Phonogrammarchiv Online Catalogue (Austrian Academy of Sciences)

Overview

The Phonogrammarchiv Online Catalogue is the searchable digital database of the sound and video recordings held by the Phonogrammarchiv of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW). The catalogue provides access to metadata and descriptive records for the audiovisual research documents in the Phonogrammarchiv's collections, excluding commercial sound and video productions.

Scope and Holdings

Approximately 85% of the Phonogrammarchiv's holdings are represented in the online catalogue. The catalogue covers the full range of the archive's collections, from the earliest wax cylinder recordings made in 1899 through the most recent digital acquisitions. Holdings include ethnolinguistic recordings, ethnomusicological field recordings, voice portraits, environmental soundscapes, and video research documents added since 2001. Users can search by subject, language, region, collector, date, and other descriptive fields.

Technical Background

From its earliest years, the Phonogrammarchiv prioritized detailed annotation of technical and content-related metadata to ensure the usability of recordings for further analysis. The online catalogue reflects this tradition by providing rich descriptive metadata for each entry. The catalogue was developed as part of the archive's broader commitment to making its unique historical and contemporary collections accessible to the international research community.

Access

The catalogue is freely accessible online at catalog.phonogrammarchiv.at. Researchers wishing to access the actual recordings should contact the Phonogrammarchiv directly to arrange access, subject to the legal conditions of individual collections.