The Music Preservation Project has partnered with USC.
The Music Preservation Project has partnered with USC to support and enhance our ongoing efforts to preserve endangered music archives.
Varun Soni, Dean of Religious life at USC has headed up the Universities cooperation with the Music Preservation Project. Varun Soni is also a member of the Music Preservation Project Board. The letter below helps to define the close relationship that we share with USC.
Dear Music Preservation Project,
We are writing to express our strong interest in partnering with the Music Preservation Project to assist in preserving, digitizing, and sharing endangered world music archives. The first such collection, Roger Steffen’s “Reggae Archives” documents the history of Jamaican music and culture, and would be a valuable addition to our growing digital collection of source materials about music history. USC with its acclaimed Thornton School of Music and the School of Cinematic Arts is uniquely able to assist in the digitization and preservation of this and other sensitive music archives. Both schools attract-top-tier faculty and students and this rich collection would undoubtedly enhance the teaching and research of USC faculty and support student learning.
USC Libraries have already created an extensive Digital Archive, which can be viewed at http://digarc.usc.edu/ The Reggae Archive would be an important and complementary collection to the partnership the Libraries have recently established with the Black Voice Foundation to create a gospel music digital resource and service.
Once the original materials are digitized and digital archival copies are produced USC and the Music Preservation Project can determine what part of the original material should be permanently housed at USC and what is to be returned to the Music Preservation Foundation.
We strongly believe that working in partnerships with the Music Preservation Project; together we can preserve the endangered cultural history of music. Undoubtedly USC faculty, students, and independent scholars will benefit greatly from the opportunity to study and use these materials.
Thank you for your consideration of the University of Southern California as a partner in this historic venture. We would be happy to discuss this with you further at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Varun SoniDean of Religious LifeUniversity of Southern California