Baylor University Expands Black Gospel Archive to Preserve Sacred Music Legacy
The Black Gospel Archive is housed within Baylor’s library system and serves as a research and preservation center for Black gospel music and related materials.
WACO, Texas — Baylor University is expanding its Black Gospel Archive, a nationally significant collection dedicated to preserving Black sacred music and the cultural history surrounding it, with new funding aimed at education, digitization, and long-term access.
The Black Gospel Archive is housed within Baylor’s library system and serves as a research and preservation center for Black gospel music and related materials. Its holdings include rare vinyl recordings, hymns, concert programs, sermons, photographs, and other historical artifacts documenting the spiritual and social role of gospel music in Black communities.
Often described as the largest Black gospel collection in the world, the archive reflects more than 20 years of collection work tracing gospel music from its origins in slavery and Reconstruction through the Civil Rights Movement and into modern worship traditions.
“Gospel music carried coded messages, sustained faith, and bound communities together,” said Stephen Newby, a Baylor music professor and ambassador for the archive. “At its heart, it speaks to liberation and freedom.”
Preserving fragile recordings through digitization
A major focus of the archive’s work is the preservation of aging recordings, some dating back to the 1930s. Many of the original discs are fragile and at risk of permanent loss without careful handling.
Each item undergoes a detailed inventory process, is cleaned, and then digitized in real time in a controlled environment. Multiple recordings can be transferred simultaneously, allowing the archive to expand access while maintaining preservation standards.
Once digitized, materials are made available online, giving scholars, musicians, churches, and the public worldwide the ability to study and hear historically significant gospel recordings.
Grant supports growth and classroom expansion
The expansion is supported by a $2.4 million grant from Lilly Endowment. The funding will allow the archive to enhance programming and add approximately 400 square feet of new classroom space.
Archive director Darryl Stuhr said the additional space will strengthen the archive’s educational mission by supporting instruction, workshops, and community engagement focused on Black sacred music.
“Education is a vital part of preservation,” Stuhr said. “We’re ensuring this music is not only saved but understood and passed on.”
Restoring history and reconnecting communities
The archive’s origins date back to 2006, when Baylor professor Robert Darden launched the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project to rescue rare recordings from gospel’s so-called golden age. That initiative eventually led to the opening of the Black Gospel Archive on Baylor’s campus in 2021.
Through its work, the archive has helped reunite gospel groups and families with long-lost recordings, restoring musical legacies that had nearly disappeared.
For Newby, a Detroit native and the son of a Baptist preacher, gospel music remains a living, spiritual force.
“It moves people,” he said. “It fills churches with energy, expression, and spiritual transformation. This music is alive.”
Preserving gospel music in perpetuity
University officials say the long-term goal of the Black Gospel Archive is to preserve Black gospel music permanently while expanding access for future generations through research, teaching, and digital availability.
As the archive grows, it continues to safeguard more than sound recordings—it preserves a sacred record of Black faith, resilience, and cultural identity.
