The Israeli Music Archive: Documentation and Research

Abstract

The Israeli Music Archive is a vital research resource for anybody who is interested in the history of Israeli music and musicians. The first part of the article relates and describes the history of the Israeli Music Archive since its first formation in the early 1970s, by the late Prof. Herzl Shmueli, through its formal foundation in 1979, and until its situation and condition today. The issues dealt with are the recruitment of materials, their various stages of storage and preservation, staffing, and the financial challenges of the Archive. The second part draws in general lines the content of the Archive, the types and specifics of its estates, including short descriptions of some of its holdings.