The Janis Ian Archives are a unique resource for music history research, offering unfettered access to Ian’s publishing, recording, and live performance contracts, copyright paperwork, financial negotiations, and tax returns. Beginning with her grandparents’ immigration papers, circa 1916, the Archives will follow the journey of Ian’s 1937 Martin D-18 guitar, chronicle the HUAC years with insights into her parents’ FBI files (and what FBI surveillance cost Ian’s family over the decades), and then travel through the civil rights, women’s, and LGBTQ movements. Visitors to the Archives can view Janis Ian’s correspondence with other musical artists, famous friends, and collaborators, as well as flip through song notebooks, diaries, and a journal that includes Ian’s first poem, written at age ten.
Ongoing support is needed to preserve, catalog, and periodically display the priceless items housed in this vital one-of-a-kind resource. Unlike most archives, this resource is open for professionals and non-professionals alike. While many artists have received significant amounts of money for turning over their archives, The Janis Ian Archives are entirely different – Ian’s belief in Berea College is so strong that she has donated all materials without compensation. Her only stipulation is that records remain open to the public, not just scholars and Ph.D. candidates.
The Janis Ian Archives, opening in 2024, will offer a unique behind-the-curtain-view of the music industry, beginning in the mid-1960’s, when Janis was a young teen. The Archives will provide a record of her spectacular rise in popularity, sold-out concerts (domestic and international), relevance through the decades and negotiations with record companies — as well as career setbacks. Janis is a prolific singer-songwriter and feminist icon; her songs are known for their social significance and speak volumes to fans, including her half-million Facebook followers. She has won two Grammy awards, one in 1975 for “At Seventeen” and the second in 2013, in the Best Spoken Word category for her autobiography, “Society’s Child.” She has received a total of ten nominations in eight different categories. Janis will complete a farewell tour throughout 2022-2023.
How to Get Involved
Support The Janis Ian Archives through the fund or contact Teresa Kash Davis at daviste@berea.edu or 859-985-3132 with questions regarding monetary and non-monetary contributions to The Janis Ian Archives.
Related Links:
Berea College Archives
Janis Ian Official Webpage
If you wish to donate via personal check, please include “The Janis Ian Archives Fund” in the memo line, and mail to:
Berea College
CPO 2216
Berea, KY 40404
