Preserving the Sound of History

Behind every jazz performance is an instrument with its own story.

Instruments That Defined an Era

Trumpets, clarinets, trombones, saxophones, drums, and pianos gave New Orleans jazz its unmistakable sound. The history of jazz instruments is partly a history of manufacture and repair: many surviving pieces carry decades of playing, travel, and modification by the musicians who owned them.

Beyond the Music

Instruments are only part of the record. Concert posters, programs, album covers, autographs, photographs, and correspondence fill in the parts of a musician's working life that recordings never captured — where they played, who they played with, and how they were billed.

Why Preservation Matters

Jazz material is fragile and dispersed. Paper ephemera was rarely kept, shellac records break, and instruments get sold, repaired, or scrapped. Every item documented now is one more piece of evidence available to the next person trying to understand how this music developed.

A Living Legacy

Jazz keeps evolving while carrying its origins with it. By collecting and documenting these objects and publishing them online, the archive keeps them accessible to anyone researching the people and places behind the music, wherever they happen to be.