Music Research Guide

Find CDs in the Vincent Morgan Music Library, located on the second floor of the Music Building. Most other recording formats, including phonograph records (LPs) and cassettes, are housed at the AC Depository, available by request through the library catalog (click "Request Item"). The Morgan Music Library also has listening stations for records, cassettes, and CDs.

Start with these library databases or online resources to access streaming audio:

More sources for streaming audio:

• British Library Sounds

  (British Library) English accents, oral histories, drama, literature, music.
• CHARM: Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music

  (Royal Holloway, University of London; King's College, London; University of Sheffield) Library of "ex-copyright recordings," discographies, recording history, and recording analysis tool.
• Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project

  (UC Santa Barbara. Davidson Library. Department of Special Collections) Historical recordings before 1923 or music in all genres.
• D. K. Wilgus Folksong Collection

  (UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive) American folk music, stories, and and field recordings.
• Frontera Collection of Mexican American Music

  Approximately 40,000 recordings of music from the border regions of Mexico and the United States. These performances document many types of popular lyric songs, including the first recordings of corridos (narrative ballads on topics of the day), canciones, boleros, rancheras, and sones, including the first recordings of norteno and conjunto music.
• Judaica Sound Archives

  The Judaica Sound Archives is a major center for the collection, preservation and digitization of Judaica audio recordings. The JSA is located in the Wimberly Library on the Boca Raton campus of Florida Atlantic University.
• National Juke Box

  (Library of Congress) Historical recordings of American music in all genres.
• Phonobase

  Early gramophone records and cylinders from France and Europe.
• Virtual Gramophone

  From the Library and Archives Canada; early recordings from Canada.

Use the Books & Media tab on the Amherst Library Quick Search box to search for music and other audio materials by keyword, title, author, or subject, making sure to include "sound recording" as one of your search terms. Your results will include digital as well as physical audio. Check Call Numbers and Availability to see where something is located and whether it's currently checked out.

Find DVD, Blu-ray, and VHS formats on A Level of Frost Library, behind the IT help desk. There are also viewing stations in this area, if you want to watch at the library.

Access streaming video through these library databases or online resources:

Use the Books & Media tab on the Amherst Library Quick Search box  to search for materials by keyword, title, author, or subject, making sure to include the format as a search term. Check Call Numbers and Availability to see where something's located and if it's currently checked out.