Established in 1961, the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive is a world-renowned research archive dedicated to the study of musical traditions from around the globe. The Archive’s collection of more than 150,000 audio, video, print, and photographic items documents musical expressions throughout the world and includes unique field recordings as well as rare commercial recordings. As part of UCLA’s Department of Ethnomusicology, the Archive preserves and makes accessible over 60 years’ worth of audio and video recordings of the department’s famed concerts and also of lectures by legendary scholars and performers, ranging from Mantle Hood to Ravi Shankar to Nati Cano. In addition to preservation and access, the Archive offers a wide range of research, outreach, and educational services. From international scholars to local community members and UCLA students and faculty, the Archive is recognized locally and internationally as an important center of ethnomusicological research and discovery.
Ethnomusicology
Archive
About the Archive
1630 Schoenberg Music Bldg
Los Angeles CA 90095-1657
(310) 825-1695
Open by appointment only. Email the archive to request an appointment.
Ethnomusicology Archive Resources
Ethnomusicology Research Guide 
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A one-stop shop to help get you started on your research project.
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Audio and Video Online Learn More
Highlights of our collections, especially California-related audio and video. Now streaming on The Internet Archive.
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Ethnomusicology Archive Catalogue Learn More
Search our collection of over 150,000 audio, video, print, and image items.
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Online Archive of California Learn More
Select finding aids for Ethnomusicology Archive collections via the Online Archive of California (OAC).
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Message from the Archivist
Welcome to the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive, one of the world’s largest ethnographic media collections. Whether you’re researching your next article or book, investigating the sounds of your own cultural heritage, or just exploring musical traditions and expanding your own sonic world, we hope you’ll drop in and take advantage of what’s been called one of the School of Music’s “crown jewels.”
Related News
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Spring Festival of World Music Enters Its Sixty-Fifth Year
This year marks the 65th year of the Spring Festival of World Music (May 4 through June 7, 2025). Since its founding under ethnomusicologist Mantle Hood, who began teaching at
Ethnomusicology Department Hosts 66th Annual Meeting of Society for Ethnomusicology Southern California and Hawai'i Chapter
This year’s meeting marked the 70th anniversary of Mantle Hood’s arrival at UCLA. Hood’s visionary establishment of an institute of ethnomusicology (later to become the ethnomusicology department) made UCLA a
Ethnomusicology Archive Adds African American History Photographs to Online Collection
The Ethnomusicology Archive holds the Bette Cox collection and is thrilled to announce that the still images relating to African American music and culture in Los Angeles are now available online on the Ethnomusicology Archive channel on California Revealed.