Audio files are accessible to authorized users only. Certain recordings are not accessible online due to copyright restrictions but may be accessed in the Reading Room of the Library. For more information, please contact manuscripts [at] amphilsoc [dot] org.
The collections of the American Philosophical Society include hundreds of audio recordings made over the past three quarters of a century, including interviews with scientists, oral histories, and linguistic studies. The richest part of the audio collections, however, is associated with the library's holdings in American Indian history, culture, and languages. Inventoried in the online Daythal Kendall Guide to Native American Collections, most were recorded by ethnographers, linguists, or ethnomusicologists during the course of their research, often funded by research grants provided by the APS. The resulting sound archives comprise one of the largest resources in North America for documenting American Indian languages, some of which remain robust, while others, like the Wampanoag dialect, are represented by few, if any native speakers.