John Vallier: Home

As curator for the UW Ethnomusicology Archives I steward some 100,000 recordings, films, and other materials that document international, national, and regional music and related traditions. Much of this work revolves around access, digitization, and repatriation. Since the Archives moved from the UW Ethnomusicology Program to the Libraries in 2017, I've focused on repatriation as well as providing content for publications such as Adam Mathew's Global Field Recordings and Alexander Street Press' Ethnographic Sound Archives Online. With its transfer to UW Libraries, the Archives merged with the Seattle Sounds Archiving Project (SSAP), a large collection of local and Seattle area music, including the Kearney Barton, Crocodile Cafe, and 206 Hip Hop collections. 

Between September 2022 and August 2025, I'm UW PI and Project Lead for the CLIR-funded and WSU-led Native Northwest Online: Connecting Communities and Collections through Collaborative Curation. 

As faculty in Ethnomusicology, CHID, Honors, and Museology, I facilitate the exploration of subjects across disciplinary boundaries. As part of this I support undergraduate independent studies, serve on graduate student MA and PhD defense committees, and offer courses in Ethnomusicology, CHID, Honors, Museology, and Cinema and Media Studies. Learn more about my teaching service here, including such classes as Grunge is for Lo$ers and Seattle Sounds.