People have been collecting musical recordings ever since there were music recordings to collect. But who has the biggest? The US Library of Congress Recorded Sound Reference Centre in Washington DC appears to be the champion.
They have 3.5 million sound recordings archived, including over 1.8 million discos of all sorts and 250,000 tapes. In second place is the National Sound Archive in London, England: 3.3 million recordings, including over 1 million discs.
And in third place: a NON-governmental collection. It belongs to a private citizen: Paul Mawhinney of Pittsburgh. He has over 3.3 million recordings of all sorts–and he’s been trying to sell it all since 2008. So far, though, no buyers.