The Endangered Music Archive is an independent digital research archive dedicated to preserving historical music collections that are at risk of being forgotten, dispersed, or lost.
Many musical repertoires survive only in fragile paper libraries, incomplete catalogues, or uncatalogued private holdings. When these materials fall out of use, they often disappear quietly — not through deliberate destruction, but through neglect, fragmentation, or simple invisibility. The Endangered Music Archive exists to counter that process.
What the archive is — and is not
The Endangered Music Archive is not a performance library, a commercial publisher, or a repository of modern editions.
Instead, it is a documentation-driven archive. Its purpose is to record the existence, contents, and historical context of vulnerable music collections so that they may be studied, understood, and — where appropriate — revived by performers and researchers.
The archive does not replace physical collections. Rather, it complements them by making their structure, repertoire, and historical significance visible to a wider audience.
What does “endangered” mean?
Music becomes endangered when the materials that enable it to be understood and performed are at risk. This may occur when:
- collections are dispersed or partially lost
- catalogues are incomplete or unpublished
- repertoire falls outside modern performance traditions
- materials exist only in fragile or inaccessible formats
In such cases, music may cease to be performed not because it lacks value, but because it is no longer discoverable.
The Endangered Music Archive treats these conditions not as failures, but as historical realities that deserve careful documentation.
Collections, not editions
The archive is organised around collections, not individual works or composers in isolation.
Each collection is treated as a historical entity in its own right, reflecting the repertoire, performance practices, and institutional or social context in which it functioned. Gaps, inconsistencies, annotations, and ambiguities are preserved as part of the historical record rather than corrected or normalised.
This approach prioritises transparency over completeness and documentation over interpretation.
Access and responsibility
The Endangered Music Archive aims to support responsible access to historical materials.
Where digital files are made available, they are provided for research, study, and contextual understanding. Users are encouraged to consult the accompanying documentation, including notes on provenance, limitations, and historical context, before drawing conclusions or using materials in performance.
For further guidance, see:
Stewardship
The Endangered Music Archive is a curator-led initiative developed with a long-term preservation mindset. Decisions about scope, description, and presentation are guided by principles of historical honesty, proportional intervention, and respect for the surviving evidence.
The archive evolves as new information emerges and additional collections are documented. Records may be revised, expanded, or clarified over time as part of an ongoing scholarly process.
Looking ahead
As further endangered music collections are identified and documented, the Endangered Music Archive will continue to grow. Each new collection strengthens the archive’s ability to illuminate forgotten musical worlds and to support their thoughtful rediscovery.
Preservation begins with visibility.
An archive does not keep music alive by itself — but it ensures that music is not forgotten.