Sousa Archives and Center for American Music | University of Illinois Archives
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Established in 1994 as the Sousa Archives for Band Research (SABR) and renamed the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music (SACAM) in January 2004. The Center's mission supports and facilitates research, education, and public engagement by preserving and providing access to the documentary evidence of this country's music and fine arts heritage.
The Sousa Archives began with John Philip Sousa's donation of his band library to the University Bands in 1933. From 1933 to 1994, the Sousa Band Library was referred to as the Sousa Library and Museum, and was managed by the University Bands. In 1994, the management and care of the paper records was transferred to the University Library and the museum became the Sousa Archives for Band Research. Managed by Phyllis Danner, the archives' collection management policy was limited to wind band records. In 2003 the responsibility for the preservation of the music instruments and artifacts was fully transferred to the University Library. In 2004, Scott Schwartz became the director and change the name to the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music. In that same year, the Center received a congressional proclaimation, declairing that the month of November would be designated as American Music Month. Since then, SACAM has celebrated this event with an annual exhibition, featuring objects and paper records from within the Center's holdings.
Since 2007, the Sousa Archives has participated in and hosted concerts during local festivals including: Granny's Porch, the Urbana Sweetcorn Festival, the CU Folk and Roots Festival, the Boneyard Arts Festival, and the Uniting Pride Fest. Beginning in 2013, the Archives began a local music initiative, collecting oral history interviews and records from local musicians, record producers, and concert organizers.
The Sousa Archives has also contributed to national developments in archival collection management systems, assisting in the development of both Archon and Archives Space.