“Masters of our own destiny”
cultures of preservation at the Victorian Jazz Archive in Melbourne, Australia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v7i3.263Keywords:
cultural memory, DIY archiving, jazz preservation, social institution, vernacular knowledgeAbstract
This article introduces the work of a volunteer-run, ‘DIY institution’: the Victorian Jazz Archive (VJA), located in Melbourne, Australia. This archive was set up in 1996 by a community of enthusiasts who saw a need for an archival facility to house the growing volume of jazz ephemera otherwise in danger of being lost from the public record. The VJA survives on a small budget that relies on grants, donations and membership fees, and remains open and accessible only through the generosity of an army of volunteers dedicated to preserving this music’s material history. Drawing on fieldwork conducted at the archive, including in-depth interviews with fourteen volunteers, the article explores some of the cultural and social functions of this informal institution. It describes the ways in which volunteers perceive the importance of vernacular knowledge to the task of archiving jazz, and what this might mean for the sustainability of the VJA.
References
Baker, Sarah. 2007. ‘Young People and Community Radio in the Northern Region of Adelaide’. Popular Music and Society 30, no. 5: 575–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03007760600835389
Baker, Sarah, and Alison Huber. 2013. ‘Notes Towards a Typology of the DIY Institution: Identifying Do-it-Yourself Places of Popular Music Preservation’. European Journal of Cultural Studies 16, no. 5 (October): 513–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1367549413491721
—forthcoming 2013. ‘“It may be garbage, but it's not for us to say”: Memory, Anxiety and Preserving Popular Music's Material Culture in Amateur Archives and Museums’. In Sites of Popular Music Heritage: Memories, Histories, Places, ed. S. Cohen, R. Knifton, M. Leonard and L. Roberts. London: Routledge.
Burgoyne, Robert. 2003. ‘From Contested to Consensual Memory: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’. In Frontiers of Memory, ed. S. Radstone and K. Hodgkin, 208–220. London: Routledge.
Derrida, Jacques. 1995. Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression, trans. Eric Prenowitz. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Duffy, Michelle. 2010. ‘Sound Ecologies’. Cultural Studies Review 16, no. 1: http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/csrj/issue/view/113
Flinn, Andrew. 2007. ‘Community Histories, Community Archives: Some Opportunities and Challenges’. Journal of the Society of Archivists 28, no. 2: 151–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00379810701611936
Frost, Warwick. 2008. ‘Popular Culture as a Different Type of Heritage: The Making of AC/DC Lane’. Journal of Heritage Tourism 3, no. 3: 176–84.
Hesmondhalgh, David, and Sarah Baker. 2011. Creative Labour: Media Work in Three Cultural Industries. London: Routledge.
Huvila, Isto. 2008. ‘Participatory Archive: Towards Decentralised Curation, Radical User Orientation, and Broader Contextualisation of Records Management’. Archival Science 8: 15–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10502-008-9071-0
Johnson, Bruce. 1996. ‘Establishment of the Australian Jazz Archive’. Jazzchord 30 (May–June): 1–2.
—2000. The Inaudible Music: Jazz, Gender and Australian Modernity. Sydney: Currency Press.
—2001. ‘The Australian Jazz Archive: Making a Future for the Past’. Music Forum 7, no. 4 (April–May): 21–22.
—2009. In Conference Report, 8th Nordic Jazz Conference, 25-27 August, Aalborg University, Denmark, 32–41. Aalborg: Center for Dansk Jazzhistorie.
Leonard, M. 2007. ‘Constructing Histories through Material Culture: Popular Music, Museums and Collecting’. Popular Music History 2, no. 2: 147–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v2i2.147
McKee, Alan. 2011. ‘YouTube versus the National Film and Sound Archive: Which is the More Useful Resource for Historians of Australian Television?’ Television and New Media 12, no. 2: 154–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1527476410365707
Minutes A. 1996. ‘Meeting to Discuss the Establishment of an Australian Jazz Archive’ (18 August). Whitehorse Inn: Burwood, Australia.
Minutes B. 1996. ‘Minutes of Inaugural Meeting for Jazz Archive Victoria’ (29 August). Home of John Kennedy: Burwood, Australia.
Moore, Shaunna, and Susan Pell. 2010. ‘Autonomous Archives’. International Journal of Heritage Studies 16, nos. 4-5: 255–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13527251003775513
National Jazz Archive. n.d. ‘How it All Started’. National Jazz Archive website. http://www.nationaljazzarchive.org.uk/how-it-all-started (accessed 30 September 2011, no longer live).
NFSA website n.d. www.nfsa.gov.au.
VJA. 2007. The Making of an Archive: 10 Years of the Victorian Jazz Archive—an Exhibition Highlighting the V.J.A. from 18th August 1996 to the Present Day, April. Wantirna: Victorian Jazz Archive.
—2010. Historical Review Pamphlet, June. Wantirna: Victorian Jazz Archive.
Voss, Paul J., and Marta L. Werner. 1999. ‘Toward a Poetics of the Archive: Introduction’. Studies in the Literary Imagination 32, no. 1: i–viii.
Wenger, Etienne. 1998. Communities of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Baker, Sarah, and Alison Huber. 2013. ‘Notes Towards a Typology of the DIY Institution: Identifying Do-it-Yourself Places of Popular Music Preservation’. European Journal of Cultural Studies 16, no. 5 (October): 513–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1367549413491721
—forthcoming 2013. ‘“It may be garbage, but it's not for us to say”: Memory, Anxiety and Preserving Popular Music's Material Culture in Amateur Archives and Museums’. In Sites of Popular Music Heritage: Memories, Histories, Places, ed. S. Cohen, R. Knifton, M. Leonard and L. Roberts. London: Routledge.
Burgoyne, Robert. 2003. ‘From Contested to Consensual Memory: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’. In Frontiers of Memory, ed. S. Radstone and K. Hodgkin, 208–220. London: Routledge.
Derrida, Jacques. 1995. Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression, trans. Eric Prenowitz. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Duffy, Michelle. 2010. ‘Sound Ecologies’. Cultural Studies Review 16, no. 1: http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/csrj/issue/view/113
Flinn, Andrew. 2007. ‘Community Histories, Community Archives: Some Opportunities and Challenges’. Journal of the Society of Archivists 28, no. 2: 151–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00379810701611936
Frost, Warwick. 2008. ‘Popular Culture as a Different Type of Heritage: The Making of AC/DC Lane’. Journal of Heritage Tourism 3, no. 3: 176–84.
Hesmondhalgh, David, and Sarah Baker. 2011. Creative Labour: Media Work in Three Cultural Industries. London: Routledge.
Huvila, Isto. 2008. ‘Participatory Archive: Towards Decentralised Curation, Radical User Orientation, and Broader Contextualisation of Records Management’. Archival Science 8: 15–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10502-008-9071-0
Johnson, Bruce. 1996. ‘Establishment of the Australian Jazz Archive’. Jazzchord 30 (May–June): 1–2.
—2000. The Inaudible Music: Jazz, Gender and Australian Modernity. Sydney: Currency Press.
—2001. ‘The Australian Jazz Archive: Making a Future for the Past’. Music Forum 7, no. 4 (April–May): 21–22.
—2009. In Conference Report, 8th Nordic Jazz Conference, 25-27 August, Aalborg University, Denmark, 32–41. Aalborg: Center for Dansk Jazzhistorie.
Leonard, M. 2007. ‘Constructing Histories through Material Culture: Popular Music, Museums and Collecting’. Popular Music History 2, no. 2: 147–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v2i2.147
McKee, Alan. 2011. ‘YouTube versus the National Film and Sound Archive: Which is the More Useful Resource for Historians of Australian Television?’ Television and New Media 12, no. 2: 154–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1527476410365707
Minutes A. 1996. ‘Meeting to Discuss the Establishment of an Australian Jazz Archive’ (18 August). Whitehorse Inn: Burwood, Australia.
Minutes B. 1996. ‘Minutes of Inaugural Meeting for Jazz Archive Victoria’ (29 August). Home of John Kennedy: Burwood, Australia.
Moore, Shaunna, and Susan Pell. 2010. ‘Autonomous Archives’. International Journal of Heritage Studies 16, nos. 4-5: 255–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13527251003775513
National Jazz Archive. n.d. ‘How it All Started’. National Jazz Archive website. http://www.nationaljazzarchive.org.uk/how-it-all-started (accessed 30 September 2011, no longer live).
NFSA website n.d. www.nfsa.gov.au.
VJA. 2007. The Making of an Archive: 10 Years of the Victorian Jazz Archive—an Exhibition Highlighting the V.J.A. from 18th August 1996 to the Present Day, April. Wantirna: Victorian Jazz Archive.
—2010. Historical Review Pamphlet, June. Wantirna: Victorian Jazz Archive.
Voss, Paul J., and Marta L. Werner. 1999. ‘Toward a Poetics of the Archive: Introduction’. Studies in the Literary Imagination 32, no. 1: i–viii.
Wenger, Etienne. 1998. Communities of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Published
2013-12-02
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Baker, S., & Huber, A. (2013). “Masters of our own destiny”: cultures of preservation at the Victorian Jazz Archive in Melbourne, Australia. Popular Music History, 7(3), 263-282. https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v7i3.263
