July 14, 2016

Contact: Mark Harvey, 517-373-1415

Archives of Michigan partners to preserve the sounds of Michigan

The staff at the Archives of Michigan is humming a new tune after partnering with Matt Jones and his River Street Anthology project. Jones, a professional musician, began the project in 2015 with the purpose of getting Ypsilanti-area musicians to practice and collaborate together. It quickly grew into something quite different. 

Since March 2015, Jones has recorded hundreds of Michigan musicians from all over the state. 

"I'm obsessed with history. I'm obsessed with preservation," he said. "It's so important that things like this never die out. All of us songwriters and bands, we can't just – poof – disappear. I need to keep everybody on the books." 

Jones’ rules are one song, one microphone, one take. With this framework, he has set out to record and preserve the diversity of music in Michigan. Getting musicians to show up at a recording event is a grass-roots effort, as Jones uses only contacts from Michigan’s music scene and word-of-mouth.

"Most people come in and they don't know what to expect, but they have their song and they're ready to play it, and they lay it down," Jones said.

State Archivist Mark Harvey said the project is a unique partnership for the Archives of Michigan. 

“Archiving an ongoing documentation project puts the Archives in the position of preserving history as it is being made,” said Harvey. “Matt has created a first in our state’s history. It’s not just one genre of music; he wants to cover it all. He’s Michigan’s Alan Lomax.” 

The Archives will save the entire project with its Preservica digital archive and assist Jones in his documentation project.

For Jones, the River Street Anthology has been a learning experience about diversity and connectedness.

“The most important thing I have learned in the last year and a half is that music, performed by a vast variety of different people, from different neighborhoods in different cities ... music is one hugely effective way in which we all hang onto each other," he said. "I need that diverse array of voices, and the relationships that bind them together, to be preserved so that we don't forget that we are all bound up together.”

On the road in the Upper Peninsula

The River Street Anthology crew will be on the road again at the end of July recording at Farm Block Fest in Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. There is an existing Facebook page for the River Street Anthology (www.facebook.com/riverstreetanthology), and in the near future recorded songs and project information will be available at the Archives of Michigan website at www.seekingmichigan.org.

The Archives of Michigan is part of the Michigan History Center and home to over 120 million historical records. The Archives is open for public research six days a week, 1-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. There are over 2 million records available for public research from the Archives at www.seekingmichigan.org.

The Michigan History Center is part of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Its museum and archival programs foster curiosity, enjoyment, and inspiration rooted in Michigan's stories. It includes the Michigan History Museum, 10 regional museums, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve, and the Archives of Michigan. Learn more at www.michigan.gov/michiganhistory.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state’s natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. For more information, go to www.michigan.gov/dnr.