“I could find people anxious to cherry pick through it but nobody considered the complete collection. I found it very upsetting till I contacted the Archive Of Contemporary Music and got a positive response. Now I feel overjoyed that, feeling the value and importance of my collection of 60 years, it now has a new home with the ARC (and the Internet Archive) where it can be appreciated.”
— Daniel McNeil, collector

Join our project to preserve great 78s.  We are looking for partners to help in a variety of ways:

• Donate 78s. We will digitize your collection and preserve the physical discs for the long term. To get the process started please read this page.
• Include your digitized collection. If you have already digitized 78s or related books or media, we’d like to include your work in the collection.
• Digitize your collection.  We’ve worked hard to make digitization safe, fast and affordable, so if you’d like to digitize your collection we can help.
• Share knowledge. Help us improve metadata, curate the collection, contact collectors, do research on the corpus, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I donate a few 78rpm discs?
Yes! Music-related materials are gladly accepted for physical preservation. We are currently only digitizing 10″ 78rpm popular music recordings. You are welcome to donate 10″ and 12″ classical recordings, LPs, 45s, etc., but we are not currently digitizing them.For collections of less than 200 discs or bound albums, please mail them to us. If you are able to cover the costs of shipping that is very helpful, as this is a nonprofit project. If you are near New York City, Philadelphia, or San Francisco, you may be able to drop your discs off.  If you are unable to cover the costs of shipping, please contact us and we’ll work with you to arrange postage. Please pay special attention to how you package your 78s for shipping – they are fragile and break easily! Pad the items well – over do it! They should fit snugly into their boxes with no movement. For very large or rare collections, we can come to your location to help with packing and shipping. See our packing guidelines for more information about how we do it. To get the process started please fill out this form.

How do I donate 78rpm discs?
To get the process please read this page. We’ll contact you with the next steps and make it as easy as possible.

Can I digitize my own discs and add them to this collection?
Absolutely! If you’re a pro at this, feel free to skip the next paragraph.Advice on digitization: We suggest following the first 3 steps outlined here (and only the first 3 steps). This document covers cleaning and stylus selection, which are the main factors in achieving decent sound quality.  Beyond the first 3 steps there are a lot of complicated decisions to make that may reduce the quality of your recording.  We recommend that you avoid doing any EQ noise reduction and simply upload the flat transfer.  It is also best to avoid normalizing or compressing the transfer.  We LOVE big files.Advice on uploading:  Anyone can upload a file to archive.org.  You will need to register for a free account before uploading.  Please upload the original files from your digitization process – we want the biggest, rawest files you have.  If you include the subject keyword 78rpm when you upload, we will find it and add it to the 78rpm Collection.  You’ll find more help with uploading on the archive.org site, or contact us at info@archive.org with questions.If you have many files and need to create many items please contact us at info@archive.org for additional information about how to do bulk or batch uploading.

Can I add comments or information/metadata?
Please do!  We encourage you to register for a free account on archive.org and leave reviews on any item.  If you want to suggest metadata changes or additions, that is the best place – and we always appreciate a citation for where you found the info!

Can I find a particular recording?
Search this Collection You can use the “Search this Collection” search box on the collection page to do a keyword search for artists, titles, etc.  You may also find the facets below for topic, year, creator and language helpful.

At this time we are unable to provide personalized support for finding particular recordings. We are digitizing thousands of 78s each month, and they will be added to this collection as they become available.  So if you don’t find what you’re looking for at first, please check back. We’re pretty sure you’ll find some fun things while you’re waiting.

Can I donate other types of media (videos, books, etc.)?
Yes! Anyone can upload a file to archive.org.  You will need to register for a free account before uploading.  Please provide the highest quality files you have (we LOVE big files!) and enter as much information as you can about the media – it’s a big help to those trying to find it.If you have many files and need to create many items please contact us at info@archive.org for additional information about how to do bulk or batch uploading.