The Mellonee Burnim Collection consists primarily of analog field recordings of religious music in African American and African settings, most of which Burnim recorded between 1978 and 1996. The formats currently include 145 audiocassettes, 33 slides, 9 VHS videocassettes, 8 audiotape reels, 6 videotape reels, and 3 binders of documentation, as well as sheet music and song texts. These materials document over 150 hours of music and interviews recorded in the United States, Malawi, Liberia, and Cuba. Singers, composers, and gospel association leaders appear in recordings of worship services, funerals, choir rehearsals, gospel music workshops and festivals, and choral workshops. Burnim's interviews generally focus on the aesthetics and history of gospel music and its performance. The interviews include the perspectives of soloists, ministers, choral directors, congregants, and participants in gospel music workshops and the gospel music industry.

Series 1 includes Burnim's earliest recordings, which were made in conjunction with her dissertation research for "The Black Gospel Music Tradition: Symbol of Ethnicity" (Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 1980). The formats in this series include 104 audiocassettes, 4 audiotape reels, and 6 videotape reels. Burnim recorded nearly all of her dissertation field recordings in 1978 and 1979, and these are also cataloged in her dissertation on pages 200--205. The purpose of Burnim's dissertation was "to define the extent and the mechanisms through which gospel music serves as a symbol of ethnicity among Black Americans in the United States" (Burnim 1980, page 2).

Burnim's primary research populations included the predominantly African American congregations of Mercy Mission Apostolic Church of Bloomington, Indiana, (217 North Elm Street) and Grace Apostolic Church of Indianapolis, Indiana (643 East 22nd Street). At the time of her research, these two churches differed according to the proximity of their location to urban centers, the structures and styles of church leadership, and the compositions of their congregation in terms of gender, race, and class. However, the two congregations shared denominational ties to Apostolic Pentacostalism. Burnim compared the "musical traditions" (Burnim 1980, page 8) of Mercy Mission and Grace Apostolic to those of other churches in Teague, Texas (Federation of Choirs, St. James U.M.E. Church) and Atlanta, Georgia (Wheat Street Baptist). Recordings of the choir rehearsals, worship services, broadcasts, and other performances are located in Subseries 1.1 along with Burnim's recorded reflections on these events. This subseries contains 33 audiocassettes, 4 audiotape reels, and 6 videotape reels.

The 12 audiocassettes in Subseries 1.2 include detailed commentaries on gospel music performances solicited by Burnim through the use of feedback interviews techniques. Interviewees were primarily culture-bearers, but also included two European American researchers studying White Pentacostalism. Data also was generated through transcription and analysis of recorded performances and Burnim's journal entries of her own experiences during participant-observation.

Subseries 1.3 includes 53 audiocassettes from additional short-term field research conducted at the August 1979 meeting of the Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA) and the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, which were both held in New Orleans, Louisiana, as well as performances and participant interviews recorded by Burnim after the completion of her dissertation at various meetings of the GMWA and the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses (NCGCC) hosted throughout the United States in 1992-1995.

Burnim stated in a July 1997 interview with AAAMC staff that she recorded a cross-section of group activities occurring within each convention, including those involving no musical performance. Burnim feels this effort will support an accurate interpretation of the bodies, their meaning, and their significance to gospel music. Interviews probe the structure, history, and role of the GMWA and NCGCC conventions in African American gospel music. Such interviews include NCGCC President Kenneth Moales, GMWA Founding Member Ed Smith, NCGCC Historian Gladys Berryman, gospel pioneer Albertina Walker Brooks of the Caravans, and others. Burnim's recordings particularly document the participation of choirs and worshipers in the performance of gospel music at each convention--including instructional periods, rehearsals, and worship. Interviews with a Bahamanian choir director and a French singer document the international appeal of opportunities to learn more about gospel music in worship settings.

Subseries 1.4 contains 6 audiocassettes with miscellaneous content--primarily lectures and commercial recordings--related to African American gospel and religious music.

The post-dissertation field recordings from Liberia, Malawi, and Cuba in Series 2 reflect Burnim's ongoing interest in African American religious music in cross-cultural contexts. The 4 audiocassettes in Subseries 2.1 were recorded in Santiago de Cuba circa 1990 and document Burnim's participation with a touring group of African American ministers and professors of music. This group was sponsored by African American churches of the United States to present African American religious music to a Cuban audience in a context that educated listeners in the religious and historical context of the music. Burnim explained in her July 1997 interview with AAAMC staff that she values the recordings as examples of cross-cultural musical interaction, particularly the Cuban audience's reaction to the African American musical styles. Ethnomusicologist and AAAMC founder, Dr. Portia K. Maultsby, participated as an organist for the group.

Subseries 2.2 consists of 4 audiocassettes from Burnim's 1989 trip to Monrovia, Liberia. In the 1997 interview, Burnim explained that this research was intended to serve as a preliminary study for a longer ethnomusicological project examining the religious music of Americo-Liberians. The outbreak of civil war in Liberia after the conclusion of her visit there led Burnim to postpone indefinitely plans for further research in the area. According to Burnim, the recordings of worship and choir rehearsals of the interdenominational Tuesday Cottage Prayer Band and St. Peter's Lutheran Church confirm the presence of African American sacred songs in these West African congregations. Burnim's selection of research sites drew upon contacts made by ethnomusicologist Ruth M. Stone (Professor and Chair, Folklore Institute, Indiana University) during her long-term field research in Liberia. Burnim explained in the 1997 interview that her own Liberian field research directly offers data for comparison with ethnomusicological studies focused on indigenous Liberian music, such as Dr. Stone's study of Kpelle epic.

The 33 audiocassettes and 6 videocassettes in Subseries 2.3 were recorded during Burnim's residence in Zomba, Malawi--where she was visiting associate professor at Chancellor College of the University of Malawi (1991)--and her brief return as a director for the university's annual Choral Workshop in 1992. While there, Burnim conducted field research on music in several Malawian Christian communities. As in Liberia, Burnim investigated the use of African American religious music in Malawian contexts, primarily in the cities of Blantyre and Zomba. In addition to worship services in churches, Burnim recorded the Mhango Salvation Singers' gospel-styled performance at an outdoor festival and received a copy of a commercially-produced studio recording from the group. As with this tape, the commercially-produced recordings of the Burnim Collection generally offer supplemental information on the repertoire or broader musical scene of musicians Burnim recorded during field research.

Though English language predominates in the Choral Workshop recordings, most of the Malawian field recordings include music and speech in indigenous Malawian languages, particularly Chichewa. Therefore, Burnim obtained help from a few of her Malawian students, who served as field research assistants and translators. Several of the field recordings from Malawi contain sections where communications in an indigenous language are translated or summarized in English. Burnim noted in the July 1997 interview, however, that her limited familiarity with indigenous Malawian traditions necessitated additional clarification by Malawians. To assist in receiving Malawian interpretations of such field recordings, Burnim conducted feedback interviews with members of a church congregation. For these feedback interviews, she played a videotaped worship service and recorded the church members' responses (in their indigenous language) to the events of their service. The Burnim Collection contains both the videotaped performances used for the feedback interview and the audiotaped responses of the congregants.

In addition to performances featuring religious music in Malawi, Burnim recorded a concert featuring the Vaal Reef Choir of South African miners and interviewed one member of the all-male group. This performance presented--in the order printed here--repertoire from Western European art music, arranged choral (African American) spirituals, popular music in English, and indigenous South African music. According to Burnim's 1997 interview with AAAMC staff, this performance invited the examination of social issues. Burnim said that differences along the lines of gender, race, and ethnicity between the White South African director and the Black South African members of the Vaal Reef Choir are implicated in the musical performance and organizational operations of the group. At the time of the field recordings, South Africa's system of apartheid strictly enforced White supremist rule over the Black majority population.

Subseries 2.3 contains 2 audiotape reels and two videocassettes with miscellaneous content and Subseries 2.4 contains of 33 slides related to Burnim's Africa research.

Series 3 consists of 4 videocassettes of Black music performances hosted on the Philadelphia Stage at the Smithsonian Institution American Folklife Festival from July 1-17, 1984, while Series 4 contains 39 pieces of gospel sheet music and song texts dating from approximately 1861-1981.