Music Collection of the Austrian National Library

After long delay, I finally gained access to the main archive at the Austrian National Library (music collection) on Monday 11/14! The whole music collection was being moved to this old palace here at Herrengasse 9. It was supposed to be finished by the time I arrived here in Austria, but that didn't happen. In the meantime I took the opportunity to visit other archives in Vienna that pertain to my research. You'd be surprised how many there are - amazing! - and they are all spread out all over the place. I still haven't been to them all. I heard that the old music collection was a very small, and not well-maintained room, not representative at all of the voluminous collection of historical manuscripts, music and reference books. So, it is actually really nice to be amongst the first to enjoy the new facilities. Yesterday there was a photographer here taking pictures of people "in action" in the archive and he took some pictures of me studying the manuscripts intently. Hey, I'm almost famous! So, the palace that houses the collection (along with the Globe Museum and the Esperanto Museum) is 500 years old, though it certainly has been renovated throughout the years. There is an interesting timeline of the palace history, which I will post later when I upload my pictures. It is good to be working in the collection. There are about 2-3 thousand pages in the boxes of the specific collection I am working with. Right now I'm on page 75. I guess I have my work cut out for me. Check back next week for more on the library and on the Staatsoper Museum, and our makeshift American-Austrian Thanksgiving Feast (subtitled: "Yes, you CAN find cranberry sauce in Vienna").