Archives

Major archives throughout the world which house significant collections of recorded sound.

Abilene Christian University, Milliken Special Collections
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
African American Treasures (VOA)
AIAS Recorded Sound Archive
Alan Lomax Archive
Alan Lomax Collection
American Comedy Archives
American Folklife Center
American Jewish Historical Society
American Musical Heritage Foundation
American Music Center
American Musical and Dramatic Academy
American Philosophical Society, Native American Sound Archive
American Presidency Project
American Radio Archives and Museum
American Sound Archives
American University, Music Library
Aotearoa New Zealand Poetry Sound Archive
Appalachian State University Library
Appalshop Archive
Arabic Music Archives
Arcadia University, Vaughan Memorial Library
Archer Audio Archives
Archive of Alabama Folklife
ARChive of Contemporary Music, New York City
Archive of Northern Indian Classical Music
Archive of Southeast Asian Music
Archivo Audiovisual de Venezuela
Arhoolie Foundation
Arizona Memory Project
Arizona Popular Culture and Music Archive, Inc.
Arizona State University
Association for Cultural Equity
Atlantis Audio Archive
Audio Foundation (New Zealand)
Archives Nationales du Quebec, Archives Audiovisuelles
Archive of Armenia Music in America
Archives of Latvian Folklore
Archives of Monaco
Archives of Ukraine
Armenia.org
Aspen Historical Society
Atlanta History Center
Auburn University
Audio Archive
Audio Preservation Fund
Audio-Visual Archive and Cultural Centre (East Timor)
Austin History Center
Austrian Academy of Sciences
Austrian National Library
Australian Folk Music
Ayn Rand Institute
Azerbaian Museum of Musical Culture
Azerbaian's Voice Recording Archive
Bahamas National Archives
Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture
Bates College, Edmund S. Muskie Archives
Bauman Institute, Audio-Visual Archive
Baylor University, Black Gospel Restoration Project
Belarus Archive of Cine, Photo and Audio Recordings
Belarusian State Academy of Music, Ethnomusicological Phonoarchive
Belarus State Archives of Films, Photographs and Sound
Berklee School of Music, Stan Getz Library
Berlin Sound Archive
Berzin Archives
Biblioteca Naciional de Peru
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Bishop Museum Archives
Blue Ridge Institute and Museum
Bob Moog Memorial Foundation for Electronic Music
Bob Wills Heritage Foundation
Bohuslave Martinu Institute
Bolivia Bella
Boston College, Irish Music Center
Boston University Libraries, Music Library
Bowling Green State University Music Library and Sound Recordings Archive
Bridgeport Public Library, Audio/Video
Brigham Young University, Harold B. Lee Library
British Broadcasting Corporation
British Columbia Archives
British Library National Sound Archive
British Library Sound Archive
British Museum, African Sound Archive
British Music Society
British Sound Recording Association
Brooklyn Historical Society
Brown University, Orwig Music Library
Budapest Music Center
CalArts, Sound Collection
California State Archives
Caltech Institute Archives
Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Archives
Canada's Digital Collections
Catholic University of America, Music Library
Caymen Islands National Archives
Center for Andean Ethnomusicology ΓÇö Lima, Peru┬á┬á┬á
Center for Documentary Studies
Center for International Borders Research
Center for Southern Folklore
Center for Southwest Research, John Donald Robb Field Recordings
Center for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research
Centro Cultural Eduardo Leon Jimenes (Dominican Republic)
CHARM (Center for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music)
Chatham Music Archive
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
Chicago Historical Society
Chicago Public Library, Music Information Center
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
City College of New York, Music Library
City University of New York, Hunter College, Archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora
Clemson University, Special Collections
Clio Awards Archive
Colby College, Art and Music Library
Collecting on the Edge:┬á Global Music ArchiveΓÇöUganda
Columbia College Chicago, Center for Black Music Research
Columbia University, Archival Collections and Oral Histories
Columbia University, Center for Ethnomusicology
Columbia University, The Gabe M. Wiener Music & Arts Library
Comjagat (Bangladesh)
Computer Museum History Center
Connecticut College, Greer Music Library
Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico Biblioteca Amaury Veray
Cornell Lab of Ornithology Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds
Cornell University, Sidney Fox Library of Music
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Creative Audio Archive
Croation State Archives
Cultural Survival
Cylinder Archive
Cyprus Music Information Centre
Czech and Slovak Music Society
Danish National Archives
Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archive
Delaware Public Archives
Digital Library of Appalachia
Digital Library for International Research
Digital Tradition Folk Song Database (The Mudcat Caf├⌐)
DRAM
Duke University, John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising and Marketing History
Duke University, William Grant Still Collection
Durbreck Archive of Opera
Dutch Song Database
Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum
East Carolina University, Music Library
Eastman School of Music, Sibley Music Library
East Tennessee University, Archives of Appalachia
Edison National Historic Site
Emory University, Music and Media Center
Eritrea Research and Documentation Center
Estonian Folklore Archive
Estonian National Museum
Estonian Theatre and Music Museum
Ethnomuse (Slovenia)
European Commission Audiovisual Library
European Journalism Center
European Library
European Network Online Music Archives
Everett (WA) Public Library, Northwest History Collection
EVIA
Experience Music Project
Finnish National Sound Archive
Finnish Jazz and Pop Archive
Florence Griswold Museum
Florida Atlantic University Judaica Sound Archives
Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Florida State Library and Archives (Florida Memory)
Florida State Sound and Video Archive
Folger Shakespeare Library
Folk Music Archives of the Institute for Musicology / Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Foundation for Iranian Studies
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
Freedom Archives
Free Library of Philadelphia, Music Libraries
French National Center for Scientific Research
General Archives of the Mexican Nation
Genocide Bangladesh
George Bush Presidential Library and Museum
George C. Marshall Foundation
George Mason University, Special Collections
George W. Bush Presidential Library
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum
German National Broadcasting Archive
Germany Information Centre, African Music Archive
Glenbow Museum Archives
Glenn Miller Archive
Global Owl Project
Golden Sufi Center
Government of the Republic of Slovenia, Audio Archives
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
Harry Smith Archives
Harvard University, Archive of World Music
Harvard University, George Edward Woodberry Poetry Room
Harvard University, Loeb Music Library
Harvard University, Milman Parry Collection
Haverford College, Music Library
Hawaiian Music and Hula Archives
The Henry Ford
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum
Hip Hop Archive
Hirshhorn Museum Library
Historical Archives of the European Union
Historical Sound and Image Archive
History Meeting House (Poland)
Hofstra University, Music Library
Hollins University, Music Library
Holycross Libraries
Howard University, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center
Indiana University, Archives of African American Music & Culture
Indiana University, Archives of Traditional Music
Indiana University, Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology
Institute for Vietnamese Music
Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore
Inter-American University Library
Intersea Foundation, Sound Archives
International Dialects of English Archive
International Jazz Collections
International Association of Music Information Centers
International Association of Music Libraries
International Council for Traditional Music
International Library of African Music
International Tennis Hall of Fame
Internet Archives
Iraq National Archives
Irish Traditional Music Archive
Islamic Art, Music and Architecture Around the World
Ithica College, Music Library
Jamaica Archives and Record Department
Jazz-Institut Darmstadt
Jazz Music Archives
Jazz Museum in Harlem, Savory Collection
Jewish Educational Media
Jewish Museum, Vienna
Jimmy Carter Library and Museum
John Carroll University, Northwest Ohio Broadcast Archives
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
Johns Hopkins University, Peabody Institute
Julliard
Kansas State Historical Society
KCRW Foundation
Kennan Institute/NPR Russian History Audio Archive
Kentucky Center for Traditional Music
Kent State, Performing Arts Library
Kenyan Audio Visual Archives
The King Center
Laboratory of Distributed Multimedia Information Systems and Applications
La Biennale di Venezia: ┬áArchivio Storico delle arti Comtemporanee (Italy)
Latvia State Archives of Audiovisual Documents
Lees-McRae College, Alison Stirling Collection
Library and Archives of Canada
Library of Congress, Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center
Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Recorded Sound Section
Lincoln Libraries, Polley Music Library Archive
LM Radio Museum and Archive (Portugal)
Los Alamos Historical Society
Louis Armstrong House and Museum
Louisiana Digital Folklore Archives/Acadian and Creole Folklore Archives
Louisiana Folklife Center
Louisiana Folklife Program
Louisiana Music Archive
Louisiana State Museum, Jazz Audio Glossary
Louisiana State Museum, Jazz Collection
Lower Eastside Tenement Museum
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum
Lyon College, John Quincy Wolf Folklife Collection
Macedonia Academy of Science and Arts
Mahoning Valley Historical Society, Business and Media Archives
Manhattan School of Music
Mannes College of Music, Harry Scherman Library
Margaret Chase Smith Library
Marist College, Special Collections
Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum
Maryland Historical Society
Massachusetts Archives
McGill Distributed Digital Music Archive
McGill University, Music Library
McPherson Natural History Unit Sound Archive
Media History Digital Library
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Memoriav
Michigan State University, Special Collections
Michigan State University, Vincent Voice Library
Michigan Traditional Arts Program
Middle Tennessee State University, Center for Popular Music
Middlebury College, Research Centers for American Music, Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection and Vermont Archive of Traditional Music
The Milken Archive of Jewish Music
Miller Center of Public Affairs
Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture (Samoa)
Minnesota Historical Society
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Missouri Folklore Society
Missouri State University, Max Hunter's Song Collection
Monash University, the Australian Archive of Jewish Music
Mount Allison University, Music Library
Museum of History and Industry (Seattle, WA)
Museum of Jewish Heritage
Music Information Center (Norway)
Music Library of Greece
Music Libraries of Iceland
Mystic Seaport Museum
Naropa University, Allen Ginsberg Library
National Anthropological Archives
National Archives and Records Administration
National Archives and Record Service of South Africa
National Archives (Czech Republic)
National Archives of Atlanta
National Archive of Australia
National Archive of Brunei Darussalam
National Archives of Canada
National Archives of Estonia
National Archives of Guernsey
National Archives of the Philippines
National Archives of the United Kingdom
National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago
National Audiovisual Institute (Poland)
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
National Council for the Traditional Arts
National Film and Sound Archive (Australia)
National Film Video and Sound Archive (South Africa)
National Gallery of the Spoken Word
National Library and Archives of Bhutan
National Library of Australia
National Library of Canada: Music and Performing Arts
National Library of Finland, Music Library
National Library of Jamaica
National Library of Norway
National Library of Sweden
National Library of Serbia
National Library of Wales
National Museum of American History
National Museum of the American Indian, Sound Collections
National Museum of Wales
National Museums Northern Ireland
National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales
Nature Sounds: California Library of Natural Sounds
Nebraska State Historical Society, Audiovisual Archives
Nepal National Library
Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision
New England Folk Music Archives
New Hampshire Folklife
New Hampshire Library of Traditional Jazz
New Hampshire Library of Traditional Music and Dance
New Mexico State Archives
New Orleans Jazz Heritage Festival and Foundation
New Orleans Public Library
New York City Municipal Archives
New York Philharmonic Archives
New York Public Library, Archives of Recorded Sound
New York Public Library, Library for the Performing Arts
New York Public Library, Rodgers & Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound
New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
New York Public Radio Archives (WNYC)
New York State Archives
New York State Historical Society
New York University, Asian/Pacific/American Studies
New York University, Tamiment and Robert Wagner Labor Archives
Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Nordic Music Archive
North Carolina Folklore Society
North Carolina State Archives
Northeast Mississippi Documentation Project
Northern Illinois University, Music Library
Northern Illinois University, Regional History Center
Northwestern University, Music Collections
Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound
Norwegian Jazz Archive
Oberlin College and Conservatory
Oesterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaft: Phonoarchiv
Ohio State University, Bryd Polar Archives
Ohio State University, Music/Dance Library
Oman Centre for Traditional Music
Open Society Archive
Oregon Health and Science University
Oregon Historical Society
Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education
Oregon State University, Special Collections
Pacifica Radio Archives
Pacific Islands Museum/Pacific Heritage Network
The Paley Center for Media
Passim Folk Music and Cultural Center
Peabody Awards Collection
PennSound
Penn State, Fred Waring Collection
Phillips Academy, Clift Music Library, Andover College
Poetry Archive
Poetry Foundation
Poet's House
Polish Museum of America
Popular Memory (South Africa)
Portugal National Archives
Portugal's Sound Patrimony
Presidential Audio Video Archive
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Center, Northwest Territories
Princeton University, Scheide Music Library
Pritzker Military Library
Project SAVE
Provincial Archives of Alberta
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick
Public Archives and Records Office of Prince Edward Island
Puerto Rico General Archives
Purdue Universities Libraries
Queens College, Louis Armstrong Archives
Queen's University, W.D. Jordan Special Collections & Music
Radcliffe College, Schlesinger Library
Radio Foundation, Inc.
Radio New Zealand Sound Archives
Recollections of WWII
Refugee Action
Research Center for Nonviolence
Rhode Island Popular Music Archive
Rhythm and Blues Foundation
Rice University, Brown Fine Arts Library
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Foundation
Royal College of Music, RCM Library
The Royal Library of Denmark
RTE Libraries and Archives
Russian Archives Online
Rutgers University, Blanche and Irving Laurie Music Library
Rutgers University, Institute of Jazz Studies
Salem State University, Department of Foreign Languages
San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum
Sarasota Music Archives
Saudi Arabian Music Archive
Seattle Municipal Archives
Seychelles National Archive
Shambhala Archives
Sheriar Foundation
Simmons College Library, Special Collections
Skandia Folklore Dance Society
Smith College Libraries, Music
Smith College, Werner Josten Performing Arts Library
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries
Solar Wind Project
Sound Portraits (Story Corps)
South African Liberation Struggles Living Archive (PDF, 81KB)
South Africa Music Archive Project
South African Music Project Archive
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Morris Library
Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, National Ragtime and Jazz Archive
Southern Oregon Historical Society
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Bowld Music Library
Speech Accent Archive
St. Edwards' University Archives, Silvestre Revueltas Collection
St. James Sessions
St. Olaf College Halvorson Music Library
Stanford University Archive of Recorded Sound
Stanford University, Monterey Jazz Festival Collection
Stanford University, Special Collections
State Archive of Latvia
State Historical Society of Missouri
State Historical Society of North Dakota
State Historical Society of Wisconsin
State Library and Archives of Florida
State University of New York at Buffalo, Music Library
Sul Ross State University, Archives of the Big Bend
Swathmore, Music and Dance Library
Swedish National Archive of Recorded Sound and Moving Images
Swiss National Sound Archives
Syracuse University, Belfer Audio Laboratory & Archive
Tel-Aviv University, Archive of Israeli Music
Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound
Tennessee State, Library and Archives, Highlander Folk School
Texas A&M University at Kingsville, South Texas Archives, Jernigan Library
Texas Christian University, Mary Couts Burnett Library
Texas Music Museum
Texas State Historical Association, Center for Texas Music History
Texas State Library and Archives
Texas State University, Schneider Music Library
Texas Tech University, The Southwest Collection
Texas Tech University, Vietnam Center and Archive
Thomas Edison National Historical Park
Toronto City Archives
Tufts University, Lilly Music Library
Tulane University, Jazz Archives (William Ranson Hogan)
Turkey Music Portal
Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs Resources
United Nations, News and Media Audio Library
United Nations University
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Unity Costa Rica Audio Archive
Universiteit Leiden
University of Aukland
University of Auckland, Archive of M─üori and Pacific Music
University of Alabama, William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, African-American History Resources
University of Albany/SUNY Digital Media Initiatives
University of Arkansas, Music Library
University of Belize
University of British Columbia, Audio Archive
University of California, Davis Library
University of California-Berkeley, Bancroft Library
University of California-Berkeley, Media Resources Center
University of California-Berkeley, Michael Foucault Audio Archive
University of California-Berkeley, Music Library
University of California-Los Angeles, Ethnomusicology Archive
University of California-Los Angeles, M├║sica de la Frontera: Archive of Mexican-American Music
University of California-Los Angeles, Music Library
University of California-San Francisco, Tobacco Control Archives
University of California-Santa Barbara, Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, Digital Collections
University of California-Santa Barbara, Cylinder and Digitization Project
University of Cape Town, Centre for Popular Memory
University of Chicago, Chicago Jazz Archive
University of Cincinnati CCM Recording Archives
University of Colorado at Boulder, American Music Research Center
University of Colorado at Boulder, College of Music
University of Connecticut, Music and Dramatic Arts Library
University of Dayton, Marian Music Archive
University of Delaware, Morris Library
University of Edinburgh, Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies
University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries
University of Hartford, Allen Library
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Library
University of Houston, Music Library
University of Idaho, International Jazz Collection
University of Illinois, Advertising Council Archives
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Musicology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Music Libraries
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Sousa Archive
Universityof Iowa, Sounds of the Magnetosphere
University of Iowa, Special Collections
University of Kansas, Jazz Archives
University of Kansas, Sound Archives
University of Kansas, Special Collections
University of Kentucky, Audio-Visual Archives
University of Kentucky, John Jacob Niles Center for American Music
University of Kentucky, School of Music
University of Leeds, Bauman Institute
University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies
University of London, Center for Russian Music
University of London, Goldsmith College, Music Library
University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore
University of Louisville
University of Maine, Fogler Library
University of Maine, Maine Folklife Center
University of Manitoba, Archives and Special Collections
University of Maryland, International Piano Archives
University of Maryland, Library of American Broadcasting
University of Maryland, National Public Broadcasting Archives
University of Maryland, Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library
University of Melbourne, Grainger Museum
University of Memphis, Benson Radio Program Archive
University of Memphis, Special Collections
University of Miami, Larry Taylor-Billy Matthews Musical Theater Archive
University of Miami, Special Collections
University of Michigan, Music Library
University of Minnesota, Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
University of Minnesota, Charles Babbage Institute
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota, Music Library
University of Mississippi, American Music Archive
University of Mississippi, Blues Archive
University of Missouri-Columbia, Sound Collection
University of Missouri, Kansas City, Marr Sound Archives
University of Missouri, Kansas City, Special Collections
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Music Library
University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Music Library
University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire, Library of Traditional Music and Dance
University of New Mexico, Navajo Studies Archival Collections (PDF, 128KB)
University of New Mexico, Spanish Folk Music of Northern New Mexico & Southern Colorado
University of New Mexico, University Libraries
University of North Carolina, Southern Folklife Collection
University of North Carolina-Greensboro, School of Music, Theatre and Dance
University of North Texas, Special Collections and Jazz Studies Division
University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Library
University of Oklahoma, Political Communications Center
University of Oklahoma, Western History Collection
University of Oregon, Knight Library
University of Otago, New Zealand, Department of Music
University of the Pacific, Brubeck Institute
University of Pennsylvania, Arabic Sound Archive
University of Pennsylvania, Department of Folklore and Folklife
University of Pennsylvania, Otto E. Albrecht Music Library
University of Pennsylvania, Schoenberg Center, Robert and Molly Freedman Jewish Sound Archive
University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh, Center for American Music
University of Puerto Rico
University of Rhode Island, Special Collections
University of Rochester, Special Collections
University of South Carolina, Music Library
University of South Carolina, School of Music, Center for Southern African American Music (PDF, 845KB)
University of South Dakota, National Music Museum
University of Southern California, Audio Archive
University of Southern California, Gospel Music History Archive
University of Southern Denmark, Jazz Collection
University of Southern Maine, Maine Music Box
University of Sydney, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin, Benson Latin American Collection
University of Texas at Austin, Center for American Music
University of Texas at Austin, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center
University of Texas at San Antonio, Institute of Texan Cultures
University of Texas at San Antonio, Special Collections
University of Toledo, Ward Canady Center
University of Tulsa, Mcfarlin Library
University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah, Western Soundscape Archive
University of Vermont, Special Collections
University of Virginia, Faulkner at Virginia
University of Virginia, Music Library
University of Washington, Ethnomusicology Archives
University of Western Australia, Callaway Centre
University of West Florida, Music Library
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mills Music Library
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin Folksong Collection
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin Music Archives
University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center
Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre
Utah State University, Fife Folklife Archives
Valdosta State University, South Georgia Folklife Collection
Vanderbilt University, Global Music Archive
Vasser Library, Dickinson Music Library
Vermont Folklife Center
Vermont Music Library
Virgin Island Public Library System
Virgin Islands History
Ward Irish Music Archive
Washington University, Film and Media Archive
Wayne State Reuther Library
Weismann Institute of Science Archives
Wende Museum
Wesleyan University, World Music Archives
Wessex Film and Sound Archive
Western Australian Folklore Archive
Western Folklife Center
Western Illinois University, Music Library
Western Sahara Audiovisual Database
Westminister Choir College, Talbott Library
Westminster Theological Seminary
West Virginia State Archives
Wheaton College, Billy Graham Center
William Berman Jewish Heritage and Holocaust Museum
William J. Clinton Presidential Library
WIMA: Werner Icking Music Archive
Winthrop University, Music Library
Wisconsin Center for Film and Theatre Research
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum
Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives
Wyoming State Library
Yale University Historical Sound Recordings Collection
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

In addition to the archives listed, other arts and music collections in the US and throughout the world can also be accessed via:

Digital Librarian
Ethnographic Archives (CoPAR)
German Music Guide
Music Outfitters, Inc.

NOTE: This list does not purport to be exhaustive. To add a sound or music archive to this list, please e-mail its name and web address to: [email protected].

Program National Recording Preservation Board

Archives