Winnipeg Free Press: Behind the music Historian John Einarson donates trove of archives to university, looks back at life in new book

Now, the 72-year-old, Einarson is donating that accumulated data — 14 boxes of textual materials, hundreds of photographs, hours of sound recordings and thousands of digital files — to the University of Manitoba.

“It’s a tremendous collection for anybody interested in music history, the history of Winnipeg or even the writing and publishing process,” says Heather Bidzinski, the university’s Head of Archives and Special Collections, who calls the Einarson Collection one of the most significant acquisitions of contemporary music history in the post-secondary institution’s own 56-year history.

Einarson’s donation coincides with the publication of his 21st book, Words and Music: The Stories Behind the Books, which across 318 pages puts the author at the heart of the narrative, subtly making the case that the quiet, buttoned-down high school history teacher is just as fascinating as the artists who have seized his fastidious attention since he was a Grant Park student with hair down to his shoulders and a guitar strap slung around his neck.

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