“World Records” celebrates the acquisition of the Mayrent Collection of Yiddish 78s by the UW-Madison Mills Music Library. This conference and concert will focus on the important role this and other sound archives play in cultural and community continuity, as well as historical study, and will also include discussions of critical issues related to preservation, dissemination, technology, ownership and copyright. The Mayrent Collection contains over 9,000 inventoried and digitally remastered Yiddish recordings made between 1901 and 1956, providing an invaluable soundtrack with which to study and understand the Jewish world: Yiddish theater, popular and traditional music, cantorial songs, poetry, drama, and event ballads. Placing the Mayrent Collection in historic context will be presentations on American vernacular musics (Scandihoovian, Polish, hillbilly, tamburitza, blues, and more), along with a full day of presentations related to collection management and access, digital folklore, and the legal standing of historical recordings and their use. An opening night live concert will feature traditional musical genres found in the Mills Library sound collections.