objectifs

Phonothèque québécoise
A Sound Archive
Preserving, documenting and sharing our sound heritage

The Phonothèque québécoise

Our Mission

The Phonothèque québécoise / Musée du son is a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving, exploring and sharing Québec's sound heritage, including locally made or distributed sound documents, recording equipment and playback devices.

Founded in 1989, the Phonothèque owes a debt of gratitude for its continued existence to over one hundred of its members who have volunteered their services: producers and record dealers, librarians and archivists, researchers, teachers, musicians and artists, as well as accountants and lawyers.

The Phonothèque québécoise has been acknowledged by the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec as a national heritage organization and is also supported by Canadian Heritage and the Service de la culture de la Ville de Montréal. Other organizations, including the Cinémathèque québécoise and the National Film Board of Canada, provide services and lend materials to the Phonothèque.

Proud as it is of accomplishments, the Phonothèque québécoise nevertheless remains keenly aware that our sound heritage is vulnerable. A comprehensive survey, carried out among thousands of organizations that maintain sound archives all across Canada, confirms the need for action. Large pieces of our sound heritage have already been lost; others are kept under inadequate conditions, threatening their fragile media; more have yet to be archived and documented.