AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR INDIAN STUDIES Information

The Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology (ARCE) of the American Institute of Indian Studies was established in 1982 with the aim of creating an audio visual archives that would provide a space for voluntarily deposited collections of recordings made by scholars and institutions of Indian music and performance from all over the world. The emphasis during its inception was on collections that would otherwise not be available in India, as the early recordings in India were largely made by foreigners and housed in archives all over the world. To this end, repatriation of collections has remained a major aim of the ARCE, which houses collections of Arnold Bake from the 1930s and Fox Strangways (1902) which were not available in India. Scholars and collectors from all over the world, as well as India, continue to deposit collections of their recording regularly at ARCE. The parallel aim is to stimulate the study of ethnomusicology in India. ARCE has an active calendar of events including seminars and workshops, in ethnomusicology as well as audio visual archiving. It also has a publication program of books and recordings. 200 selected tracks from the ARCE are also available for paid download on www.folkways.si.edu. (search for ARCE).