The Playful Antiquarian

Blue notes: The Richard F. Wright Jazz Archive’s Funding Problems

January 17th, 2004

The Richard F. Wright Jazz Archive at the University of Kansas, according to this story from the Lawrence Journal-World, is struggling to stay open. The collection of more than 21,000 recordings, books, and periodicals has run out of funding and will be closed to the public (except by appointment).The archive’s history has been a troubled one since the 1990s when it was transferred from the University of Kansas’s library system to the school’s Department of Music and Dance. Orphaned, the archive was left with neither adequate funding nor staffing to catalogue, preserve, and provide access to the materials.

This article cites copyright laws, which restrict copies of recordings from being made for patrons for personal use or research, as a possible source of a lack of student interest in the collection. However, with 95% of the collection uncatalogued and no staff available for in-depth research assistance, it is not surprising that students are not making better use of the collection–a fact of which everyone at the archive is well aware.

At any rate, this is a very sad weekend story. I hope that grant money is found for the collection soon.

Related links

• Jazz/Blues Archives, Collections and Museums
  • A list maintained by the Chicago Jazz Archive at the University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library. While you are at the site, check out the South Side Jazz Club Project, an interactive map of Chicago jazz clubs from 1915 through the 1940s.

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