Fixing the Address: Slow Appraisal and the Making of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) Archive

Abstract The Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) at the University of Adelaide was founded in 1972 and is the world’s only dedicated university centre for Australian Indigenous music studies. This article investigates the making of the CASM Archive through collaboration between CASM academics and students and professional archivists in the University of Adelaide Library. It demonstrates how this unusual approach, originally intended to provide students with an understanding of CASM’s history, resulted in a collaborative process of slow appraisal that enabled CASM students to make greatly useful contributions to appraising and communicating the significance of the CASM Archive.