The Library of American Broadcasting

The LAB is the preeminent national center for the preservation and dissemination of the history and tradition of broadcasting, reflecting its people, policies, programming and the indispensable part it plays in the nation’s culture. It is part of of the Special Collections division of the University Libraries of the University of Maryland and is housed within the Hornbake Library at the school’s main campus in College Park, Maryland.

For more information on the library, email askhornbake@umd.edu or call 301-405-9212.

Hornbake Library, University of Maryland, College Park

The LAB by the Numbers

  • 2,000 linear feet of manuscripts

  • 7,000 books

  • 6,000 audio tapes, including 1,100 oral histories, interviews and speeches

  • 7,000 industry-related pamphlets

  • 300 trade magazines

  • 225,000 photographs

  • 8,000 recorded discs

  • 2,000 radio and television scripts

Noteworthy Collections

Broadcast Pioneers Library: Recordings of hundreds of interviews with broadcasters conducted from 1973 to 1996.

Westinghouse Tapes:  Over 2,300 audio tapes of national news feeds and programs delivered over radio from 1957 to 1982.

History of Women in Media:  Seventy-five reel-to-reel tapes of interviews conducted from 1976 to 1984 with women in broadcasting.

Don West Broadcasting & Cable Collection:  Over 30,000 files containing mostly photos, but also press releases and other items.

Wartime history:  Transcriptions and disc recordings from VoxPop and materials from Edward R. Murrow, Kate Smith and others.

Arthur Godfrey Collection: Hundreds of recordings of radio and TV programs.

Personal papers: Of renowned journalists such as Howard K Smith and Ray Scherer.

Original radio and TV scripts: Fibber McGee & Molly and hundreds of other programs.

Inclusion of Blackness exhibit - Library of American Broadcasting

Go Deep at LAB

To showcase its extensive collections, the LAB has gathered samplings of broadcast recordings, interviews and other materials around cultural issues, famous people and major news events over the years. These thematic virtual exhibits cover the portrayal and coverage of Blacks (left), the Watergate scandal, the assassination of Martin Luther King, street demonstrations, Westinghouse radio pioneerJoseph Baudino, the first Moon landing, presidential inaugurations, coverage of elections and U.S. propaganda during WW II, among other topics.