Nonprofit

Founded in 2022 by Burgin Mathews and based in Birmingham, Alabama, The Southern Music Research Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit devoted to the preservation and public presentation of the American South’s many musical histories and ongoing forms of musical expression. At the heart of the organization is its website: a public archive of rescued recordings, rare photos, oral history interviews, and other artifacts and ephemera from a wide range of music communities and traditions. Find out more, and explore the SMRC’s extensive collections, at southernmusicresearch.org.

In addition to maintaining and growing its online archive, the Southern Music Research Center provides digitization and preservation services for individuals, families, organizations, and communities seeking to protect their musical artifacts — from family photos to home recordings to performance fliers and beyond. Other SMRC projects include an ongoing oral history initiative, The Lost Child weekly radio show, a forthcoming podcast, and an Art of Music series, which supports visual artists whose work engages the musical life of the South.