Baylor University Black Gospel Archive Expands to Preserve Sacred Music
Baylor University's Black Gospel Archive is expanding with a $2.4 million Lilly Endowment grant, adding 400 square feet of classroom space and bringing in more visiting researchers. The archive, founded in 2005, has digitized thousands of vinyl records from the Golden Age of Gospel (1945-1975) and maintains a partnership with the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Baylor University's Black Gospel Archive is growing, backed by a $2.4 million grant from the Lilly Endowment.
The archive, housed within the Baylor Libraries in Waco, Texas, is adding 400 square feet of classroom space to expand its educational outreach and host more visiting researchers. The Black Gospel Music Preservation Program, founded in 2005 by Robert Darden, has spent two decades rescuing thousands of vinyl records from basements, attics, and private collections.
The archive focuses on the "Golden Age of Gospel" (1945-1975), a period when Black sacred music shaped American culture. Staff digitize records in the Ray I. Riley Digitization Center, which can process four discs simultaneously. The collection is available online free of charge for non-commercial educational use.
In February 2026, Baylor hosted the "Black Worship Festival," a week-long celebration featuring Grammy-winning producer Kevin Bond and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale. The festival included the debut of "The Hosea Oratorio: A Gospel Jazz Hip-Hop Spoken Word Fusion," an original work by Dr. Stephen Newby.
The archive maintains a partnership with the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, where materials from the collection appear in the "Musical Crossroads" permanent exhibit.
Darryl Stuhr, director of the archive, said a key challenge is finding families who hold gospel collections and convincing them to donate or loan materials. "As artists, producers and community members grow older, we risk losing their firsthand stories and context unless we are able to document them in time," he said.
Last year, the archive acquired the Saviour Home Library, a collection of LPs featuring Black gospel artists from the Los Angeles area. The materials were at risk from nearby wildfires when staff traveled to California to retrieve them.
"Without this music, our artistic vision of expression and embodiment of the Gospel of Jesus Christ would be lost," said Dr. Newby.
