American society with international membership founded in Philadelphia in 1955 to advance research and study in the field of ethnomusicology. Its research interests cover all musics, but generally Western art music has not been a strong focus. It is governed by eight directors nominated by and from the membership of a council, but elected by the general membership. Directors serve a two-year term, though the president serves for four years (one as president elect, one as past president). As a scholarly body, representing many professional ethnomusicologists (around 2500 at the end of the 20th century) working in universities, museums archives and a variety of other contexts, the society was admitted to constituent membership in the American Council of Learned Societies in 1966.
The founders, David McAllester, Alan Merriam, Willard Rhodes and Charles Seeger, all had training in anthropology or musicology. To establish communication among ethnomusicologists throughout the world, the mimeographed Ethno-musicology Newsletter, edited by Merriam, appeared from 1953 to 1957 (11 issues); it was succeeded by Ethnomusicology, a triannual journal, edited successively by McAllester, Nettl, Frank Gillis, Israel J. Katz, Norma McLeod, Gerard Béhague, Fredric Lieberman, Timothy Rice, K. Peter Etzkorn, Charles Capwell, Jeff Todd Titon, James R. Cowdery and Bruno Nettl. The society also issues the S.E.M. Newsletter (1967–), a monograph series and an audio-visual series. Annual scholarly meetings were instituted in 1956; nine regional chapters also hold meetings and read papers, while committees (archive, education, current issues etc.) produce panels, reports, and occasional publications. The society also awards several prizes for outstanding scholarship in the field. The society’s office is in Bloomington, Indiana.
BARBARA KRADER/R