The School of Scottish Studies was established in 1951, at the University of Edinburgh, to collect, archive, research, study and publish material relating to the cultural traditions of Scotland. The extensive collections, the core of which is ethnographic fieldwork undertaken by staff and students over the past 60 years, now include a sound archive comprising around 20,000 recordings, a photographic archive with over 30,000 images, a small video collection, manuscript materials and a research library. Work has focused on Scottish life and the traditional arts, and material comes from communities throughout Scotland and its diaspora. The languages of Scotland – Gaelic, Scots and English – are all represented including many dialects now extinct. Donated material forms part of these substantial holdings and includes the John Levy Archive, a collection of religious music, mainly from Asia.