The Sound Archives of All India Radio can be called as the National Audio Archive of the nation as it is the treasure house of precious recordings of more than 17,000 hours containing music and spoken word recordings in different categories. It is the largest library of Indian Music recordings.
The library preserves a separate collection of Mahatma Gandhi’s speeches including the first and the last prayer speeches of Mahatma Gandhi recorded on 11th May 1947 at Sodepur Ashram, Calcutta and 29th January 1948 at Birla House, Delhi respectively. The only broadcast by Gandhiji from AIR Delhi on 12th November 1947 is also preserved. The library contains recordings of speeches of all the Presidents and Prime Ministers of India.
Other important voice recordings of eminent personalities like Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Sarojini Naidu etc. have also been preserved. Apart from this, award-winning radio dramas, features, documentaries etc. and memorial lectures are available in the library.
AIR Archives is the repository of Radio Autobiographies. These are long duration recordings of eminent personalities from different walks of life. Such personalities are identified and recorded by AIR stations. The recordings are forwarded to Central Archives for preservation and posterity.