American Musical Heritage Foundation
After almost 5 decades of amassing a record collection of considerable size and scope, Glenn Allen Howard formed a non-profit in 1992 to support his work of providing musicians and bands with unparalleled source and reference material. With philanthropic investment from a few major donors and foundations, the AMHF library has grown to over half a million LPs, 45s, 78s, cylinders and related items. In 2002 the bulk of the collection was moved to rural Washington State where it has been housed since. This has been a great location in that the library has existed in donated storage, thereby freeing up funds for new acquisitions. The AMHF has up until now been solely focused on preservation, and presently turns its attention to building organizational infrastructure and capacity to serve its mission.
The AMHF Board feels that to better realize our mission, we must prioritize making the library accessible to a wider, more diverse group of people, and believes that one of the best ways to do this is to move the core archive to the San Francisco Bay Area. The AMHF is currently seeking a permanent home for the library in California in the immediate future where it can further digitize its growing collection into a comprehensive research data base and continue the important work of preserving the recordings of the past for the people of the future.
Mission
As a leading curator of audio history, the American Musical Heritage Foundation collects and archives phonograph records and related historical documents from all periods and genres for the preservation and dissemination of diverse cultural and musical histories.
American Musical Heritage Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit.
Background
The American Musical Heritage Foundation (AMHF) is dedicated to collecting and archiving phonograph records as well as related historical documents and artifacts in order to preserve and share the rich heritage of American music and its roots. The AMHF recognizes that records are a vital yet endangered part of our cultural history; they have captured important moments and trends in culture like no other medium. As compact discs and other digital formats have replaced analog media as the principal methods of storing and disseminating sound, the AMHF believes that it is critically important to create an international archive of original analog recordings. The AMHF continues to provide this invaluable resource not only for the artists and musicians who regularly utilize and are influenced by it; but also for students, researchers, audiophiles, music therapists, and the general public.
