Stanford
Libraries

Sound Recordings and Sound Studies

Subject librarians

About the Sound Recordings and Sound Studies collection

Recorded sound dates back to 1857. We can help you with the nuances of different formats, discovery, access, and historic technology. Our support focuses on Archive of Recorded Sound collections but will incorporate materials across the Stanford Libraries and beyond.

Sound studies have traditionally focused on acoustics and sound design. More recently, sound studies has emerged as an interdisciplinary field in which researchers from the humanities and social sciences address sound as a cultural phenomenon. We can help you navigate the sound studies literature and find recordings of environmental sounds, bird song, political speeches, and more.

Archive of Recorded Sound

(650) 723-9312
soundarchive@stanford.edu
Braun Music Center, 541 Lasuen Mall, Stanford CA, 94305

Featured collections

  • Issei Oral History Project in Watsonville Collection

    The Issei Oral History Project in Watsonville was created by historian Kazuko Nakane in preparation for the book Nothing Left in My Hands : The Issei of a Rural California Town, 1900-1942. Interviews were conducted by Nakane from 1978 to 1983 with fifteen Japanese American residents in Watsonville, California. The collection contains the original audiocassettes of these interviews and their transcripts in English.

    View the finding aid

  • Non-Commercial Disc Collection

    An inventory of the Archive of Recorded Sound’s Non-Commercial Disc Collections (ARS.0033), with rare and unique recorded material.

    View the collection

  • Ambassador Auditorium Collection

    The Ambassador Auditorium Collection contains the files of the various organizational departments of the Ambassador Auditorium as well as audio and video recordings. The materials cover the period between April 1974 and May 1995, when the Ambassador Auditorium was fully operational as an internationally recognized concert venue.

    View the finding aid

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