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Massachusetts Hip-Hop Archive and Researching Hip-Hop

This Research Guide provides information about Hip-Hop Collections in the Healey Library at UMass Boston and provides researchers with information about doing research about hip-hop more broadly.

Other Hip-Hop Collections

There are a range of institutions and collections related to hip-hop in the United States and around the world:

  • Cornell Hip Hop Collection: The mission of the Cornell Hip Hop Collection (CHHC) is to collect and make accessible the historical artifacts of Hip Hop culture and to ensure their preservation for future generations. The Collection features: hundreds of party and event flyers ca. 1977-1985; thousands of early vinyl recordings, cassettes and CDs; film and video; record label press packets and publicity; black books, photographs, magazines, books, clothing, and more.
  • Hiphop Archive and Research Institute at Harvard University: The Hiphop Archive and Research Institute's mission is to facilitate and encourage the pursuit of knowledge, art, culture and responsible leadership through Hiphop.
  • Hip-Hop Radio Archive: The Hip-Hop Radio Archive aims to digitize, preserve, share, and contextualize recordings of hip-hop radio from the 1980s and 1990s from commercial, college, community, and pirate stations of all sizes, telling the stories of the shows and the people that made them. The secondary goal of this collection is to trace the spread of hip-hop via radio over the 1980s and 90s by providing regional and historical context for the episodes.
  • Hip-Hop and Rap Across the Smithsonian: Includes concert posters and photographs from the Smithsonian's collection.
  • Northside Hip Hop Archive: The Northside Hip Hop Archive is a digital collection of Canadian hip-hop history and culture.
  • Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives: Archival collections focused on popular music, including collections related to hip-hop.
  • Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, one of The New York Public Library’s renowned research libraries, is a world-leading cultural institution devoted to the research, preservation, and exhibition of materials focused on African American, African Diaspora, and African experiences.
  • Universal Hip-Hop Museum: Anchored in the birthplace of the culture, the Universal Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx will provide a space for audiences, artists, and technology to converge, creating unparalleled educational and entertainment experiences around the Hip Hop culture of the past, present, and future. As part of their mission, they are building an archives of hip-hop history.
  • William & Mary Hip Hop Collection: The collection includes oral histories committed to preserving and documenting Virginia’s rich hip hop past, as well as recordings of hip hop music, publications, and ephemera created by Virginia and Virginia-based artists, collectives, and businesses.  Additionally, the collection documents the origins and impact of hip hop culture on college campuses throughout the state by collecting records of hip hop based student organizations, college radio stations, events and concerts with a special focus on William & Mary itself.

Do you know about institutions and collections related to hip-hop that are not on this list?

Email library.archives@umb.edu with more information!

Healey Library | University of Massachusetts Boston | 100 Morrissey Blvd | Boston, MA | 02125-3393 | 617-287-5900