-- forwarded message, please reply to sender and MMD --

I agree with Julian Dyer that it would be valuable to see an original
document dating from 1911 or thereabouts that presents the music roll
standards adopted at that time.  I do not know of the existence of such
a document, only modern summaries.  One of the basic rules of scholarship
is that we must regard derivative documents as having less authority
than primary sources, and that rule applies here.

I do not have access to the 1997 AMICA bulletin that Matthew Caulfield
mentions.  However, I recall that around that time the Bulletin editors
rarely presented photographic copies of original documents, but instead
typeset excerpts of the documents anew.  This is easier on the eyes,
of course, but it obscures the source and makes the information that is
presented suspect.  (What was omitted?  Are there typographical errors?
Did the copyist embellish anything, edit any wording, alter any data,
or drop material deemed to be offensive?)

If you know of the existence of an original document relating to the
subject matter at hand, please let readers of MMD know so that we can
launch a search for it with the goal of eventually making a scan of the
document available in MMD's archives.

Wayne Stahnke