The Mysterious Archivist

The Residents' Mysterious Archivist is the pseudonym of an employee of Cherry Red Records and fan of The Residents, who has assisted the group with the handling of their archives since Hardy Fox sold his part of The Cryptic Corporation to Cherry Red and MVD Audio in 2017.
The Archivist is most notable for assisting with the creation of the ongoing pREServed series of expanded and remastered reissues, and regularly supplies liner notes and material for releases in the series.
== Association with The Residents ==
Despite having "never knowingly spoken with a Resident," The Mysterious Archivist has been somewhat close to the group since their days as Residents Uninc, having attended their October 1971 shows at The Boarding House and Philip's Wedding.A Nickle If Your Dick's This Big liner notes
Whilst the group were working on their Mole Trilogy, The Mysterious Archivist was living in Europe, but made infrequent visits to their studios whenever they found themselves in San Francisco, was sent copies of the albums upon their releases, attended several of the European Mole Shows, and "did all I could to help them during the tough period that came along in late '83"Mole Box Liner Notes
Having worked with Cherry Red Records in various capacities for a number of years, and briefly crossed paths with The Cryptic Corporation when Cherry Red were involved in publishing the Ian Shirley biographical book Never Known Questions: Five Decades of The Residents. Through this brief encounter the Cryptics were aware that the Archivist was a fan, and so the Archivist became involved when the group's former lead engineer, composer and producer Hardy Fox retired and sold his share in The Cryptic Corporation to Cherry Red and MVD Audio in 2017.
By March of 2018, the Archivist has only dealt with The Residents exclusively via Homer Flynn, current President and part-owner of The Cryptic Corporation. Despite this, the Archivist has received a number of items from the group (including tapes, notes, instructions on editing, running orders, and "weird gifts") via deliveries from a courier who appears dressed in "the most ridiculous disguises", including wigs, false ears and dog masks, and never says a word, only communicating via handwritten notes.
The Archivist's first project with The Residents in this new role was the compilation of the retrospective box set 80 Aching Orphans, which initiated the pREServed campaign of expanded and remastered reissues. The pREServed series began officially in 2017 with the release of expanded editions of Meet The Residents and The Third Reich 'n Roll. The campaign was conceived jointly by the Archivist with Flynn and The Residents, and as of January 2020 is currently in its second phase, with over 11 major releases in the series to date.
The Archivist has noted that despite rumors and assumptions to the contrary, the Archivist is not a Resident, and has not contributed anything other than liner notes and archival research to Residents releases.
== See also ==
* pREServed
* 80 Aching Orphans
* Never Known Questions: Five Decades of The Residents
* Cherry Red Records
== External links and references ==
* "The Residents' Mysterious Archivist" interview at One Quart Magazine
Category:Collaborators
Category:Cherry Red Records
Category:PREServed
Category:80 Aching Orphans