Recordings embody a historical immediacy that exists in tandem with written communication.
The Stanford University Libraries pioneered in recognizing that these aural documents should be an integral part of a university's scholarly resources. Researchers may draw upon a variety of sources in the Archive, some dating back to the earliest years of sound recording in the late nineteenth century. These are living links to the past, aural legacies of cultures, communities, and countries. The Archive houses more than 200,000 recordings and over 4,000 print and manuscript items. The Archive maintains an extensive reference collection of books and periodicals on the history and development of the sound recording industry and its major figures.