The Répertoire International des Sources Musicales, or RISM, is a worldwide effort to identify and describe sources of music and writings about music from the earliest times through approximately 1850.
RISM in the U.S.
RISM activities in the United States are overseen and sponsored by the Joint Committee on RISM of the American Musicological Society and the Music Library Association.
The U.S. RISM office, currently led by Christina Linklater, came to the Loeb Music Library in 1985. The office collects information from U.S. libraries about music manuscripts, printed music, and libretti from approximately 1580 to 1825. It is the principal information center for queries about RISM data from the United States.
RISM’s Central Editorial Office
RISM's Central Editorial Office, in Frankfurt, Germany, coordinates contributions to RISM Series A/I and Series A/II projects. It also prepares information for both series for publication, and helps coordinate the publication of RISM Series B and C.
The Central Editorial Office can provide information on:
- manuscript sources in all countries participating in the RISM Series A/II music manuscript inventory,
- addenda to published RISM bibliographies,
- general questions about the RISM organization.
U.S. RISM Records Requests
Create Records
U.S. RISM Office staff are available to create RISM records for items held at U.S. institutions. To qualify for this service, your item must be fully cataloged in your own library system, as well as digitized. Reference scans are acceptable for cataloging purposes; however, note that these will be neither retained by RISM nor linked in the database.
Update Records
We are also pleased to update existing records with links to newly digitized items. If a source from your collection was previously cataloged in RISM and has subsequently been digitized, please let us know so that we may link to your digital copy in the database.
U.S. RISM Office Contact
Christina Linklater, Director, U.S. RISM Office.
Tel: 617-496-3359
Fax: 617-496-4636