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The Frontera Collection

In 2019 the Arhoolie Foundation has received its fifth grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to continue digitizing the Arhoolie Foundation’s Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings. Since the Foundation started the project in 2001, we have digitized over 140,000 songs.

The Arhoolie Foundation’s Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings is the largest repository of these commercially produced vernacular recordings in existence. The nearly 170,000 recordings in the collection were made primarily in the United States and Mexico, and were issued on 78 rpm, 45 rpm, and 33⅓ rpm (long-playing, or LP) phonograph records, cassette and some un-issued reel to reel master tapes.

The Frontera Collection Digitizing Project is a collaboration between The Arhoolie Foundation, the University of California at Los Angeles’ Chicano Studies Research Center, and the UCLA Library. The Arhoolie Foundation has digitized over 140,000 recordings . We have scanned the labels, album graphics, and notes, and added searchable keywords related to the subject matter of the recordings. The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and UCLA Library have put this material online on their Frontera website. You can search and listen to the recordings, read blogs about the music, leave comments, and add knowledge.

 

  • Visit the UCLA Frontera Website. Listen to the recordings, view the record labels and album covers, read the blog, read the biographies, add to the knowledge, leave your comments – click here
  • Donate to the Frontera Collection. We are always looking for more recordings, particularly on 78s and 45s. We are also seeking photos, posters and biographical information regarding the musicians in this archive. If you can add to our collection, or to our knowledge about these recordings, please contact us at frontera@arhoolie.org.

The Digitization Project

Digitization of the Strachwitz Frontera Collection began on October 15, 2001, at the Arhoolie Foundation’s facilities in El Cerrito, California. The production team, led by Arhoolie Foundation board members Tom Diamant and Chris Strachwitz and sound engineer Antonio Cuellar, first cataloged the entire collection. Then began the highly technical process of transferring the recordings to digital format, using specialized equipment. The digitization of the first section of the collection was sponsored by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center through a grant from its Los Tigres del Norte Fund.

Full access to these primary source materials is currently available only to UCLA students, faculty, and staff; others may view the labels and listen to a portion of each recording. (however you can listen to over 33,000 recordings from the 78s on our YouTube channel) The digital archive enables wide-ranging research in Mexican and Mexican American culture and ensures that the lyrics, music, and tales in the Strachwitz Frontera Collection will be available to scholars and the public for generations to come.

 

 

The Frontera Collection Digitizing Project is supported by many individual donors and:

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Dear friends, 

We’re thrilled to announce that the Arhoolie Foundation and Les Blank Films are joining together to purchase our longtime home at 10341 San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito. 

The decision to buy the building comes after several months of thoughtful consideration and a strong response from our community. It has become clear to us that continuing our work in the place where Chris Strachwitz originally conceived it is the best way forward for the organization. Staying in our longtime home preserves an important part of Arhoolie’s cultural legacy, prevents the disruption that moving would cause, and—most importantly—opens up possibilities for closer collaboration with Les Blank Films, Down Home Music, and our local East Bay community.

Now comes the hard part. While we are under contract to buy the building, we need to raise $2.4 million to meet the purchase price by April 15. Here are two ways you can donate to our cause:

  • The GoFundMe page for the capital campaign
    (donations to this fund are shared by all three of the tenants).

  • Direct tax-deductible donations/securities to either of the two non-profits who are buying the building:
    Contact Harrod Blank at Les Blank Films https://lesblank.com/contact/;
    or Adam Machado at Arhoolie Foundation, adam@arhoolie.org.

As we begin this capital campaign, we will continue our normal operations in the building while forging a closer institutional bond with Les Blank Films and taking modest, collaborative steps to bring more public programming into Down Home Music. We plan to revive Les Blank and Chris’ tradition of in-store film screenings and will host more informal, free performances and gatherings in the store as part of our outreach work. We believe this collaboration will result in a vibrant community gathering place dedicated to music, film, and deep roots culture. 

We’re grateful for your support. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming weeks and months.