The AHS Repository is the forerunner of the AHS Archives which are housed at BYU and administered by Archivist and AHS member David Day. The Repository is housed at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC and as described on their website is a collection of manuscript and printed music, photographs, programs, correspondence, periodicals and scrapbooks documenting the careers of prominent twentieth century harpists. It was established by Lucile Jennings, whose vision was to house in one accessible location a collection of primary materials on every aspect of the harp to promote research. The AHS and Library of Congress agreed that the material housed there would become the property of the Library of Congress and could not be copied or circulated outside of the library. The material was indexed and processed before being sent to the Library of Congress. Since the creation of the AHS Archives, no new materials are being added to the AHS Repository.
In order to access the materials in the AHS Repository, one must go online to the Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room webpage, click on “Ask a Librarian” and request materials, giving as much detail as possible, as well as the date one plans to visit the library. Because the collection was not processed in-house, the library staff sometimes has difficulty locating items. Persistence, patience and a positive attitude are a necessity in the course of using the Repository.
The finding aids to the Repository includes two small indexes prepared by Lucile Jennings, a general index and an index to sound recordings, and the massive computer printouts generated by Ohio University's computing center, where the Repository database was created and is still housed. These printouts are sorted by author, medium and donor, and there is a shelf list which contains the full catalog record for each item. Efforts are being made to make these finding aids available on the AHS website.
