Mountain Highs, Valley Lows

Abstract

Since 2004, collaborative archiving of gospel music between institutions in higher education, community groups, and individual collectors has increased. Three university archive initiatives have emerged and engaged in various partnerships with gospel music heritage communities on regional and even national levels. Archives and libraries at UCLA, USC, and Baylor University have contributed greatly to the preservation of gospel music’s recorded and ephemeral past and to the documentation of contemporary performance traditions. While two of these initiatives have faced sustainability challenges, one has expanded its impact by partnering with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. This chapter delineates key success strategies of the UCLA Gospel Archiving in Los Angeles Project, the Gospel Music History Archive of the University of Southern California, and the Baylor University Black Gospel Music Restoration Project; highlights accessibility and sustainability challenges; and illustrates the crucial role of technology in future archiving efforts.