The Archives of Traditional Music fosters the educational and cultural role of Indiana University through the preservation and dissemination of the world's music and oral traditions. The Archives seeks to fulfill its mission by developing appropriate acquisitions of audio and video recordings of the music and oral traditions from the state of Indiana, the United States, and the diverse cultures of the world, and by cataloging and preserving the collections for use by educators, researchers, and interested members of the public, including the people from whom the material was collected.
The Archives collections and library contribute to the research and teaching activities of Indiana University, especially the Departments of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Anthropology, Linguistics; the School of Music; and the interdisciplinaryarea studies programs that are associated with them. It also serves as a research, teaching, and training center for the IU Ethnomusicology Program.
The Archives of Traditional Music is a cultural institution that is open to the public. It has a responsibility to make its holdings and performances available to those whose cultural heritage is represented in the collection, as well as to individuals interested in developing an appreciation for the recorded artifacts.
