"I have been, for at least two years............"
As long as that!!!
I was first told about this collection by Bob Thomson back in the 70s - he had heard of it from Ken Goldstein
We approached the then Librarian of the Vaughan Williams Memoral Library (don't think Malcolm Taylor had landed then - maybe Theresa Thom)
She ordered it for the Library
It is a truely magnificent collection
My favourite story connected with it was that of Ben Bright - a merchant seaman recorded by Carpenter in Swansea (?)
In the late seventies, Charles Parker was crossing London Bridge when he saw an escapologist
Charlie stood talking to his assistant, who turned out to be Carpenter's singer, Ben Bright, whose story is worth a book in its own right.
Ben had sailed to California in the depression, jumped ship and joined Joe Hill's International Workers of the World - the Wobblies
He worked as a Union organiser with some of the Legendary figures, including T-Bone Slim and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger recorded Ben and, based on those recordings, Ewan wrote one of his best songs (in my opinion) 'Shellback'
They also produced a monograph based on Ben's exploits which was sold at the Singers Club
Therecordig sessions ended abruptly whan Ewan and Peg turned up at Ben's lodgings to find that Ben, then well into his seventies, had taken passage as a deckhand on a ship bound for Australia
When their daughter Kitty was born, E and P got a postcard of congratulations from Australia - Ben was then working on a coaster sailing around Australia
A truely remarkable man
Jim Carroll