By Cathy Wood
MSNHA media coordinator
The newly launched Shoals Music Archive at the University of North Alabama is dedicated to collecting and preserving northwest Alabama’s rich music heritage – and that monumental task is possible only through collaborations, said archive organizers.
UNA’s Department of History
and the MSNHA are working together to document and make accessible a comprehensive collection of artifacts, recordings, memorabilia and ephemera that capture the dynamic and diverse musical history of northwest Alabama from the 19th century to the present.
“We are establishing the archive to serve as the principal repository for north Alabama’s comprehensive music history from the 19th century to present,” said Brian Dempsey, archive curator and UNA associate professor of history. “Drawing on the history department’s collaborations with the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, the University Archives and UNA’s School of the Arts, we want to become the premier institution for preserving and promoting this story while supporting ongoing scholarship and community engagement.”
Brian Corrigan, historic preservation consultant & UNA alumnus, is also working with the archive.
“As a grad student in the UNA Public History program a decade ago, I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Dempsey on a revision and expansion of MSNHA’s Roots of American Music Trail website, drawing on archival photos donated to MSNHA by partners like Dick Cooper,”
Corrigan said. “And in the years since, I’ve conducted on-camera interviews with many of the musicians, producers and songwriters who put Muscle Shoals on the map. Thanks to the Shoals Music Archive, these and other invaluable records of Shoals music history will have a home for decades to come.
Dempsey’s music-industry background in archival management and previous scholarship devoted to blues music tourism in Mississippi – and Corrigan’s research for projects such as the Roots of American Music Trail and a National Register of Historic Places nomination for WZZA Radio – made them natural collaborators for the archive.
“Our close partnership with the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area is invaluable, and we are excited to expand the curricular interaction between the SMA and our department with Brian Corrigan’s Digital Collections course in the spring,” Dempsey said.
“I look forward to collaborating with Dr. Dempsey again on managing and promoting this invaluable resource and to working with UNA students in the spring on making these materials accessible to the public,” added Corrigan.
Check back here often for Shoals Music Archive updates – we’ll share the treasures we uncover and the stories we find! ###
