Statement of Need

When the instigators of the Spike Jones Project got started there was no complete repository of Spike Jones' material. There was no place for fans, researchers, students, educators, and music lovers to access the vast works of one of the last century's most incredible and creative bandleaders.

There was also a massive collection of material which was still in analog form and would continue to decay and degrade over time. That collection needed to be digitized in high resolution form as soon as possible, and there needed to be a place where these works could be accessed and researched.

About the Website

The Spike Jones Project is a collaborative undertaking to restore, archive and share the massive media collection produced by the one and only Spike Jones. It all started with Utah Valley University professor Mike Wisland’s passion for preserving music history. To Wisland, preserving music history does not mean to keep records in a vault, or hoarding them away in some personal collection, but instead to bring music and film from a dwindling time to life in the hearts and minds of younger generations. Wisland is an ardent fan of Spike Jones, so we have begun by digitizing his collection.

About the Project

In 2014-2015 UVU students took on the task of transcribing the analog records into a digital format and created the beginnings of the Spike Jones Project’s website. In the 2015-2016 school year UVU students have continued this task and have created the means by which additional records can be added to the site and maintained without the need to know web development code.