WACO, Texas (KWTX) – Baylor University’s Black Gospel Archive, described as the largest black gospel collection in the world, is expanding its mission to preserve hymns, records and programs from gospel groups across Central Texas and beyond.
The archive has spent 20 years collecting materials that document the history and impact of gospel music, from its roots in slavery and the civil rights movement to modern recordings.
“It served as coded messages. It served as redemption and freedom songs. And it also served to bind people together. It’s really about the idea of liberation, of freedom,” said Stephen Newby, music professor and Baylor University Black Gospel Archive Ambassador.
Archive digitizes decades of recordings
Director Darryl Stuhr said the archive handles fragile materials dating back to the 1930s through a careful digitization process.
“There’s an inventory process we do to them. They’re assigned an ID number, and then, we do cleaning on them, and then they get digitized in a special room, in the Riley Center,” Stuhr said. “It is a real time transfer. The only thing that gives us some extra speed on digitization is we can digitize four discs simultaneously.”
The materials are made available online after digitization, allowing listeners worldwide to access the recordings.
$2.4 million grant funds expansion
A $2.4 million Lilly Endowment grant will allow the archive to expand its services and add 400 square feet of classroom space.
“That’s another way that we’re spreading the word, letting people know what we’re doing, educating people and what we do and how we’re really trying to save and preserve gospel music in perpetuity,” Stuhr said.
The archive has also helped reunite gospel groups through its collection efforts. Stuhr said a member of one archived group contacted them after hearing their recording in an interview.
Baylor Professor Robert Darden founded the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project in 2006, which led to the opening of the Black Gospel Archive on Baylor’s campus in 2021.
Newby, a Detroit native and son of a Baptist preacher, said gospel music represents hope and transformation for Black communities.
“People will get caught up in the spirit in the Holy Ghost. It will allow people to speak in other heavenly languages. It energizes the folks to dance, to be filled with the spirit, to shout,” Newby said.
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