Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC)

06/16/2026

ARSC is please to announce the publication of ARSC Journal 57.1 (Spring 2026), containing six original articles covering a wide range of topics in recorded sound.

Articles by Richard Raichelson and Maria Kapkidi present discographic updates on the activities of two recording pioneers, Orland R. Marsh in Chicago and Marcus Joseph Colthurst Alexander in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, respectively.

David Seubert presents an overview of University of California, Santa Barbara's effort to license, digitize, and freely distribute as e-books significant out-of-print discographies that complement the Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) database.

Michael Crowley amplifies his ARSC Conference presentation on the Ravi Shankar Lecture Tapes, which were digitally preserved by The City College of New York Libraries and the Ravi Shankar Foundation and are now available to research.

Also included are Lawrence Schulman's contextualization and overview of Carly Simon's genre crossover into the Great American Song Book, and a color section presenting a Victor Red Seal catalog from 1927 featuring the music-themed art of émigré Eduard Buk Ulreich, a recent find by Matthew Barton at the Mechanical Music Extravaganza in Wayne, NJ (see image below).

Plus: Book Reviews, Sound Recording Reviews, and Current Bibliography.

The ARSC Journal is available now online to members and may be ordered in print by non-members or, in time, accessed in databases by Gale/Cengage, EBSCO, and RILM.

Not a member? Join ARSC to gain access to the journal among other benefits of membership.

https://arsc-audio.org/journal
https://arsc-audio.org/join

06/05/2026

Patrick Feaster's presentation at ARSC's 60th Annual Conference, titled "The Mysterious Speaking Machine of G. T. J. Müller", was recently featured in Scientific American.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/edison-may-not-have-been-the-first-to-record-the-human-voice-new-evidence-suggests/

Author Ron Cowen accurately characterizes Patrick as a "tenacious" researcher! Patrick's many presentations at ARSC's annual conferences may be accessed on ARSC's Aviary Site:
https://shorturl.at/r9cX1

Not an ARSC member? Request access to individual presentations at the site, or Join ARSC now at the link below to gain access to all recordings of conference presentations going back to the 1970s!

https://arsc-audio.org/join

Could a predecessor to the phonograph have appeared a century earlier?

06/03/2026

Since 2006, ARSC has supported scholarship in recorded sound through the ARSC Research Grants Program:
https://arsc-audio.org/research-grants-program

We're excited to announce the following recipients of ARSC Research Grants for 2026:

Jordan Brown, Graduate Student, Harvard University
A grant of $1000 for dissertation research in Philadelphia, PA at the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection and David Bell Studio on the aesthetics of identity in Alternative Hip-Hop and R&B.

Nina Goodman, Graduate Student, University of Chicago
A grant of $1000 for dissertation research at multiple archives and institutions in South Korea on how sound artists there have used archival sound recordings to auralize (or “sound out”) the divided past of their country.

Balakrishnan Raghavan, Graduate Student, University of California, Santa Cruz
A grant of $1000 for dissertation research at the Archives and Research Center for Ethno-musicology in Delhi, India on Yellamma-themed recordings by Jogappa musicians.

Joti Rockwell, Associate Professor and Chair of Music, Pomona College
A grant of $600 for ethnomusicology/music-theory research at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress in Washington, DC on audio recordings of plucked string instruments.

Congratulations to all! We look forward to reading about your research in future issues of the ARSC Newsletter, and perhaps hearing from you in person at ARSC's 61st Annual Conference in May 2027.

Copyright Association for Recorded Sound CollectionsThe Association for Recorded Sound Collections is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

05/23/2026

05/23/2026

Thank you to all who shared their passion and expertise at ARSC's 60th Annual Conference in Memphis, Tennessee! We look forward to making recordings of presentations available to members on ARSC's Aviary Site (https://arsc.aviaryplatform.com/) alongside those from previous conferences going back to the 1970s!

We also want thank Sun Studio and Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum for enriching our experience of the city's recorded sound cultural heritage through their amazing exhibits and engaging tours!

03/18/2026

Registration is now open for ARSC's 60th Annual Conference and Workshop in Memphis, Tennessee, May 13-16, 2026!

Join us in Memphis for three days of presentations in local, regional, national, and international topics in recorded sound, including sessions on artists and repertoire, technology, and archiving, as well as a screening of exceedingly rare recorded sound on film and a cylinder recording demonstration!

The workshop on copyright and sound recordings will allow attendees to engage this topic in depth with two expert attorneys from Authors Alliance.. And the conference will feature engaging sessions on Memphis musics, as well as a tour of Sun Studio, along with a silent auction, collector's roundtable, and awards banquet.

02/04/2026

The ARSC Archival Cylinder Box is the highest-quality, safest, and densest housing available today for the long-term storage of historical cylinder recordings.

ARSC is now accepting orders for a limited production run in spring 2026. To read more and place your order, please see the ARSC Archival Cylinder Box web page.

Orders are due by Feb. 15, 2026.
Payments must be received by Feb. 28, 2026.

https://arsc-audio.org/archival-cylinder-box

01/28/2026

ARSC is pleased to announce the recipients of this year's ARSC Awards for Independent Initiatives.

T. Christopher Aplin — Architect of a tribe-centered model for preserving and reintroducing imperiled Native American audio recordings

Nicholas Bergh — Developer of state-of-the-art platforms enabling preservation transfers of unprecedented fidelity

Henri Chamoux— Inventor of the first widely adopted professional cylinder transfer platform and operator of a public website providing access to thousands of the world’s oldest sound recordings

These passionate, driven, dedicated individuals are advancing the field of sound recording through their own initiatives outside of their professional duties. This award carries a no-strings-attached prize of $5,000 per recipient to support, encourage, and promote their good works.

Recipients will be honored the evening of May 16 at an awards ceremony during ARSC's 60th Annual Conference and Workshop in Memphis, Tennessee.

Read more about the recipients:
https://arsc-award.org/recipients-2026.html

Read more about the awards:
https://arsc-award.org/2026-0128.html

01/08/2026

ARSC invites proposals for presentations on your work with recorded sound for its 60th Annual Conference and Workshop in Memphis, Tennessee in May 2026.

The deadline for proposals has been extended to January 19, 2026. Please share your research in recorded sound with our knowledgeable and enthusiastic community!

Interested in sponsoring ARSC's 60th Annual Conference? Please see the conference sponsorship opportunities and contact ARSC's Executive Director.

12/13/2025

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is pleased to announce the ARSC Archival Cylinder Box, the highest-quality, safest, and densest housing available today for the long-term storage of historical cylinder recordings.

ARSC is now accepting orders for a limited production run in spring 2026. To read more and place your order, please see the ARSC Archival Cylinder Box web page. Orders are due by Feb. 15, 2026. Payments must be received by Feb. 28, 2026.

https://arsc-audio.org/archival-cylinder-box