Preserving the Electroacoustic Music Legacy: A Case Study of the Sal-Mar Construction at the University of Illinois

In the summer of 2008 the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign acquired the papers of Salvatore Martirano (1927–1995), avant-garde composer, faculty member, and performer. This case study examines how the new electroacoustic compositional techniques present in Martirano’s papers and his ground-breaking electronic music instrument, the Sal-Mar Construction, dramatically challenged the archivists to explore access and preservation practices for this unique cultural record. Context plays a key role in the preservation of electroacoustic compositions and instruments, considering that these tend to become ephemeral works of art once the composer ceases to maintain them in working order.