The Sheila Rabinovitch Tape Collection is the work of one of Winnipeg's better known free lance writer, interviewer and broadcaster. It consists of some 70 interviews and 90 hours of recordings, mostly with Winnipeg residents, conducted between 1970 and 1981. Mrs. Rabinovitch conducted most of these interviews either on her own initiative or by request with the intention of using part or all of them for broadcast on various CBC radio programs of cultural and artistic interest to Canadians. Most of her works were aired on radio. Only three or four of approximately fifteen full-length, completed programs are to be found, however, in their entirety in the collection. The rest are preparatory in nature, offcuts and excerpts of various personalities on a wide range of topics.

As one might expect, there is an uneven quality to the collection. Some of the interviews are the finished product, i.e. comprehensive, insightful, and informative--ready for broadcast. This is particularly so of those on John W. Dafoe, Ralph Connor, John MacAulay, and Judge Lewis St. George Stubbs. Some of these have won awards for their excellence.

Many of the rest tend to be short excerpts, disjointed and relatively undeveloped. The very range of Mrs. Rabinovitch's interests makes for a somewhat eclectic collection, broader than it is deep. All of her own recordings are exceptionally clear and easy to listen to. A few of the early voice recordings of various personalities, however, are hard to hear. Thanks to recently-announced funding from the John W. Dafoe Foundation, many of the tapes of pertaining to John W. Dafoe will soon be transcribed. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the interviews will not be transcribed for the foreseeable future. (At the time of preparing this register, a grant application was being made for funds to transcribe the John W. Dafoe tapes.)

The interviews were originally recorded onto 5" or 7" reel-to-reel tapes. A few were produced on 10" broadcast tapes. The entire collection of these original recordings has been preserved and is listed and described herein under the call # 74A. Most, but not all, of these tapes were duplicated onto cassette tape recordings for ease of use and preservation purposes. Stored separately from the reel-to-reel parent collection, the cassettes are under the call # 74. Each individual interview is described later in this register whether reel-to-reel or cassette. Missing from her original collections are #s 11, 29, 34, 38, 46, 48, 49, 50 and 52.

The collection is a rare and unique oral presentation, if not oral history, of many of the personalities and events that figured prominently in the history of Winnipeg. Since radio stations and broadcast corporations seldom keep such programs for archival purposes, this collection takes on more than passing interest. To a Department that already houses the papers of John W. Dafoe, Ralph Connor (Rev. William Gordon), and Judge Stubbs, the work of Mrs. Rabinovitch takes on special value.

Those interviewed or discussed are, on the whole, prominent western Canadians in the fields of agriculture, literature, journalism, education, the law and, above all, the arts. The development of art, education, journalism, and literature are all well detailed. There is also much of interest here to the student of women's literature and art and of the expanding role of women, generally, in modern Canadian society.