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In the late 1970's the family of Mr. Edward Podesta donated his records and books to the Santa Cruz Public Libraries. The Podesta Jazz Collection included several hundred jazz recordings and books from the 1940's to 1970's that were kept in the Art and Music Department Reference collection until 1989. The library had two phonograph players and people listened to the records.
After the Oct. 17, 1989 earthquake, the Art and Music Department closed. The area was remodeled and became the Young Peoples' Department. The materials in the Art and Music Department were transferred downstairs in the Reference collection. Art and Music staff taped the Podesta jazz record collection and put the tapes downstairs in the Reference area. Patrons listened to the recordings with a tape recorder. Later, staff bought compact discs and phased out vinyl recordings and tapes. For a few more years, the Podesta records were housed in storage, upstairs. In the late 1990's, the space in storage was needed for other materials. The Library had amassed a large collection of jazz compact discs, so staff decided to return the recordings to the Podesta family.
Obituary of Edward Podesta from the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Sept. 25, 1977.
Services will be conducted Monday for Edward A. Podesta, a former Stanford Research Institute scientist who died Friday in his Santa Cruz home. He was 60.
A native of San Jose, he attended San Jose State and graduated from Stanford. He served in the Army as a lieutenant colonel. An economist and behavioral scientist, he worked for Stanford Research Institute and had participated in field studies of educational syites [sic] in Ecuador, Jamaica, West Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco, Portugal and Saudi Arabia.
He had an extensive library of books and records of jazz, which gave him source materials for articles and radio programs on the subject. Those programs were produced overseas as well as on KUSP FM in Santa Cruz.
He is survived by his wife, Jane, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Podesta of Santa Clara; a brother, Robert E. Podesta of San Jose; two daughters, Jane Christensen of Brooklyn, N.Y. and Joan Sherman of Athabasca, Alberta and two grandchildren.
Funeral services will begin at 9:30 a.m. Monday at Wessendorf and Holmes Funeral Chapel, 223 Church St., and move to the Star of the Sea Catholic Church, where a Mass of the Resurrection will be recited at 10 a.m.
Friends are invited to pay their respects at the mortuary from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. today. The Holy Rosary will be said today at 7:30 p.m. Internment will be in Oakwood Memorial park Contribution to cancer research are preferred.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel obituaries of his wife, Eleanor Jane S. Podesta, dated July 1, 2000 and his brother, Robert Edward Podesta, dated Sept. 18, 2002 can be found on the archives of the Santa Cruz Sentinel located on the website: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/archive.html
Source: PJD, 3/04
Disclaimer:
While the Library has verified the information presented in these files in what it considers to be reliable and authoritative sources, it cannot take responsibility for nor guarantee the accuracy of the information presented.