Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, Folk music and dance archive at Cecil Sharp House in London, England.
The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library is a folk music and dance archive located in Cecil Sharp House in London. The collection holds handwritten manuscripts, recorded music, printed scores, and documents that cover centuries of English traditional music and dance practices.
The library was established in 1933 as part of the English Folk Dance and Song Society to preserve the extensive materials collected by Cecil Sharp. Since its founding, the collection has grown through ongoing fieldwork and donations from researchers and musicians.
The library holds thousands of traditional English folk songs and dance notations that reflect regional musical styles and movement practices across the country. Visitors can observe how these collections document the cultural diversity of English village life.
The library welcomes visitors on most weekdays and often requires advance notice to view original materials in the collection. Planning ahead helps ensure you can access the specific documents or recordings you wish to examine.
The collection includes field recordings and handwritten notes from early collecting efforts that capture how folk music was actually played in villages. These historical documents preserve performance styles that would otherwise have been forgotten.
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