Read, hot & digitized: Librarians and the digital scholarship they love — In this series, librarians from UTL’s Arts, Humanities and Global Studies Engagement Team briefly present, explore and critique existing examples of digital scholarship. Our hope is that these monthly reviews will inspire critical reflection of and future creative contributions to the growing fields of digital scholarship.
Before we had Spotify playlists, we had the mixtape. Scrawled handwritten track lists; the precise practice of hitting PLAY and REC at the same time; the dread of ejecting the cassette from the player to find the tape had been pulled into a tangled mess and using a pencil to carefully respool it.
The Mixtape Museum (MXM) is a digital archive project and educational initiative committed to the collection, preservation, and celebration of mixtape history. The project seeks to both further mixtape scholarship and foster public dialogue, raising awareness of the artistry and far-reaching impact of mixtapes as a cultural form.
The Mixtape Memory Collection is the heart of the MXM, bringing together interviews, anecdotes, photographs, and reflections from a mix of contributors. There are tributes to mixtape pioneers, reminiscences about childhood introductions to Hip Hop, and laments for tapes not saved. I appreciated this brief recollection of a “mixtape correspondence” as it underscores the richness of the form as a mode of communication.
While mixtapes are the anchor point, these memories are also about people and places, relationships and phases, marking connections between a cultural era and the personal eras of our lives. The Collection reveals how music indexes experiences and moments in time, and also attests to the way particular objects can become imbued with layers of meaning and cultural significance. Even in the digital space of the MXM, I am struck by the affective resonance of the physical cassettes themselves, each containing a story that stretches beyond the tape wound inside it.
In addition to the Memory Collection, the MXM includes a News section of related articles and public events, and a Mixtape Scholarship Library featuring key texts in the field. Appropriately, there is also a Listen section, which takes visitors to the Mixtape Museum Soundcloud page, where today’s creators might upload their tracks instead of passing out their tapes.
Aligned in a sense with the ethos of the format it highlights, the MXM operates from a simple WordPress site—a platform with a relatively low barrier of entry for producing digital content. The project was founded by scholar, arts administrator, and community archivist Regan Sommer McCoy, who serves as Chief Curator, supported by a group of advisors and institutional collaborators.
As I browse the collection my own mixtape memories surface—a tape gifted to me by a former best friend that I played on repeat during my freshman year of high school; my painstaking efforts to create the perfect mix to let a crush know the way I really felt about him. Does the MXM spark a mixtape memory for you? The project welcomes submissions to the archival collection and invites a variety of formats. Contributors have the option to make memories public or keep them password protected, respecting the boundaries of each offering.
Want to learn more about mixtape culture and history? Several of the titles featured in the MXM are available from the UT Libraries:
Auerbach, Evan, and Daniel Isenberg. Do Remember! : The Golden Era of NYC Hip-Hop Mixtapes / Evan Auerbach, Daniel Isenberg. New York, NY: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2023.
Walker, Lance Scott. DJ Screw : A Life in Slow Revolution. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2022.