Methods for Music and Archives (Learning to Go Along and Against the Archival Grain)

Catalog description

This seminar focuses on archives and “archives.” That is, the course offers, on the one hand, a practicum on historical research methods; and on the other, an exploration of how information is collected, housed, and organized to produce knowledge. Archives are trendy: the “archival turn” continues to bring critical attention to the generative and coercive power of institutions that hold historical records. They are also the source of some musicological consternation: scholars struggle with how to reconcile the piecemeal work of archival research with other goals, such as music criticism and critique generally. We will approach the archive from multiple directions, reading classic texts on archives and their allure (from musicology, ethnomusicology, theory, anthropology, history, and other disciplines); exemplary scholarship based on extensive and inventive uses of archival sources; and critiques of archive. We won’t just talk about archives, however. Students will design and undertake archival projects using collections in the Philadelphia area. Through this hands-on experience students will gain skills in managing information, frustration, and intuition when conducting archival research. The course culminates in a symposium in which the students present their research projects.