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Special Collections: Music History

Contact the Special Collections Research Services Team!

Librarian helps student navigate card catalog, 1940s.

Email: spcollections@psu.edu

Telephone: 814-865-1793

Campus Address:

104 Paterno Library

University Park Campus

group of people dancing outdoors

Perkins Foss papers (09792)

incidental capture of music on audio-visual materials

Korean art guide

Penn State University Archives, Lucas Olympic collection

Text in Nigerian of a children's song

Abụ ụmụ praịmarị

Rare Books & Manuscripts, Blockson Collection

Catalog Searches

Our holdings of Non-Western (World) music are smaller and more dispersed throughout Special Collections. You'll find examples of Non-Western music mainly through our book collections, which can be searched via the Catalog and refined using the left-hand menu. Below are examples of Catalog search techniques that help uncover unique items--pay attention to how using subject, language, advanced search, and keywords can help you locate materials!

Archival Searches

Archival collections--which can contain books, documents, relics, and audio-visual materials--are described by their finding aids and searchable with keywords. Documentation and recordings of Non-Western music may be captured incidentally even if it is not apparent in the title or by the topic of the collection.