ARSC News

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is pleased to announce the publication of ARSC Journal Vol. 57, No. 1 (Spring 2026).

 

Browse the ARSC Journal online at:

https://arsc-audio.org/journal

ORIGINAL ARTICLES (AMP! login required)

Giving New Life to Out-of-Print Discographies: UCSB's Discography eBooks Series

by David Seubert

Orlando R. Marsh: Chicago’s Pioneer Of Electrical Recording: An Illustrated Bio-Discography

by Richard Raichelson

Marcus Joseph Colthurst Alexander (1896–1970): A Pioneer in Early Global Sound Recording

by Maria Kapkidi

The Art of Eduard Buk Ulreich

by Matthew Barton

The Ravi Shankar Tapes: Recordings from the City College Music Department Archives

by Michael Crowley

Carly Simon: A Transgenre Artist Crosses Over to the Great American Songbook, or How a Hot Knife in Cold Butter Became a Cool Diva in White-Hot Gloves

by Lawrence Schulman

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is pleased to announce the recipients of ARSC Research Grants for 2026

Jordan Brown, Graduate Student, Harvard University

A grant of $1000 for dissertation research in Philadelphia, PA at the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection and David Bell Studio on the aesthetics of identity in Alternative Hip-Hop and R&B.

Nina Goodman, Graduate Student, University of Chicago

A grant of $1000 for dissertation research at multiple archives and institutions in South Korea on how sound artists there have used archival sound recordings to auralize (or “sound out”) the divided past of their country.

Balakrishnan Raghavan, Graduate Student, University of California, Santa Cruz

A grant of $1000 for dissertation research at the Archives and Research Center for Ethno-musicology in Delhi, India on Yellamma-themed recordings by Jogappa musicians.

Joti Rockwell, Associate Professor and Chair of Music, Pomona College

A grant of $600 for ethnomusicology/music-theory research at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress in Washington, DC on audio recordings of plucked string instruments.

ARSC Research Grants support scholarship and publication by individuals in the field of sound recordings or audio preservation, including discography, bibliography, historical studies, or any other subject likely to increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of the lasting importance of recorded sound.

Research Grant recipients credit ARSC in research products and submit project reports for publication in the ARSC Newsletter.

ARSC Research Grants are managed by the ARSC Research Grants Committee. Read more about ARSC's Research Grants:

https://arsc-audio.org/research-grants-program

ARSC Research Grants are supported by membership dues and charitable contributions. To Contribute to ARSC's Research Grants Fund, visit:

https://arsc-audio.org/donate

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is pleased to announce the publication of ARSC Newsletter 169 (Spring 2026).

https://arsc-audio.org/newsletter

The newsletter features a preview of ARSC's 60th Annual Conference and Workshop in Memphis, Tennessee in May 2026. Registration for the workshop and conference is now open, so please plan to join us as we explore regional, national, and international topics in recorded sound and celebrate ARSC at 60!

Also included in the newsletter are interesting ARSC Research Grants reports on the representation of radio in art of the 1940s and the role of women in the development of Canada's ethnographic sound archives, plus member news and much more!

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is pleased to announce the recipients of this year's ARSC Awards for Independent Initiatives.

• T. Christopher Aplin — Architect of a tribe-centered model for preserving and reintroducing imperiled Native American audio recordings
• Nicholas Bergh — Developer of state-of-the-art platforms enabling preservation transfers of unprecedented fidelity
• Henri Chamoux— Inventor of the first widely adopted professional cylinder transfer platform and operator of a public website providing access to thousands of the world’s oldest sound recordings

ARSC is pleased to honor these passionate, driven, dedicated individuals who are advancing the field of sound recording through their own initiatives outside of their professional duties. Its Independent Initiatives Award carries a no-strings-attached prize of $5,000 per recipient to support, encourage, and promote their good works. Recipients will be honored the evening of May 16 at an awards ceremony during ARSC's 60th Annual Conference and Workshop in Memphis, Tennessee.

Read more about the recipients: 

https://arsc-award.org/recipients-2026.html

Read more about the awards:

https://arsc-award.org/2026-0128.html

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) invites proposals for speaker presentations, panel discussions, and posters at ARSC's 60th Annual Conference and Workshop, to be held in Memphis, Tennessee, May 13-16, 2026 at the Sheraton Memphis Downtown Hotel.

The deadline for proposals has been extended to Jan. 26, 2026. Please see the Call for Proposals on the ARSC Conference website for details.

ARSC welcomes proposals on all aspects of sound recording, in all formats, covering all genres of music and speech, in all periods from the 1800s to the present. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) record labels and artists, recording and playback technology, watershed moments in the history of sound recording, radio broadcasts, podcasts, copyright and other legal issues, discography and innovative approaches to research, preservation, cataloging, and access.

ARSC is pleased to announce the ARSC Archival Cylinder Box, the highest-quality, safest, and densest housing available today for the long-term storage of historical cylinder recordings.

ARSC is now accepting orders for a limited production run in spring 2026. To read more and place your order, please see the ARSC Archival Cylinder Box web page. Orders are due by Feb. 15, 2026. Payments must be received by Feb. 28, 2026.

ARSC is pleased to announce the winners of the ARSC Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research for 2025.

2025 Awards for Excellence Winners

In bestowing these awards ARSC recognizes those publishing the very best work in recorded sound research and promotes readership of their works. Follow the links on the awards page to purchase copies of their works!

Authors will be recognized at the ARSC Awards banquet during ARSC's 60th Annual Conference and Workshop in Memphis, TN, May 13-16, 2026. Please join us!

Additional information about the ARSC Awards for Excellence may be found at https://arsc-audio.org/awards-excellence.

Additional information about the ARSC's Annual Conference and Workshop may be found at https://arsc-audio.org/conference.

Congratulations to all finalists and award winners! And thank you to the ARSC Awards Committee. 

ARSC is pleased to call for applications for ARSC Research Grants. Applications are due by January 31, 2026.

ARSC Research Grants support scholarship and publication in the fields of sound recording research and audio preservation. Project categories eligible for consideration include: discography, bibliography, historical studies of the sound recording industry and its products, and any other subject likely to increase the public's understanding and appreciation of the lasting importance of recorded sound.

ARSC members and non-members alike are eligible for grants in amounts up to $1000. ARSC encourages applications from individuals whose research forms part of an academic program at the master's or doctoral level.

Research Grant guidelines can be viewed at: https://arsc-audio.org/research-grants-program

Questions can be directed to: arscgrants@gmail.com

Research Grants are supported by membership dues and contributions.

Join or renew your membership in ARSC!

https://arsc-audio.org/join

Donate to ARSC!

https://arsc-audio.org/donate

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections is pleased to announce the publication of ARSC Newsletter 168 (Fall 2025):
 
https://arsc-audio.org/newsletter
 
For members with print subscriptions, copies will arrive in mailboxes soon.
For members with digital subscriptions, find the newsletter at the link above.
 
ARSC Newsletter 168 (Fall 2025) Contents

• "President's Report," by Yuri Shimoda
• "Using the Ray Wile Library," by Ryan Barna
• "Tulsa Conference Wrap-Up and Memphis Highlights," by Curtis Peoples
• 2025 Research Grant Recipients
• "How to Use the ARSC Library," by Tim Brooks
• "An Extraordinary Discovery Leads to New Research on the Earliest Classical Recordings," an ARSC Research Grant Report by Andrew Krastins
• "Obituary: Paul C. Charosh," by Tim Brooks
• Distinguished Service to ARSC Award 2025 Presented to Seth B. Winner
• ARSC Journal 2025 Best Article/Best Review of the Year Awards
  
• ARSC 2025 Awards for Excellence Finalists Announced
• ARSC at Record and Audio Shows
• "Afro-Colombian Recordings of the 1960s and ‘70s," an ARSC Research Grant Report by Kumera Genet
• ARSC Conference Photos
• And more....!

To contribute to the ARSC Newsletter, contact:

ARSC Newsletter Editor Tim Brooks at tim@timbrooks.net

To advertise in the ARSC Newsletter, contact:

ARSC Executive Director Nathan Georgitis at execdir@arsc-audio.org