In December, I came across The Last Living American Veteran of WWI, an interview with Frank Buckles, the eponymous veteran. The same filmmaker (Sean Dunne) also profiled Paul Mawhinney, who owns the world’s largest record collection. And the collection is for sale. No one’s buying.
In Dunne’s film The Archive, we meet Mawhinney and get an inside look at his collection. For years, Mawhinney ran the awesome record shop Record-Rama in Pittsburgh. I visited Record-Rama in the 90′s, and bought an Uncle Tupelo record. The store is closed now. The record collection is for sale (Mawhinney values it at $25-50 million but is willing to take as little as $3 million). Mawhinney is now legally blind, a result of his diabetes. Things are a bit grim, but this short documentary is worth watching, partly just so you can see what the world’s largest record collection looks like.
The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.
See also: how Mawhinney claims he launched David Bowie’s career, and some brief coverage of Mawhinney’s proposed record collection sale from February 2008.
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That was just too sad.
posted by Kelsey on 1-8-2010 at 3:47 pm
And I thought I had a large vinyl collection! If I had $3 mil, I would gladly help him out!! Very touching. Poor guy….
posted by PaulisDead on 1-8-2010 at 3:48 pm
Is there no university archive somewhere that would want this????
posted by JFS in IL on 1-8-2010 at 7:33 pm
My Grandfather was a WW1 vet. I remember the story that during one Christmas, the soliders from both sides met and played cards in the no mans land. Papa came back so shell shocked at the time that thunder scared him because it sounded like bombing. We need to pay attention what the soldiers tell us. We need to treat them with compassion
posted by Kristi on 1-8-2010 at 10:06 pm
Seems like the ideal purchaser would be Paul Allen.
posted by david on 1-9-2010 at 4:08 pm
Wikipedia says that a non-profit has been formed & they are in the midst of creating a museum around Record-Rama.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Mawhinney#Current_plans_for_the_collection
I hope it comes to fruition for the sake of history.
posted by Michael Tapp on 1-11-2010 at 7:27 pm