Baylor University Receives 2.48 Million Grant to Expand Black Gospel Archive

Baylor University's Black Gospel Archive has received a $2.48 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. to expand its facilities and research capabilities, the university announced in 2026.

The grant will fund the construction of 400 square feet of new classroom space at the Black Gospel Archive and Listening Center on the Baylor campus in Waco, Texas. The expansion will support increased research, instruction, and public programming.

The archive, founded in 2005 by professor Robert Darden, is recognized as the world's largest collection of Black sacred music. It focuses on the "Golden Age of Gospel" from 1945 to 1975, digitizing thousands of vinyl records, sermons, sheet music, and cultural artifacts rescued from basements, attics, and landfills.

The physical facility allows visitors to access the collection through sound isolation booths for original analog formats or digital interfaces. The archive also maintains an online database, the Black Gospel Music Royce-Darden Digital Collection, which provides streaming access to thousands of digitized tracks.

The archive has a partnership with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture, where materials from the collection appear in the "Musical Crossroads" permanent exhibit.

Darden's radio series "SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments" continues to release weekly segments featuring historical recordings. Recent August 2026 episodes featured "It Rained" by Katie Jackson and the GosPearl Community Choir and "Precious Memories" by Prof. J. Earle Hines and the Goodwill Singers.

The program has received national attention from CBS News and NPR for its work preserving music that served as a tool for liberation and community cohesion in the Black church.