The UCSB Library’s Performing Arts Collection is a prominent repository of primary source materials related to music, theater, radio, recorded sound, and related disciplines. The historical strengths and current collecting interests are manuscript collections related to music, recorded sound, radio, theater, and to a lesser extent dance, the circus, and magic.
The collection dates to the early 1970s with the acquisition by the UCSB Music Library with the initial collections of historical sound recordings and manuscript collections related to music. The collections were merged into Special Collections in the mid 1990s and combined with existing performing arts materials in Special Collections. Historical sound recordings became a major focus of the collection at this time.
The scope of the collection is national and in some cases international, with important collections including a) manuscript collections related to music (composers, opera singers, Santa Barbara organizations, musical theater); b) historical sound recordings (78rpm discs and wax cylinders); c) printed materials such as trade catalogs of sound recordings.
The collection has continued to grow through the donation and acquisition of individual collections and the launch of initiatives related to the collections. The UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive was launched in 2003 and what is now the Discography of American Historical Recordings was moved from Stanford in 2005. The American Radio Archives, formerly at the Thousand Oaks Public Library, was merged into the collection in 2020. The Early Recordings Initiative, documenting pre-1902 recordings, was launched in 2021.
Collecting Priorities
Manuscript Collections
- Composers - Papers of 20th and 21st century composers are actively collected. Film and television music composers are actively collected.
- Singers - Papers of classical and opera singers are actively collected.
- Sound Recording history and collectors. Manuscript and published materials related to the history of sound recording are actively collected, including those of record labels, record collectors, researchers, discographers, and auction companies.
- Theater, vaudeville, and variety theater - Theater is actively collected, particularly organization records from Southern California. Collections related to vaudeville are actively collected, including organizational records, and papers of vaudeville performers, and published materials.
- Latin American music - In collaboration with CEMA, primary source materials on Mexican-American and Latin American music are collected, including papers of performers and sound recordings.
- Radio - Materials documenting the history of radio, primarily in California and principally before 1960 are selectively collected. This includes scripts, airchecks, station/organizational records, and personal papers. Materials related to non-English language radio are especially sought.
- California - Collections related to the performing arts in California are actively collected, including organizational records, personal papers, sound recordings, and ephemera.
- Dance - Materials related to the history of dance are accepted selectively, especially if they relate to California.
- Circus - Materials related to the circus are not actively collected, but may be accepted selectively if they complement existing holdings.
Recorded Sound
- 78rpm discs and cylinders are collected comprehensively and donations actively sought. The collection is international in scope. Areas of specialization include early sound recordings made before 1902 (e.g. brown wax recordings and Berliner discs), “ethnic” recordings (e.g. American immigrant groups before WWII), Latin American recordings, opera.
- Radio airchecks are an active collecting area, particularly California broadcasts prior to 1960
Books, Serials and other Printed Matter
- Antiquarian books on music, theater, and dance are selectively accepted as gifts. This is not an active collecting area, except as below.
- Trade catalogs of music, musical instruments, sound recordings, radio, and television are actively added to the collection, supplementing existing strengths in the RTCC.
- Published discographies are actively collected, particularly those focusing on recordings made before 1960.
Exclusions
- 45s, LPs and CDs are not collected, except when they are part of another core area or collection (like American Religions or Local History).
- Popular sheet music is not actively collected, though focused sheet music collections like the Latin American sheet music in the Pecourt collection are accepted. We do not buy or catalog individual sheets.
- Personal libraries of published materials including post 1900 books and serials on the performing arts are generally not accepted, except those that could be considered primary source material, such as directores, trade journals, etc., or discographies
- Posters and two-dimensional art are not collected, with the exception of posters and artwork that are part of manuscript collections or organizational records that are otherwise in scope
- Artifacts, objects, musical instruments, and other realia are not collected with the exception of certain very early sound recording and reproducing machines
- Digital surrogates (e.g. a copy of a cylinder recording)
Curator
David Seubert
