Johnny Cash’s Personal Archives Find Permanent Home At Belmont University

/by

Photo: Courtesy of Belmont University

A collection of Johnny Cash’s personal archive will be permanently housed at Belmont University, in a partnership among the Cash family, the John R. Cash Revocable Trust and Belmont.

The collection will anchor a new Johnny Cash Learning Center at the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business’s forthcoming Music Row building. The $8.6 million acquisition was made possible in part through the support of Scott and Sandi Borchetta, Mike and Linda Curb and the Harper House Music Foundation.

“We are thrilled that our father’s archive has found a home at Belmont University. An enormous body of his work, including unpublished writings, will now be available for scholars and students to more intimately connect with the foundational elements of his artistry for years to come,” says the Cash family.

The archives span Cash’s life and career. Belmont will undertake a digitization process to catalog and preserve this collection ahead of the Cash Learning Center’s opening. The effort will be led by Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel, who will serve as director of the Johnny Cash Learning Center, in partnership with Belmont University Special Collections.

“There is no parallel for what this means for our students and scholars,” shares Brittany Schaffer, Dean, Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business. “Direct access to the personal papers and lyrics of one of the most important artists in American history is something most institutions can only dream of. The Johnny Cash Learning Center will be a place where his story is not just preserved but experienced.”

“As Trustee, it’s been an honor and pleasure to work with the family to find a home for this archive,” adds Catherine Sullivan, John R. Cash Revocable Trust. “As a lifelong resident of Nashville, Tennessee, I’m proud to know that generations of Belmont students will be able to study Johnny’s legacy.”

Lauryn Sink
Latest posts by Lauryn Sink (see all)