$1.5M grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supports urgently needed research into media preservation

Much of the cultural record of the previous century is captured on audiovisual media, and this segment of the collections of libraries, archives and museums is rapidly growing. Audio and video recordings are among the most significant, but these media are deteriorating and playback equipment is increasingly obsolete. There is an urgent need for digital reformatting of these recordings before it is too late. 

The University of Calgary has received a US$1,499,960 (C$1,967,391) grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a three-year media migration and digitization project focusing on the EMI Music Canada Archive, entitled Renewing Access to Culturally Significant Audiovisual Recordings. 

The EMI Music Canada Archive, a donation to the university from Universal Music Canada, consists of approximately 5,500 boxes documenting the complete history of EMI Music Canada and associated music labels from 1949 to 2012. Included are over 40,0000 audio and video recordings in more than 40 different formats, ranging from master recordings and production masters to rare demo tapes.

“We are proud to lead the preservation of such important historical and cultural artifacts,” said Elizabeth Cannon, president of the University of Calgary. “This research also adds to new approaches and best practices for the preservation of significant collections elsewhere in the world.”

EMI Music Canada was the record label that represented many of the top artists of the second half of the 20th century, recording or distributing work by a range of Canadian artists and major international acts. Capitol Records Canada, under EMI Music Canada, was the first label to release The Beatles and Pink Floyd in North America.

“The EMI Music Canada Archive is one of the most culturally significant collections of the last century to be acquired by a research library,” explained Vice-Provost and University Librarian Tom Hickerson, principal investigator of the project. “It’s tremendously exciting that now this cultural treasure will be digitized and made accessible.”

Last year, a planning project — also supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation — identified requirements critical to the development of digital migration and preservation management. Libraries and Cultural Resources created a reformatting lab in the Taylor Family Digital Library to initiate this research.

“The technological challenges are complex, but at the conclusion of this project, all of the EMI Music Canada audio recordings and a substantial portion of video recordings will be converted — extending their accessibility into the future,” said Annie Murray, associate university librarian for Archives and Special Collections and project co-investigator.

“Because the scale of the conversion and preservation problem is massive, and because much of the audiovisual record is commercially produced, it is essential for libraries and archives to form productive partnerships, especially with commercial recording companies,” said Donald J. Waters, senior program officer at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, based in New York City, works to strengthen scholarship by supporting university research and promoting the role of libraries and other cultural institutions. It has supported three other studies at the University of Calgary.