I’ve been reminded again recently that archival work isn’t all about shuffling old papers and blowing the dust off of old artifacts to conserve them. As I work on the small Sedalia Ragtime Archive, it is ultimately about preserving the people who produced the ephemera and the venues where we appreciated their work.
This is so well illustrated by an experience I had this this past week. I was waiting for my wife and dozing off while working a crossword puzzle in a local coffee shop, when old friends Daniel and Mary Kellemann came over to say hello. They are involved with the St. Louis Jazz Club and have been coming to the Sedalia Festival for years.
Knowing of my ragtime archive interest and my likelyhood of being in the coffee shop on a Sunday morning, they loaned me a 1985 Goldenrod Gazette with everything I needed to know about the 21st annual National Ragtime Festival on the Goldenrod Showboat in St. Louis.
I bolted awake and like a skeleton key opening a recovered pirate chest laden with plunder, the aging souvenir booklet brought back a flood of golden memories and reminded me of the historic significance of that pivotal festival’s talented participants and of course of the venerable Goldenrod.
For me the National Festival was synonymous with the St.Louis Ragtimers and Trebor Tichenor. When we started organizing the first Sedalia Festival in 1973, the St. Louis
