UC San Diego Library

Communities assembling for singsing celebrations, ethnographic interviews conversing on grammar and vocabularies, elders discussing daily affairs - these are just a few snippets of at-risk sound recordings held at the Archives comprised primarily of the personal papers of anthropologists, documenting research on the cultures of Melanesia. The recordings will be digitized over the coming year due to a recent grant received. The nearly 800 reel-to-reel and cassette tape field recordings from seven collections include rare interviews, songs, performances, linguistic material, and oral histories collected in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands from the mid-to-late 20th century.

This presentation provides an overview of the project, including the details of the language and the type of recordings in each collection. It also engages in a discussion on partnerships and models for sharing the recordings once digitized and explores ways to build and strengthen collaborations made possible in the digital era.