Marr Sound Archives

Established in 1986 with a gift from UMKC Associate Professor Gaylord Marr and his wife Olga Marr, this unique library has grown from Marr's initial collection of 42,000 sound recordings to a collection ten times that size that is utilized by researchers around the globe. The archive is known nationally for its jazz collection and its extensive repository of classical music, and its collection includes numerous recordings of the spoken word and nearly every genre of music. The sound archive includes a preservation lab with technicians who work daily to restore everything from wax cylinders and records to cassettes and digital recordings. The archive has been a leader in the field of audio preservation for the past three decades and offers a variety of ways for students and faculty to learn about the preservation process.