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The collection consists primarily of audiocassette copies of the 26-part radio series Wade in the Water, produced by NPR in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, and concieved and hosted by Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon.

The collection consists primarily of materials related to the gospel musicals Mama, I Want to Sing; Mama, I Want to Sing II; and Born to Sing! Mama 3. It includes scripts, programs, promotional materials, posters, photographs, videos, and sound recordings. Records of the Mama Foundation include programs, press clippings, publicity, and posters.

Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. This collection consists of one series made up of recordings and transcripts of interviews that Marovich conducted with a variety of gospel music pioneers while writing A City Called Heaven: Chicago and the Birth of Gospel Music. The interviews discuss the musicians' lives and careers, as well as spirituality and the gospel genre as a whole.

Research on the Black gospel quartet tradition including recorded interviews, transcripts, programs, sheet music, hymnals, subject files, sound recordings and videos.

The collection includes Burnim's dissertation research on African American religious music conducted primarily in Indiana between 1976-1979 with an emphasis on gospel music performance and practice; and post-dissertation research on African and African American religious music conducted between 1980-1996 in the U.S., Cuba, Liberia, and Malawi. Also included is documentation of the 1984 Smithsonian American Folklife Festival and gospel sheet music. The collection was primarily recorded on analog audio formats and includes audiocassettes, open reel tapes, videocassettes, open reel video, slides, sheet music, song texts, and additional documentation.

The collection spans the years 1955-2020; The earliest materials are LPs released between 1955 and 1974, while the papers are dated from 2012. Materials consist primarily of records, radio interviews, and magazines discussing the Pastor Maceo L. Woods, as well the Charles Harrison Mason Historical Society.

The collection consists of materials related to Smithsonian Institution programs, including the Duke Ellington Youth Project, in addition to gospel sheet music and related research materials from George's personal collection.

The collection includes 11 issues of the periodical Gospel News Journal. The collection does not contain a complete run of the journal, but includes issues from Volumes 2-5, dating from 1966-1968.