The Steam Powered Preservation Society, also known as The SPPS, and sometimes referred to as the Steampowered Preservation Society, is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
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The SPPS is an educational / archival group that collects and restores old recordings of primarily Americana string band music in the bluegrass, old-time, and country music genres, and distributes material for educational and archival purposes.
There are plans to expand the project to include blues and jazz when collections of historical significance are donated.
History
The SPPS began with The Tut Tapes. Tut Taylor, also known as "Tutbro" has been recording Americana string bands since the 1950s. His endeavor started as a way to learn the music but it became much more. Over the years, he used many tape recorders, and his collection of tapes became a path through history. Taylor's massive collection of over 500 tape recordings needed to be saved, as it represented a half a century of acoustic music. This collection consists of over 500 reel to reel and cassette tapes of Tut Taylor and various figures in the American music scene.
The SPPS is also the official repository for recorded, live, non-commercial recordings of John Hartford.