A synergy of Perfect Works' expertise in the fields of history, faith, education and the arts, the Gospel Music History Project is the first international initiative designed to collect, preserve, and present the full history of the Black Gospel Music. In partnership with the Black Voice Foundation for History, Media, and the Arts, our institutional collaborators include the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California (USC), the USC Libraries, the Thornton School of Music (USC), the Archives of African American Music and Culture at Indiana University, and Document Records. Key aspects of the project include:

The Gospel Music History Archive

Housed at the University of Southern California Digital Archives, the Gospel Music History Archive is the world's only fully catalogued, searchable, internet-based digital archive of materials and video testimonies related to the historic development of Gospel Music.

The Living Testimony Initiative

A major grassroots collection and preservation project, the Living Testimony Initiative is centered on digitally videotaping local gospel performer’s life stories and performances and the coordination of regional museums, historical societies, libraries, and archives to preserve these individual’s most important artifacts.

Selected Interviews and Performances

Rodena Preston

Ervin and Winnie Sue Smith

"Guide Me Over Thou Great Jehovah"

Precious Memories

The Precious Memories Public Education and Outreach Program is a national media campaign designed to encourage private citizens to preserve important materials related to Gospel and to bring them to the attention of the GMHP through its network of regional collection sites. It also aspires to bring this great history to the wider public through high-level traveling exhibits and a diverse set of public education programs.

The Good News: A Journal of African American Religious Culture

Debuting in 2012, the GMHP will launch The Good News, the first refereed, scholarly journal dedicated to the academic study of Gospel Music and the expressive culture of the African American church.

Becoming a Repository

In an effort to capture the true regional complexity of Gospel Music and to intimately involve both individuals and communities in telling their own stories, the Gospel Music History Project is constantly expanding its network of local and regional archives, libraries, museums, and historical societies dedicated to the collection and preservation of this important national resource. To become an official repository, institutions must be able to fulfill the criteria listed below.

1.    Possess the capacity to preserve historic resources or the willingness to refer individuals and institutions to other officially networked repositories.

2.    Engage in an active public education program (at least two efforts per year) centered on Gospel Music or the physical sites related to its development.

3.    Host at least two community-focused preservation seminars per year.

4.    Agree to provide the GMHP with an annual update of Gospel-related materials in institution’s possession.

5.    Agree to encourage individuals and institutions to follow the standard GMHP/Oral History Association protocols for oral and video testimony collection.

6.    Agree to uphold high ethical standards as it relates to collection, preservation, and interaction with human subjects.

Benefits of Becoming an Official Repository/Partner:

•    Official designation as a GMHP Repository

•    Inclusion of organization’s name and web-link on the official GMHP website (Modeled after www.usgenweb.com)

•    Ability to leverage the association with the GMHP in institution’s grant writing and fundraising efforts

•    Assurance that your specific region will not be forgotten when the full story of Gospel is told