Note: Registration is now closed for all tours (7 February 2011)

Preconference Tours

Preconference tours will occur on Wednesday, 9 February.

Safe Sound Archive/George Blood Audio-Video

George Blood of Safe Sound Archive has offered to host two tours of his audio preservation facility in Chestnut Hill. Safe Sound Archive/George Blood Audio­Video is a leading provider of preservation digitization of audio and video. Come see 2,000 lb. video machines and 40 terabytes of RAID5 data storage; hear the difference between 96kHz/24bit and 44.1kHz/16 bit in a $100,000 listening room and see how two hundred concurrent projects are managed; see tape storage that passively cures Sticky Shed Syndrome and meet the smiling elves that perform all this magic!  Transportation will be provided via van or bus to Chestnut Hill (a half­hour ride), compliments of Safe Sound Archive.

Maximum number: 20 for each tour (40 total)
Transportation: chartered bus (about 25 minutes); meet in hotel lobby, and a Philadelphia Trolley Works vehicle will pick up each group (9:30 am and 1:30 pm) at the 12th St. ("valet") entrance to Loews and drive them to Chestnut Hill.  Departure from Chestnut Hill (approximately 11:15 am and 3:15 pm) for return to Loews Hotel.

Kimmel Center/Academy of Music/Curtis Institute

Join Philadelphia Orchestra librarians Robert Grossman and Steve Glanzmann for a visit to the performing library of the Philadelphia Orchestra and a tour of the Kimmel Center and Verizon Hall, the principal performance venue for the orchestra.  Then walk next door to see the beautiful Academy of Music, the orchestra’s home during the days of Stokowski and Ormandy.  A short three­block walk down Locust Avenue will take you to the Curtis Institute of Music, where librarian Elizabeth Walker will offer a selfguided tour of the institute’s library.

Cost: Free of charge
Time: 2:00 pm–4:30 pm
Maximum number: 50
Transportation: Walking tour (1.7 miles total from hotel and back); meet in hotel lobby and walk to lobby of Kimmel Center to meet Philadelphia Orchestra librarian Bob Grossman

Free Library of Philadelphia

The tour of the Free Library of Philadelphia will begin in the newly renovated reading room of the Music Department and continue with a visit to the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music, the world’s largest lending library of orchestral performance material.  In the Rare Book department, a selection of the library’s unique holdings will be available for viewing, including medieval manuscripts, Pennsylvania Dutch hymn books, and materials related to Beatrix Potter and Edgar Allan Poe.  Your hosts will be Steve Landstreet (head, Music Department), Kile Smith (curator, Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music), and Katharine Chandler (reference librarian, Rare Book Department).  The library is a twenty-minute walk from the hotel.

Cost: Free of charge
Time: 10:00 am–12:30 pm
Maximum number: 20
Transportation: Walking tour (1.8 miles total from hotel and back); meet in hotel lobby and meet Free Library of Philadelphia librarian Steve Landstreet, who will escort the group to the library.

Philadelphia on Foot

Edward A. Mauger, director of Philadelphia on Foot and author of two books on the city, has put together a tour for MLA members, “Ben Franklin: Media Mogul and Music Maven.” We all have an image of this most accessible founding father; but who was the real Benjamin Franklin? “As you stroll down the same 18th century lanes where Ben walked and visit the sites where he worked, printed, prayed and partied, you will find new insights into this famous Founder.”  For more information on the tour and to make reservations, please call 215/627-­8680 or contact Ed Mauger on the Philadelphia on Foot website.

Cost: $15
Time:    "High Life in Colonial Philadelphia," 10:00 am–noon    (morning tour canceled)     Maximum number: unlimited
Transportation: Walking tour

Conservation in Action

Conservation usually takes place behind closed doors. For "Conservation in Action," CCAHA will open its doors to welcome music librarians behind-the-scenes, where they will observe a busy conservation laboratory, discover the latest treatment techniques, view a number of ongoing Save America's Treasures projects, and have the opportunity for discussion with paper, photograph, and book conservators. Conservators will demonstrate the preservation of paper-based materials, including photographs, rare books, manuscripts, prints, drawings, and parchment. CCAHA also has a small digital imaging studio on site. The Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) is the largest independent, nonprofit conservation laboratory in the country, specializing in the treatment of works of art and historic artifacts on paper. During the past year, CCAHA conservators completed treatment on more than 6,000 items for over 400 clients at CCAHA's 10,500-square-foot facility in Philadelphia.

Cost: $30 (to cover transportation to and from CCAHA)
Time: 1:45–3:45 pm
Minimum number: 20
Maximum number: 40
Transportation: Chartered bus or taxicabs