ABSTRACT
Like other forms of popular culture such as film and television, popular music has countless enthusiasts and connoisseurs, and in many ways, the popular music collector or do-it-yourself (DIY) archivist might be seen as the quintessential figure of popular expertise and vernacular collecting. The aim to document popular music culture, to capture moments in time, manifests itself in a range of practices associated with collecting material artifacts, and this is highlighted in the brochures produced by many DIY institutions. In some DIY institutions, news of significant amounts of ephemera ending up in a landfill, or discarded/rejected from national collecting institutions, have become entwined in the organization's narrative of foundation; groups of music enthusiasts are spurred into action to "do something" to save artifacts from a determination that they are rubbish. In DIY institutions, decisions related to what is determined to be (or not be) rubbish are based on knowledge from within the community that has assembled around popular music preservation.
