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Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the Steve Reich Collection kept at the Paul Sacher Stiftung (PSS) in Basel, Switzerland. This important collection, which was acquired by PSS in 2008, consists of a wide range of primary and secondary materials—from sketchbooks, handwritten scores, tape recordings, computer files, and source materials collected for speech and sampled compositions to diaries, letters, interviews, photographs, program leaflets, working correspondence, and critics’ reviews. In addition to the manuscript holdings, the chapter focuses on two historical layers of media-based material, summarized under the catchwords “hybrid-analog” (connecting written documents to audio tapes) and “hybrid-digital” (combining paper, analog audio, and digital files from the working process). These two generic crossovers lend the collection its specific character in terms of archival practice and media analysis, placing special demands both on the archive itself and on scholars studying the sources.