The History of the Rocky Mountain Unit
One of the original
seven units, the Rocky Mountain Unit (formerly the Denver Unit)
was established by Anne T. Macdonald in 1951. Start-up funds grew
out of a luncheon meeting between Mrs. Macdonald and her friend,
Mrs. Morrison Shafroth. Joining them for lunch, Mr. Shafroth became
a believer in the establishment of a Denver recording studio.
His subsequent discussion with the Van Hummel Howard Foundation
resulted in a $4,500 check within two days. Additional funds were
contributed by the Boettcher Foundation.
Mrs. John B.
McPhee, a member of the Denver Public Library Commission, headed
the group of founding volunteers who recorded textbooks on three
SoundScriber machines. A search soon began for additional doctors,
lawyers, scientists, and others with the technical knowledge and
expertise to read college-level textbooks.
In 1951, Denver
became the first studio to install the new audio tape recording
machine that required a soundproof room for the reader-director
recording team. (Today, these one-room booths are more sophisticated
and are partitioned to separate reader and director.) As a result
of the unit's new recording equipment, RFB&D headquarters assigned
in 1954 the unit recording of great works of literature such as
Anna Karenina and Tom Jones to the Denver Unit at
the request of the Library of Congress.
The Rocky Mountain
Unit received its charter on October 23, 1957, the fifth RFB&D
unit to be chartered. In June 1962, the unit moved from its original
quarters in the basement of the Warren Branch Public Library to
newly renovated space in the Ross Cherry Creek Branch of the Public
Library. Mr. John Eastick, former head librarian of the Denver
Public Library, was instrumental in obtaining this rent-free space.
In 1992, the
unit moved from the Ross Cherry Creek Branch Library to an office
building at 2695 South Colorado Boulevard. Just the beginning
of things to come, this move was followed by a subsequent move
to bigger quarters - our current location. This new space allowed
us to expand the functions performed by the unit, add new employees
and new recording technology, and enhanced the ability to greatly
increase the production volume of recorded books produced.
The
Denver Unit was renamed the Rocky Mountain Unit in 2004.
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