The Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University: Documenting the Broad Range of American Vernacular Music

Abstract

HISTORY The for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) was established in 1985 as one of of in Tennessee's public university system. The aim of Centers program was to create institutes that would foster advanced research and scholarship in fields in which various schools had existing strengths. MTSU's location in Murfreesboro, thirty-five miles from Nashville, makes it a logical choice for a center related to popular-music scholarship. The university's Department of Recording Industry offers a successful music-business training program; in fall 1997, department had an enrollment of approximately thirteen hundred majors. The MTSU Department of Music offers a bachelor's degree with emphasis in music industry, and several members of MTSU faculty - notably Charles Wolfe in English Department - engage in scholarship related to popular music. Another important factor is prominent role that Tennessee has played in history and development of virtually all genres of popular music in twentieth century, making state a marvelous laboratory in which to study popular music. An interdisciplinary committee drawn from departments of Recording Industry, English, Music, History, and Speech and Theater, and headed by dean of College of Liberal Arts, drew up proposal for a Center of Excellence in Music Archives and Research in 1985. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission approved proposal in April 1985, and officially came into being on 1 July 1985. The committee that created proposal served as search committee for Center's first director. I was offered position in September 1985 and began work in November.(1) When I first learned about plans to create a new research center for popular music, I realized that this represented an extraordinary opportunity for someone to build an archive and program from ground up. Just how true this was became abundantly clear when I reported for work to an empty office. The first several months were devoted to such essential tasks as establishing an administrative office, hiring a secretary, and laying foundations for Center's physical and intellectual development. The committee that first drafted proposal and then conducted search for a director assumed a final incarnation as a faculty advisory board. Because of its interdisciplinary nature, is not part of any of five undergraduate colleges at MTSU, and director of reports directly to Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. The board functions as a peer advisory panel that includes representation from various campus factions. I met with them frequently in early days, and members provided sound guidance, especially in matters of university policy. They did not dictate details of Center's day-to-day operations, but rather allowed me considerable flexibility in shaping all aspects of collections and programs. Their one clear mandate was that should establish a large archive to serve as a major resource for region. The board also agreed to my suggested name for new enterprise: for Popular Music. The first home of was in MTSU's Learning Resources (LRC). The collection was assigned space in what was originally Environmental Simulation Laboratory, a large cylindrical structure - approximately thirty feet in diameter by thirty feet in height - attached to one end of LRC; staff referred to it, with mock affection, as the silo. The laboratory was a type of multimedia theater in which various environmental conditions supposedly could be replicated, but capability of facility had never been fully utilized. Plans for converting this space to an archive and library were drawn up with help of Michael Sniderman, set designer for Speech and Theater Department. …