WACO, Texas — Chicago may have been the birthplace of gospel music nearly a century ago, but the Lone Star State is the home of the largest digital archive of Black gospel music and preaching in the world.

What You Need To Know

  • Baylor University hosts a significant archive of Black gospel music and sermons, the largest digital collection globally

  • The archive received a $3 million grant to expand and preserve more records

  • Future plans include more space and funding for gospel concerts, ensuring the genre's preservation and appreciation

Inside a small room at Baylor University, you can find music professor Dr. Stephen Newby, who has been at the university for the past two years, in his happy place at the Black Gospel Archive & Listening Center.

The work that has been going on at the archive on Baylor’s campus dates back 20 years.

“Robert Darden retired now, but he’s a professor of journalism, and he’s considered the founder of the project,” said Darryl Stuhr, the director of digitization and digital collection preservation services at Baylor. “He wrote a book called ‘People Get Ready,’ and shortly after he wrote the book, he published this op-ed piece in the New York Times. And it really talked about how we are at risk for losing gospel music across the country if somebody doesn’t do something to save it.”

A New York man named Charles Royce read the article and was moved and wanted to help.

Equipment was purchased, a studio was built and staff were hired to take these gospel vinyls and cassettes, some dating back to 1919, to be forever preserved on the World Wide Web.

“This is music. You cannot find it anywhere else. They didn’t mass publish these,” said Hannah Engstrom, an audio digitization specialist. “The ones that we have like, this is it, this is all there are. So, if these had been thrown away, this music would have been lost.” 

Others have found the importance of the archive as well.

This year, Baylor was given a nearly $3 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. to expand the archive’s reach.

“We are just now in the planning stages for the expansion," Stuhr said.

The grant will help keep the gospel alive, expand classroom space and fund gospel concerts until 2028 in Detroit, Chicago and here in Texas at Baylor’s campus. And that’s music to Newby’s ears.

“People come and go and as that old Baptist hymn states. Only what you do for Christ will last. And when it’s all said and done, we do this work, and we leave it here for the next generation to pass it on, and I think that’s what this space does,” Newby said.

The Black Gospel Archive & Listening Center is 600 square feet, but they’re planning to add 1,200 square feet.

The grant will also double the center's ability to store more records in the archives — from 31,000 to about 65,000.