Johnny Cash is one of the most important, influential, and respected artists in the history of recorded music. And now a collection of his personal archives will find its permanent home at Belmont University, representing a historic partnership among the Cash family, the John R. Cash Revocable Trust and Belmont. The collection comes from Johnny’s children –– Rosanne Cash, Kathy Cash Tittle, Cindy Cash, Tara Cash Schwoebel and John Carter Cash –– and will anchor a new Johnny Cash Learning Center at the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business’s forthcoming Music Row building.
The archives collection includes some of Cash’s personal correspondence with fellow artists, family and other public figures, as well as personal notes, photographs, scrapbooks, handwritten lyrics, cassette tapes and more. Belmont also began a digitization process to catalog and preserve the collection prior to the opening of the Cash Learning Center. That digitization effort will be spearheaded by Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel, who will serve as director of the Johnny Cash Learning Center, in partnership with Belmont University Special Collections.
The $8.6 million acquisition was made possible in part through the generous support of Scott and Sandi Borchetta, Mike and Linda Curb and the Harper House Music Foundation.
“We are thrilled that our father’s archive has found a home at Belmont University. An enormous body of his work, including unpublished writings, will now be available for scholars and students to more intimately connect with the foundational elements of his artistry for years to come,” said the Cash family.
The Johnny Cash Learning Center will be designed as an academic and cultural hub, featuring spaces for archival research, digital and physical exhibits, and immersive educational programming integrated into Belmont’s curriculum. A secure reading room will allow appointment-based access for researchers, while an open digital collection will make archival materials available to the public online.
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The archives span Johnny’s life and career, encompassing personal correspondence with fellow artists, family, and public figures, and handwritten personal notes, thoughts, songs, and more. Belmont will undertake a digitization process to catalog and preserve this collection ahead of the Cash Learning Center’s opening in the college’s new Music Row facility. Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel, who continues in her role as associate director and professor of Global Honors at Belmont, will also serve as director of the Johnny Cash Learning Center, in partnership with Belmont University Special Collections.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
