Audiovisual Archives

Abstract

This chapter provides an account of several audiovisual dissemination activities of the Federal Cylinder Project and the American Folklife Center since the 1970s. Institutional protocols, developed in consultation with tribal advisors, shaped early outreach by the archive to Native communities, as did cooperative efforts with other federal agencies. More recently, as communities and individuals develop their own expertise, the dynamic has sometimes changed: the active role of outreach is now often made by Native and nontribal organizations and individuals, who come to the Center in search of relevant recordings. This mutual process allows both entities to learn about the collections that have been cared for by the archive. Dissemination via collaboration is now a characteristic archival practice—one that preserves elements of the past while working to achieve goals in the present and future, always in consultation with those whose intellectual property is contained in the recordings.