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Expanding Access Through Music: The Adrian Cowell Films and Research Collection

Title (author1): 
Ms
First names (author1): 
Elizabeth (Libby)
Surname (author 1): 
Hopfauf
Institution: 
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Country: 
UNITED STATES
Other authors: 
Mr Andrew Weaver
Presentation type: 
poster
Date: 
27 Sept Tuesday
Start time: 
900
Venue: 
LoC Madison Building: Dining Rm. A
Abstract: 

Audio materials are often overlooked and undervalued within mixed media archival collections. However, their contents provide an overarching contextual guidance for the collection at large and an authentic cultural perspective- often in the form of unique musical artefacts. Working with the University of Washington Moving Image Collections and the UW Libraries Media Center, we are engaged in highlighting the rare musical content of one such collection, the films and research of Adrian Cowell.

This collection contains the raw footage and materials of filmmaker Adrian Cowell’s time spent in 1960s/70s Asia, including his forays into Tibet and the insurgent Shan State region of Burma. While Cowell was not an ethnomusicologist by trade, through recording audio materials for later use in his documentaries, he created a unique assemblage of secular and religious music from regions which were at the time largely closed to outsiders.

We seek to maximise the scholarly utility of these materials along with their preservation. Additionally, using this as a pilot, our aim is to establish a framework that can be used for audio in other mixed-media archival collections at the University of Washington- ensuring survival and access for their valuable content.