UC San Diego Library Preserves the Sounds and Stories of Oceania with Recordings at Risk Grant

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• Nikki Kolupailo- [email protected]

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• UC San Diego Library

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The University of California San Diego Library has been awarded a $48,815 grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)through its Recordings at Risk program to preserve and provide access to 727 audiovisual recordings from 11 collections in the Tuzin Archive for Melanesian Anthropology. The project, Singsings and Storytelling II: Sights & Sounds of Oceania Audio and Moving Image Reformatting, builds on the Library's previous preservation efforts funded by CLIR in 2019that digitized more than 800 reel-to-reel and cassette recordings.

"These recordings capture the rich cultural heritage, languages, and daily life of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu," said Lynda Claassen, director of Special Collections & Archives at UC San Diego. "Digitization will make these unique materials more accessible to Pacific Studies scholars and Pacific Island communities, supporting research, teaching, and learning, while addressing urgent preservation needs of aging media formats."

The project will digitize audio, video, and film recordings - some created under challenging field conditions in remote locations - dating from 1960 to 2000, including field interviews, linguistic data, traditional songs, performances, and other culturally significant material. Then, the materials will be made accessible through the Library's Digital Collections website, with sensitive recordings available for research upon request.

"Many of these recordings have never been heard outside their original contexts," said Cristela Garcia-Spitz, curator for the Tuzin Archive for Melanesian Anthropology. "Digitization allows us to unlock these hidden stories and ensures these voices remain accessible for generations to come."

Housed in the Library's Special Collections & Archives, the collections span regions within Papua New Guinea, one of the most linguistically diverse places in the world, with over 800 languages, some spoken by fewer than 10,000 people. Digitization addresses the risk of deterioration while broadening access to previously unheard voices and unseen sights from the southwest Pacific.

Over the last several years, UC San Diego Library has digitized primary source materials from the Tuzin Archive to build a freely accessible online resource documenting the vibrant cultures and diverse peoples of the southwest Pacific Islands. These collections capture ethnographic fieldwork during a period of rapid social change, reflecting the impacts of colonization, post-colonization, and the post-World War II surge in anthropological research in the Pacific.

The grant will support the digitization of collections not yet available in the Library's Digital Collections, giving researchers and communities integrated access to photographs, sound recordings, and moving images. This expanded access will enhance scholarship, teaching, and collaboration with Pacific scholars, while offering critical insights into linguistic knowledge, social history, and cultural practices.

Converting these collections to digital formats also supports returning knowledge and recorded history to Pacific Island communities. With a strong tradition of oral history, song, and performance, the singsings and storytelling captured in these recordings represent a vital means of transmitting cultural heritage and indigenous knowledge. Strategic partnerships, including the Pacific Virtual Museum project, will help distribute these digital resources to scholars and communities alike.

This project is supported by a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from the Mellon Foundation.