Celebrating the Soundtrack of History: ARSC 2025 Conference Comes to Tulsa

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) is bringing its 59th annual conference and workshop to Tulsa, Oklahoma, from May 14 to 17, marking a major event for professionals and enthusiasts dedicated to preserving recorded sound.

Hosted at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Hotel, the conference will be held both in-person and online, with the public welcome to attend.

The event kicks off with an opening reception on Wednesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. and wraps up Saturday, May 17, with an awards ceremony. Attendees will hear from scholars, collectors, preservationists, and creators who study and safeguard the world’s audio heritage.

The 2025 conference will spotlight Oklahoma’s deep-rooted musical traditions, with sessions on Bob Wills’ early repertoire, Woody Guthrie’s lost Rubáiyát recordings, the legacy of folk legend Tom Paxton, and efforts to reclaim Native American audio archives. Attendees will also learn about the digitization of Oklahoma’s institutional music collections.

Beyond Oklahoma, the program explores a wide range of global audio topics, including the legacy of Black-owned record labels, Haitian radio archives, early Czech-American recordings, and the history of MP3.com. Technical sessions will examine innovations like using synchrotron X-rays to recover degraded audio and new strategies for addressing wow and flutter.

A special day-long workshop on May 14 will focus on designing and building audio preservation spaces, offering practical insights for archivists and institutions.

For a full conference schedule and registration details, visit arsc-audio.org/conference.