Tower Records Founder Turning Disbanded Chain into Archive

Tower Records founder Russell Solomon has launched a new project to archive the history of the now disbanded Sacramento-based chain of record stores, reports USA Today. Partnering with the Center of Sacramento History, Solomon has asked friends, fans and former Tower employees to donate objects of the chain's history (and for monetary donations). Solomon himself donated over 200 boxes of material, including "artwork, photographs, memorabilia, awards, business records and correspondence, office furnishings and even the neon signs from the first stand-alone store."

The Tower Records Project will hold an event on June 21st at Sacramento's Dimple Records. The actual processing, cataloging and archival process is expected to begin in September, with hopes of turning the project into a traveling exhibit by 2015. In 2006, Solomon was forced to close all of his 93 U.S. Tower locations after filing for Chapter 11 two years prior. More details on the Tower Records Project are available on its website.