Since 1928, the Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage (the former State Record Library) has been the most important sound and audio-visual public archives existing in Italy. The Institute has the task of collecting, preserving and provide the availability to use sound, audio-visual, and multimedia materials, developed with traditional methods or state-of-the art technologies.
The over 300,000 documents are recorded in all types of mediums, including wax cylinders, steel wires, CDs, DVDs, and the Collection of instruments for sound reproduction includes the equipment for their “reading”. A Library with over 13,000 volumes is also available.
The collections of the former State Record Library, presently the Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage, are public and accessible through a card catalogue, with accessions until 1990 (by now almost entirely reconverted into a digital media) and through an on-line catalogue allowing to search for data on almost all the documents of the collection as well as to listen to the opening bars of the already digitalised sound documents.
 
The original part of its collections is represented by sound and music documents concerning the First World War; from the “Words of the Great” (the voices of Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, the Duke of Aosta, General Armando Diaz, only to mention a few) to the songs of the Alpines, to interventionist or neutralist music, to folk and war songs.
The Task Force will avail itself of the scientific collaboration of the Institute and use its materials for exhibitions and educational events, free-of-charge, as provided for by the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 25th July 2013.
Additional Information:
The website of the Institute