, Morton J.
Title:	Morton J. Savada Papers
Inclusive Dates:	circa 1920-2007
Bulk Dates:	1990-2005
Quantity:	12 linear ft.
Abstract:	Papers from Savada's New York City business, Records Revisited, which dealt in 78rpm phonograph records. Includes correspondence from customers, other dealers, friends; inventories, index card files, and receipts; obituaries, clippings, and other information about artists of the era.
Language:	English
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

Morton J. Savada (1923-2008) was an American record collector and dealer in New York City. He operated his business, Records Revisited, in midtown Manhattan for more than thirty years,

Savada was born in Manhattan and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in electrical engineering. He worked for the family business -- Savada Brothers Inc., a clothing company -- for twenty years before opening Records Revisited. The store specialized in 78rpm records from artists such as King Oliver, Ma Rainey, Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman, and carried genres ranging from big band and jazz to Latin, country, and spoken word. Although the store was a business, Savada also regarded the 250,000 albums on its shelves as a collection or archive; rather than sell the last copy of a recording he would make a copy on tape, and often loaned copies to CD producers or for use in movie sound tracks. For many years the store was a meeting place for Record Research, a group of about a dozen collectors and researchers.

Return to top

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Morton J. Savada Papers consists almost exclusively of material relating to Savada's record store, Records Revisited.

Correspondence-subject files contains correspondence from long-time customers, other collectors, and a few friends and family members. Financial files contain several years' worth of receipts, and sales tax exemption and resale certificates. The bulk of Lists and inventories is made up of Savada's inventory cards, including an extensive file of songs by title. Also included are photocopies of some discographies by label, a complete listing of Army V-Discs, morale boosters put out during World War II, and assorted other lists. Memorabilia contains Savada's desk calendars for 2003-2006, the business certificate for Records Revisited, and business cards for same as well as for Savada Brothers Inc. Printed material contains some very early items, such as the label from a Columbia Graphophone, as well as much later items such as newsletters and a concert program.

Return to top

Arrangement of the Collection

Material is arranged alphabetically.

Return to top

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Return to top

Related Material

The complete inventory of 78rpm phonographs was donated to the Belfer Audio Archives at Syracuse University as the Morton J. Savada 78 RPM Collection. Please contact the repository listed above for more information.

Return to top

Subject Headings

Persons

Corporate Bodies

Associated Titles

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

Return to top

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Morton J. Savada Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Morton Savada, 2008.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: MRC
Date: 1 Jul 2009
Revision history: 21 Jun 2012 - musicals, BG discography (MRC); 3 Mar 2021 - card files added, Box 13-35 (MRC)

Return to top

Inventory

	Correspondence-subject files
Box 1		Abbott, Darrell
Box 1		American Vintage Record Labelography
Box 1		Andres, Jean-Louis
Box 1		Arenberg, Marietta
Box 1		Arie, Michael
		Auctions
Box 1			Bids
Box 1			Wins en route
Box 1		A, misc
Box 1		Baker, Artie
Box 1		Barron, Blue
Box 1		Bash [29th Annual VJM Collector's Fair and Bash]
Box 1		Bendick, Bill
Box 1		Bert Block Orchestra
Box 1		Bickley, George F.
Box 1		The Blue Pages
Box 1		B, misc
Box 1		Cabaniss, Jeff
Box 1		Carl Fenton Orchestra
Box 1		Cathcart, Paul H.
		Clippings
			See also Obituaries.
Box 1			About Savada
Box 1			Collectors and collecting
Box 1			E-music
Box 2			Miscellaneous - See also Obituaries
Box 2		Coogan, Jackie - rare label photostats
Box 2		Cornell University
Box 2		Crawford, Ken
Box 2		C, misc
Box 2		Darnel, Allan
Box 2		Diaz, Cristobal
Box 2		D, misc
Box 2		Eaton and Behnke collections
Box 2		Eldman, Sol
Box 2		Evans, Gil
Box 2		Expert Stylus Company
Box 2		E, misc
Box 2		Feil, Morris
Box 2		Fein, Harry and Rita
Box 2		Ferency, Frank (D. Jurgens)
Box 2		Film dubs
Box 2		Fire safety manual
Box 2		Florance, Frank
Box 2		Forms, blank
Box 2		F, misc
Box 3		Gray, Christopher, New York Times
Box 3		Gray, John B.
Box 3		G, misc
Box 3		Herman, Jules
Box 3		H, misc
Box 3		Inman, Bob
Box 3		International Association of Jazz Music Collectors
Box 3		Ishii, Osamu
Box 3		Johnson, Richard
Box 3		Joyce Record Club
Box 3		Juke boxes
Box 3		J, misc
Box 3		Kalb, Hartwig
Box 3		Klein, Dave
Box 3		Korst, Bill
Box 3		Kremer, Mike
Box 3		K, misc
Box 4		Lang, Bob
Box 4		Library of Congress
Box 4		Lippmann, Sidney
Box 4		L, misc
Box 4		Gordon MacRae Club
Box 4		Mahlowe, Gerald
Box 4		Malcolm-Smith
Box 4		Mascia, Glen
Box 4		McCalla, Roy
		Metolius Music Company
			See Joyce Record Club.
Box 4		Military Bands (Fred Williams)
Box 4		Miller, John
Box 4		Morgan, Colin
Box 4		Music Research Book Publishers
Box 4		M, misc
Box 4		Nale, Dennis
Box 4		Nash, Joe
Box 4		Nauck, Kurt
Box 4		Newton, Graham, and Colin Bray
Box 4		Norvo, Red
Box 4		N, misc
		Obituaries
Box 4			A-M
Box 5			N-Z
Box 5		Ohman, Anders
Box 5		Ono, Ted
Box 5		O, misc
Box 5		Parnell, Rick
Box 5		Petko, Ernie
Box 5		Pilcher, Frank (Roane's Pennsylvanians)
Box 5		Pictures of artists - stamps, clippings, postcards, other images
Box 5		Pirak, Tony
Box 5		P, misc
Box 5		Quilliam, Mark
Box 5		Randolph, Marvin
Box 5		Rangus, John (Xavier Cugat)
Box 5		RCA Latin
Box 5		Record collections purchased
Box 5		Record labels - some original, some photocopies
			See also Coogan, Jackie and Scranton, E.L.
Box 5		Record Research
Box 5		Renard, Jacques
Box 5		Rhythm and News Magazine
Box 5		Rizzo, Pat
		Roane's Pennsylvanians
			See Pilcher, Frank.
Box 5		Rust, Brian
Box 5		R, misc
Box 5		Savada, Elias
Box 5		Savada, Shira
Box 6		Schuster, Ira
Box 6		Scott, Walter
Box 6		Scranton, E.L. - includes photocopies of many record labels
Box 6		Shipping/packing instructions
Box 6		Storage albums price quotes
Box 6		Stoffer, George
Box 6		Sturtevant, Roger
Box 6		S, misc
		Tapes made
Box 6			Current
Box 6			Permanent file
Box 6		Taylor, Bruce
Box 6		Thygesen, Helge
Box 6		Tucker, Orrin
Box 6		T, misc
Box 6		UCLA Archives
Box 6		U, misc
Box 6		Vrzal, Otto - includes photographs
Box 6		V, misc
Box 6		Wank, Kenneth
Box 6		Williamson, Tom
Box 6		Wilson, Teddy
Box 6		W, misc
Box 6		Y, Z misc
Box 6		Miscellaneous names and addresses
			See also Memorabilia: Business cards, others.
Box 6		Unidentified

	Financial files
Box 7		Receipts pre-2002
Box 7		Receipts 2002-2006 (7 folders)
Box 7		Sales tax exempt and resale certificates

	Lists and inventories
Box 7		Army V-Discs
Box 7		Catalogs (other people's)
		Index card file, song titles
Box 13			Song titles, A-Bai
Box 14			Song titles, Baj-Bro
Box 15			Song titles, Bru-College humor
Box 16			Song titles, College songs-Dono - includes a section on college songs, by college
Box 17			Song titles, Don't-Fe
Box 18			Song titles, Fi-Go
Box 19			Song titles, Gr-Hou
Box 20			Song titles, How-I tu
Box 21			Song titles, I un-I'm st
Box 22			Song titles, I'm su-Joy
Box 23			Song titles, Ju-Lis
Box 24			Song titles, Lit-Man
Box 25			Song titles, Map-My ha
Box 26			Song titles, My he-Ol
Box 27			Song titles, On-Pol
Box 28			Song titles, Pom-Sai
Box 29			Song titles, Sal-Sol
Box 30			Song titles, Som-Syn
Box 31			Song titles, Ta-Thu
Box 32			Song titles, Ti-Wal
Box 33			Song titles, Wam-Why
Box 34			Song titles, Wi-Z
		Index card files, miscellaneous
Box 35			Artist, A-Z
Box 35			Unidentified - appears to be pseudonyms and/or groups associated with certain people
Box 35			Unidentified - appears to be repair shops, companies, dealers, other individuals
Box 35			Random
		Inventory cards
Box 8			Aaronson, Irving - Sherwood, Bobby
Box 9			Shilkret, Jack - Zentner, Sy
Box 9			Miscellaneous genres
		Lists
Box 9			By artist
Box 9			By label
Box 9			Miscellaneous
		Musicals
			This material consists of several hundred forms containing detailed information on musicals that opened or played in New York City, including title, open/close dates, venue, ticket price, names (stars, writer, producer, author, composer, lyricist, etc.), and whether Savada attended. The forms are in two binders, but additional slips are laid in with other information such as a list of openings by year and occasional newspaper clippings.
Box 12			Shows 1968-1974 (1 volume)
Box 12			Shows 1975-1979 (1 volume)
Box 9		Value charts

	Memorabilia
Box 10		Address book
Box 10		Business cards and letterhead, Savada
Box 11		Business cards, others
Box 10		Business certificate
Box 10		Desk calendars 2003-2006 - 2 folders
Box 10		Notes
Box 10		Photographs - includes photos from visit to Sony Studios
Box 11		Record cleaners - ads on the back include Decca, The Ink Spots, RCA Victor

	Printed material
Box 12		BG On The Record: A Bio-Discography of Benny Goodman, by D. Russell Connor and Warren W. Hicks 1969 - annotated, corrected, numerous handwritten slips and other information laid in
Box 10		Pre-1950 - includes Columbia Graphophone label, 1944 issue of "Jazz Impressions," old playbills and advertisements; few are photocopies
Box 10		Post-1970 - newsletters, program, sheet music

Return to top