Sweden's first cultural politics: Digitizing the minutes of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music 1771-present
The project is the first complete digitization of a national musical politics in the Western World from the late 18th century to the present: the minutes of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music (KMA). By digitizing the minutes including the appendices the project creates an infrastructure that enables researchers from a variety of disciplines to access the decisions and considerations of the academy since 1771.
The minutes of KMA are among the most requested collections at the Music and Theatre Library (Musik- och teaterbiblioteket) at the Performing arts agency (Musikverket), from both national and international researchers. The minutes, however, are fragile: by age and because the appendices have been stitched to them, or are only loosely inserted. Furthermore, they are bound in such a way that parts of the text are concealed.
By digitizing and annotating the complete archive on-site, the project limits the risk that any of the loose supplements would get lost or that the sheets would be damaged. The bound volumes will be taken apart upon digitization and annotated in a database in Calm (an Axiell software). The project will integrate the digital protocols to Alvin and the Swedish aggregate K-samsök (SOCH) that will index the metadata in search engines like Google and ensure international availability through Europeana. Thereby, the archive will be preserved and made available for new research on the decisions, actions and relations forming the musical history of Sweden.
The minutes of KMA are among the most requested collections at the Music and Theatre Library (Musik- och teaterbiblioteket) at the Performing arts agency (Musikverket), from both national and international researchers. The minutes, however, are fragile: by age and because the appendices have been stitched to them, or are only loosely inserted. Furthermore, they are bound in such a way that parts of the text are concealed.
By digitizing and annotating the complete archive on-site, the project limits the risk that any of the loose supplements would get lost or that the sheets would be damaged. The bound volumes will be taken apart upon digitization and annotated in a database in Calm (an Axiell software). The project will integrate the digital protocols to Alvin and the Swedish aggregate K-samsök (SOCH) that will index the metadata in search engines like Google and ensure international availability through Europeana. Thereby, the archive will be preserved and made available for new research on the decisions, actions and relations forming the musical history of Sweden.
Final report
This project has achieved the first digitization and publication in the Western world of a national cultural politics. It is about an archive documenting the internal and external work of the Royal Academy of Music (KMA), an institution that had an almost incalculable influence on Swedish musical life and higher music education in Sweden. The Academy's gatherings and meetings have been recorded in unbroken succession from its founding in 1771 to the present day.
Background and purpose
The minutes of the Royal Academy of Music form one of the most sought-after collections at the Music and Theater Library (Statens musikverk) and are used by both national and international researchers. The scope includes 144 volumes with bound protocols, appendices and appendices, a total of around 35,000 pages. The physical archive is arranged chronologically. Appendices such as correspondence, accounts and musical works are, or were originally, stitched together with the respective minutes.
The need to digitize the archive has long been called for. The material is fragile, both due to age and to its composition. The sheets of paper in the protocol bundles are of different sizes, which has meant a lot of wear on the outer edge of the widest pages. Over time, many attachments have become detached and inserted loosely, which has separated them from their context. Furthermore, the volumes are so tightly bound that parts of the text are hidden. This means that readers, in the effort to take part of the entire text page, tend to pry the covers apart, which constitutes a risk of damage to the material.
Against this background, the purpose of the project has been to create a digital infrastructure of protocols and appendices, freely accessible and in a presentation form that connects the components and the metadata so that the archive becomes searchable in new ways.
Work moments
The project has included several components that progressed in parallel.
Regarding metadata, there was initially an index of the protocols which is also searchable via the Music and Theater Library's website (Musik- och teaterbibliotekets digitaliserade kortkataloger - Start). This registration was imported into and merged with data from the Music and Theater Library's collection management system Calm (https://www.axiell.com/uk/solutions/product/calm) which also has a searchable web interface, as well as from the KMA's own archive software Klara. Calm supports the international archive standard ISAD(G)/EAD and ISAAR(CPF)/EAC and Dublin Core, which has facilitated the migration and merging of the different data sources.
Within the framework of the project, information on all KMA members from 1771 to 2022 has been published in a linked data format. This includes, among others, personal name (http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/givenName), nationality (https://schema.org/nationality), year of election and year of birth (http://schema.org/birthDate). This part of the project has been done with consulting support from the company Metasolutions.
In terms of image capture, the protocols have been scanned by the Statens musikverk's staff in their own premises with a book scanner of the BookEye4 Professional type. The process has taken place under the supervision of the project's responsible archivist and digitization manager. Before the scanning, extensive preparatory work had to be done, for which the project hired a bookbinder and paper conservator (see further below). The bound volumes are split before digitization and annotated in a database in Calm (Axiell).
The scanned material, together with metadata, has been published in full in the cultural heritage portal Alvin (http://www.alvin-portal.org/), a platform that the project believes can ensure long-term access to the data managed in the system. The infrastructure is run and developed by Uppsala University Library in collaboration with Gothenburg's and Lund's University Libraries, and as members there are another 20 or so archives, libraries and museums. The platform also uses persistent identifiers (URN:NBN) to ensure long-term access to information and data. The system is further developed in open source code, Cora (an API-based platform).
In Alvin, protocols and appendices are published both as high-resolution images (tif) of each spread and as pdf files of the entire protocol. One of the project's innovations is that the appendices have been linked to the respective protocols, which provides new opportunities to follow cases and topics. By extension, this opens up new analyzes of the academy's actions, stances and its social and aesthetic impact on cultural life.
According to an agreement with KMA, material older than 100 years is published freely, while younger material is processed by the Music and Theater Library on request. At the time of writing, the free material consists of protocols from 1771 until 1924 (60 volumes). As material passes the centenary mark, it will be added to the publication in Alvin through the provision of the Music and Theater Library through an annual update.
Among the appendices are musical works that have been submitted to the academy over the years. These works will now be searchable in the international database of music history sources operated by RISM (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales).
During the course of the project, the participants have presented the work in several national and international contexts (including at the IAML conference 2022, for the royal academies and at seminars for music researchers). The launch of the infrastructure took place at a celebratory symposium in KMA's premises on 21 March 2024 when the main part of the work had been launched. At the symposium, researchers in musicology and history presented examples of the protocols' many possibilities as source material for research, and participating musicians performed works connected to the academy through the ages. At the time of writing, several research projects are underway with support in the protocols, which is a direct consequence of the new accessibility and possibilities for searching.
Challenges
The biggest challenge in this digitization project has been purely analog, namely preparing the protocols for image capture. Due to the nature of the material, this has been a more time-consuming process than the project initially anticipated. In order to get all the information on the text pages, it has been necessary to open the spines of most of the volumes, and the most voluminous volumes have had to be split. Many pages have needed individual hand-laying through repair and reinforcement. This work has been carried out with the utmost professionalism by paper conservator and bookbinder Kristina Enhörning, who placed concentrated work periods at the Music and Theater Library as a link in the work chain.
Background and purpose
The minutes of the Royal Academy of Music form one of the most sought-after collections at the Music and Theater Library (Statens musikverk) and are used by both national and international researchers. The scope includes 144 volumes with bound protocols, appendices and appendices, a total of around 35,000 pages. The physical archive is arranged chronologically. Appendices such as correspondence, accounts and musical works are, or were originally, stitched together with the respective minutes.
The need to digitize the archive has long been called for. The material is fragile, both due to age and to its composition. The sheets of paper in the protocol bundles are of different sizes, which has meant a lot of wear on the outer edge of the widest pages. Over time, many attachments have become detached and inserted loosely, which has separated them from their context. Furthermore, the volumes are so tightly bound that parts of the text are hidden. This means that readers, in the effort to take part of the entire text page, tend to pry the covers apart, which constitutes a risk of damage to the material.
Against this background, the purpose of the project has been to create a digital infrastructure of protocols and appendices, freely accessible and in a presentation form that connects the components and the metadata so that the archive becomes searchable in new ways.
Work moments
The project has included several components that progressed in parallel.
Regarding metadata, there was initially an index of the protocols which is also searchable via the Music and Theater Library's website (Musik- och teaterbibliotekets digitaliserade kortkataloger - Start). This registration was imported into and merged with data from the Music and Theater Library's collection management system Calm (https://www.axiell.com/uk/solutions/product/calm) which also has a searchable web interface, as well as from the KMA's own archive software Klara. Calm supports the international archive standard ISAD(G)/EAD and ISAAR(CPF)/EAC and Dublin Core, which has facilitated the migration and merging of the different data sources.
Within the framework of the project, information on all KMA members from 1771 to 2022 has been published in a linked data format. This includes, among others, personal name (http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/givenName), nationality (https://schema.org/nationality), year of election and year of birth (http://schema.org/birthDate). This part of the project has been done with consulting support from the company Metasolutions.
In terms of image capture, the protocols have been scanned by the Statens musikverk's staff in their own premises with a book scanner of the BookEye4 Professional type. The process has taken place under the supervision of the project's responsible archivist and digitization manager. Before the scanning, extensive preparatory work had to be done, for which the project hired a bookbinder and paper conservator (see further below). The bound volumes are split before digitization and annotated in a database in Calm (Axiell).
The scanned material, together with metadata, has been published in full in the cultural heritage portal Alvin (http://www.alvin-portal.org/), a platform that the project believes can ensure long-term access to the data managed in the system. The infrastructure is run and developed by Uppsala University Library in collaboration with Gothenburg's and Lund's University Libraries, and as members there are another 20 or so archives, libraries and museums. The platform also uses persistent identifiers (URN:NBN) to ensure long-term access to information and data. The system is further developed in open source code, Cora (an API-based platform).
In Alvin, protocols and appendices are published both as high-resolution images (tif) of each spread and as pdf files of the entire protocol. One of the project's innovations is that the appendices have been linked to the respective protocols, which provides new opportunities to follow cases and topics. By extension, this opens up new analyzes of the academy's actions, stances and its social and aesthetic impact on cultural life.
According to an agreement with KMA, material older than 100 years is published freely, while younger material is processed by the Music and Theater Library on request. At the time of writing, the free material consists of protocols from 1771 until 1924 (60 volumes). As material passes the centenary mark, it will be added to the publication in Alvin through the provision of the Music and Theater Library through an annual update.
Among the appendices are musical works that have been submitted to the academy over the years. These works will now be searchable in the international database of music history sources operated by RISM (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales).
During the course of the project, the participants have presented the work in several national and international contexts (including at the IAML conference 2022, for the royal academies and at seminars for music researchers). The launch of the infrastructure took place at a celebratory symposium in KMA's premises on 21 March 2024 when the main part of the work had been launched. At the symposium, researchers in musicology and history presented examples of the protocols' many possibilities as source material for research, and participating musicians performed works connected to the academy through the ages. At the time of writing, several research projects are underway with support in the protocols, which is a direct consequence of the new accessibility and possibilities for searching.
Challenges
The biggest challenge in this digitization project has been purely analog, namely preparing the protocols for image capture. Due to the nature of the material, this has been a more time-consuming process than the project initially anticipated. In order to get all the information on the text pages, it has been necessary to open the spines of most of the volumes, and the most voluminous volumes have had to be split. Many pages have needed individual hand-laying through repair and reinforcement. This work has been carried out with the utmost professionalism by paper conservator and bookbinder Kristina Enhörning, who placed concentrated work periods at the Music and Theater Library as a link in the work chain.