Sound material

Composition and scope of the collection

The sound collection is in different forms:

	some 3000 ¼ inch magnetic tapes, with recordings covering the period from 1949 to 1999
	professional DAT format cassettes, or non-professional format
	some long-playing records (33 ⅓ rpm or 78 rpm) some dating from before 1948

Content

The major part of the sound collection is made up of recordings from WCC Assemblies and Central Committees (speeches, worship services, debates).  Other recordings relate to WCC programmes and Commissions.  A large quantity of tapes contain the material broadcast by Intervox (the ecumenical news agency).  Of particular interest are the interviews recorded with key personalities in the WCC and the wider ecumenical movement.  

Conservation and access

Approximately two-thirds of the collection is in a relatively poor condition.  Steps are being taken to safeguard the collection in the medium and long-term and to allow access to this material.  It will shortly be possible to listen to some of the tapes in digital form.

In 2004, three students of the "Haute Ecole de Gestion", department of Information and Documentation of Geneva, carried out their work of diploma on the sound collection of the WCC: World Council of Churches. Analysis of the audiovisual archives and proposals for an optimal exploitation and management of the collection. Annexes.

Samples

Amsterdam Assembly, 1948

What then is the true function of our Council
An excerpt from the General Secretary Visser't Hooft Report

Uppsala Assembly, 1968

James Baldwin's Interview by André Pache
An excerpt from the interview recorded during the Uppsala assembly in 1968

Vancouver Assembly, 1983

A message from South Africa
An excerpt from All Night Vigil by Desmond Tutu, recorded during the Vancouver assembly

Intervox

1973 : Easter message
Dimitrios I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, pronounces a short Easter message

1974 : A « Saint of the Gutters »
An excerpt from an interview made by Ishbel MacLellan with Mother Theresa about the latter’s work among the destitute and dying

1978 : Pope John Paul I
Philip Potter tells Ishbel MacLellan his impressions of the new Pope John Paul I

Interview, events, visits

 1963 : March to Washington
Martin Luther King at the "March on Washington" on 28 August 1963

1971 : Suzanne de Dietrich interrogée par Marc Chanbron
Remembers of an ecumenism pioneer, Céligny-gare, near the Institute of Bossey, in a chalet, August 20, 1971

1984 : Visit of His Holiness John Paul II at the WCC