Mission and History

About the Center for Popular Music

Mission Statement | About Us | History of the CPM

The Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University is one of the world’s oldest and largest research centers devoted to the study of American popular music. Established in 1985 as a state-sponsored Center for Excellence, in 2009 it became a unit in the university’s Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment.

Mission Statement

The Center’s mission is to promote research in American popular music, and to foster an understanding and appreciation of America’s diverse musical culture.

About Us

The Center for Popular Music (CPM) is an archive and research center devoted to the study of American popular music in all genres. It was established in 1985 as one of sixteen Centers of Excellence at universities in the Tennessee public higher education system. The Center’s mission is to promote research and scholarship in popular music and to foster an appreciation of America’s diverse musical culture and its global reach. To carry out this mission, the CPM maintains a large research archive and library, presents public programs that interpret various aspects of American popular music, and creates opportunities for researchers to engage with materials in both formal instruction and community outreach activities.

The CPM’s archive is one of the largest and most important popular music research collections in the world. The Center’s extensive holdings represent all genres and formats of music, and items reflect the industry surrounding the creation and dissemination of popular music. The CPM’s holdings include materials such as sheet music, books, trade catalogs, magazines and journals, news clippings, posters, playbills and concert programs, and all formats of sound recordings. The CPM also holds unique materials that include photographs, handwritten music, scrapbooks, and personal papers of musicians, songwriters, and industry personnel, as well as many hours of unpublished recordings of music and interviews.

Materials in the Center’s collection do not circulate but are available to anyone with an interest in popular music. Resources support undergraduate, graduate, and faculty research in a variety of disciplines and departments, as well as serving as a research resource for people far beyond the bounds of the University. Authors, journalists, performers, songwriters, artists, media producers, and documentary filmmakers are some of the individuals who have all made use of the Center’s archive and library.

The Center for Popular Music is part of the Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment and is located on the first floor of the Bragg Media and Entertainment building. The CPM is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM. 

History of The Center for Popular Music

The Center of Popular Music was founded in 1985 on the MTSU campus, duly funded by the State of Tennessee and MTSU. The Center is a state recognized Center of Excellence exemplifying the capabilities of higher education institutions to benefit the people of Tennessee by expanding research in the state and raising the stature of Tennessee statewide and internationally.