A joint proposal from the American Folklife Center of the Library and the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage has been awarded a grant for $750,000 to preserve historic sound recordings housed at the two institutions.
Folklife specialist Jennifer Cutting in one of the climate-controlled collection storage bays in the Library's American Folklife Center. - David Taylor
The White House Millennium Council's preservation program, Save America's Treasures, in partnership with the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, made the grant.
"This award gives recognition to the important intellectual and cultural significance of the recorded voices and music of the American people," said Peggy Bulger, director of the American Folklife Center. "It will help to preserve our irreplaceable aural history."
On July 7, at Anderson Cottage on the grounds of the Soldiers' and Airmen's Home in Washington, D.C., President Bill Clinton announced this year's Save America's Treasures grants. The summer residence for President and Mrs. Lincoln, Anderson Cottage, is typical of the historic sites that have received the preservation grants. But along with the bricks-and-mortar projects on this year's list were a number of projects from archives containing historic records, photographs and sound recordings, including those at the Smithsonian Institution and the Library.
Together, the two institutions hold unparalleled collections of audio recordings documenting the American experience dating from the 1890s—some 140,000 noncommercial recordings of American stories, songs, poems, speeches and music. There are original recordings of Woody Guthrie, Jelly Roll Morton and Leadbelly; the very first field recording of Native American music; the voices of cowboys, farmers, fishermen, factory workers and quilt-makers; African American spirituals; and stories from Jewish immigrants.
"These are the diverse and distinctive voices of the nation," said the Librarian. "They provide splendid evidence of the remarkable creativity of Americans from many different communities and from all parts of our country."
In urgent need of preservation are thousands of original audio recordings made over the 20th century by folklorists, ethnomusicologists, anthropologists and other ethnographers, on wax cylinders, wire, aluminum discs, acetate and audio and video tape. Many, including those from the past several decades, require immediate conservation treatment and copying to other formats. Also in need of preservation are scores of photographs, drawings, diagrams, maps and fieldnotes that complement and provide interpretive information on the recordings.
Preservation is a continuing and expensive process, and this grant provides resources and incentives for carrying on that important work and for facilitating additional fund-raising efforts. As a condition of the grant, the Smithsonian and the Library must now raise $750,000 in private matching funds.
Left, this acetate disc recording in the Library collection is contaminated by mold. A new grant will help preserve historic sound recordings; right, two spools of tangled wire recordings that require considerable treatment. - David Taylor
It is central to the mission of the Library to preserve, secure and sustain for the present and future use of Congress and the nation a comprehensive record of American history and creativity. The White House Millennium Council's Save America's Treasures program calls attention to the remarkable examples of American creativity captured on the ethnographic sound recordings at the American Folklife Center and the Smithsonian Institution, and helps to ensure that they will be available to future generations.
The American Folklife Center was created by Congress in 1976 and placed at the Library of Congress to preserve and present American Folklife through programs of research, documentation, archival preservation, reference service, live performance, exhibition, public programs and training. The center incorporates the Archive of Folk Culture, which was established in the Library's Music Division in 1928 and is now one of the largest collections of ethnographic material from the United States and around the world.
