When you get the re-mastered Bruce Springsteen box set, set aside a few moments to page through the elegant book of Bruce Springsteen memorabilia. You’ve purchased this set to hear the marvelous re mastering of his earlier works, but the collection of Bruce Springsteen photos and other items from his past included within wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t.. “For You”. That’s right…you.
Enter the Bruce Special Collection. Housed at Monmouth University this collection outgrew some years ago the Asbury Park Library. The Collection includes approximately 20,000 holdings in multiple formats: books, songbooks, tour books, magazines, fanzines, Internet articles, academic journals and papers, comic books, selected printed items, newspaper articles, historic memorabilia, CDs, vinyl recordings, posters, DVDs and videos. To quote the Collection’s website “The Bruce Springsteen Special Collection originated in the summer of 2001 with a concern over the rate at which magazine and newspaper articles on Springsteen’s early career, once plentiful, had become increasingly scarce. To address this problem, the Springsteen fanzine, Backstreets Magazine, organized a fan-to-fan campaign to collect and organize essential documents from each phase of Springsteen’s career, ensuring that the historic record would be publicly accessible to all who have a serious interest in Bruce Springsteen’s life and career.” It was this rich collection that Dave Bett, graphic designer for Sony Music, used to hand pick many of the items that the box set’s booklet features. Dave came to Monmouth for a few hours, ending up spending the day and promises to return. All these items, Bruce Springsteen pictures, photos and other memorabilia have been donated from one source, the fans. According to Bruce only one other location has a bigger collection, his mother’s basement.