Ethnomusicology Archive

Ethnomusicology Archive
Name	Ethnomusicology Archive
Established	20th century
Type	Archive
Location	Global
Collections	Field recordings, manuscripts, photographs, audiovisual media

Ethnomusicology Archive The Ethnomusicology Archive is a specialized repository for audiovisual and documentary materials related to musical traditions studied by scholars such as Alan Lomax, Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Franz Boas, and Bronisław Malinowski, serving researchers linked to institutions like Smithsonian Institution, British Library, Library of Congress, New York Public Library, and Universität Wien. It supports projects associated with events and programs such as the International Council for Traditional Music, the American Folklore Society, the Society for Ethnomusicology, the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, and the International Musicological Society.

Overview and Scope

The archive collects field recordings, transcriptions, notation, photographs, and contextual documentation created by figures including Frances Densmore, John Lomax, Alan Lomax, Zora Neale Hurston, Sophie Drinker, and Nettl, Bruno and institutions such as Smithsonian Folkways, British Library Sound Archive, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, and Museo Nacional de Antropología (Madrid). Holdings encompass repertoires from regions represented by West Africa, Southeast Asia, Amazon rainforest, Andes, Balkans, and communities studied by scholars like Mikhail Bakhtin, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Edward Said, Margaret Mead, and Ruth Benedict. The scope includes collections tied to projects such as the Alan Lomax Collection, Béla Bartók Collection, Frances Densmore Collection, John and Ruby Lomax Collection, and archives associated with Radio Free Europe fieldwork and Project Muse-linked scholarship.

History and Development

Origins trace to early collectors such as Frances Densmore, Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, John Lomax, Alan Lomax, and Franz Boas and to institutions like the Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, British Museum, Royal Anthropological Institute, and Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Mid-20th century expansion involved contributors including Samuel Charters, Ruth Stone, Victor Grauer, Herder-Institut, University of California, Los Angeles, and Columbia University and was shaped by debates at meetings of the International Council for Traditional Music and the American Folklore Society. Late-20th and early-21st century developments were influenced by digitization programs at Library of Congress, British Library, National Library of Australia, Bibliothèque nationale de France, and policies from UNESCO and funders like the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Collections and Materials

Collections include field recordings on media such as wax cylinders, acetate discs, magnetic tape, and digital files gathered by collectors like Alan Lomax, John Lomax, Frances Densmore, Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Franz Boas, and Martha Graham; manuscript scores by Olivier Messiaen, Béla Bartók, Pierre Schaeffer, and John Cage; and photographic archives from expeditions by Margaret Mead, Edward S. Curtis, Sebastião Salgado, and Ansel Adams. The archive holds ethnographic field notes, correspondence, and contextual materials tied to projects such as the Lomax Archive, the Javanese Gamelan collections, the Andean music collections, the Tuareg music documentation, and the Balinese music fields assembled with support from Smithsonian Folkways, British Library, and university centers like SOAS, University of Oxford, and Harvard University.

Preservation and Digitization

Preservation programs follow standards set by organizations like the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, UNESCO, European Union Digital Library (Europeana), Library of Congress, and the National Archives (UK), and employ methodologies developed by teams at British Library, Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, Bodleian Library, and Bibliothèque nationale de France. Digitization initiatives involve partnerships with Google Cultural Institute, Europeana Sounds, DPLA, Mellon Foundation, and university labs at Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, Yale University, and Princeton University employing formats and metadata schemas informed by Dublin Core, METS, and PREMIS standards endorsed by IASA and OCLC.

Access, Use, and Ethics

Access policies navigate intellectual property regimes including laws from United States Copyright Office, European Union Intellectual Property Office, and frameworks promoted by UNESCO and guidelines adopted by institutions such as the British Library, Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, and University of Cambridge. Ethical protocols reflect debates involving activists and scholars like Frances Densmore, Alan Lomax, Wangari Maathai, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, and institutions such as UNESCO and International Council for Museums and address issues raised in cases like repatriation disputes involving Native American tribes, Aboriginal Australians, Maori, and collections at the National Museum of the American Indian and Australian National Museum.

Research and Scholarship

Researchers draw on materials to produce scholarship in journals and venues such as the Ethnomusicology Journal, Journal of the American Musicological Society, World of Music (Werner Wolters), Ethnomusicology Forum, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and project outputs from Smithsonian Folkways, British Library, Library of Congress, Duke University Press, and Routledge. Notable research networks and figures include Mantle Hood, John Blacking, Bruno Nettl, Alan P. Merriam, Philip V. Bohlman, Susan McClary, Kofi Agawu, Tia DeNora, Simha Arom, Gregory Barz, and Timothy Taylor, who have collaborated with programs at UCLA, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, SOAS, University of Washington, Columbia University, and New York University.

Institutional and Community Partnerships

The archive partners with cultural institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, British Library, Library of Congress, National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico), Museo Nacional de Antropología (Madrid), Australian National University, and with community organizations including National Congress of American Indians, First Nations organizations, Maori Council, Asociación Andina de Desarrollo, and festivals like WOMAD and Rainforest World Music Festival to support repatriation, co-curation, and educational programs. Collaborative projects have involved funders and program partners such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, UNESCO, European Commission, British Council, American Council of Learned Societies, and university centers at UC Berkeley, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge.

Category:Archives Category:Ethnomusicology Category:Music archives