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About Us

About The
Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music

The Bruce Springsteen Archives is comprised of nearly 48,000 items from 47 countries ranging from articles and oral histories to concert memorabilia, and promotional materials.

The collection serves the research and informational needs of music fans, scholars, authors, and others with a serious interest in the life and career of Bruce Springsteen.

The Bruce Springsteen Archives serves as the archival repository for Bruce Springsteen’s written works, photographs, periodicals, and artifacts. The Center also preserves and promotes the legacy of Bruce Springsteen and his role in American music, while creating exhibits, public programs, and education initiatives that explore the works of American music giants like Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Billie Holiday, Patti Smith, Frank Sinatra, Gaslight Anthem, and others.

In addition to its archival mission The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music creates traveling exhibits, educational conferences, public programs, teacher workshops, and scholastic field trips, all aimed at exploring the American music tradition and providing for academic discourse in various fields of American music.

Leadership

Executive Director, Bob Santelli

Bob Santelli is the Founding Executive Director of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ. He is a noted blues and rock historian, curator, music journalist, and a GRAMMY Award winner. He has authored more than a dozen books on American music and is the winner of the 2022 Deems Taylor/ Virgil Thomson Award for Woody Guthrie: Song and Art * Words and Wisdom, which he co-authored with Nora Guthrie. Santelli was one of the original curators of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, becoming the museum’s first Director of Education and Vice President of Public Programs in 1995. In 2000, he became the CEO of the Experience Music Project in Seattle, the first-ever interactive music museum. Santelli became the Founding Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum in 2006, where he curated more than 65 exhibitions and produced centennial celebrations for Frank Sinatra, John Lee Hooker, Ella Fitzgerald, Leonard Bernstein, Woody Guthrie, and others over his sixteen years at the museum. He was one of the executive producers of In Performance at the White House and worked with First Lady Michelle Obama to conduct the White House’s music education programs. Santelli serves as the Director of Popular Music and Performing Arts at Oregon State University and teaches courses on popular culture.

Director, Eileen Chapman

Eileen Chapman is the Director of the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University and was responsible for bringing the collection to the University. In addition to her position at the BSACAM, she is also a councilwoman in Asbury Park, a city she has resided in and raised her family for 42 years. Prior to her directorship, she was the Associate Director of the Center for the Arts also at Monmouth University. Chapman was a founding member of the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation, Riverfest Jazz & Blues Festival, Clearwater Festival’s Entertainment Director, the Asbury Park Jazz Festival, director of the award-winning New Jersey Seafood Festival in Belmar, consultant and entertainment coordinator of the Guinness Oyster Festival, a consultant to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum and is the liaison to Monmouth University’s Grammy Museum affiliation. Chapman opened and operated the state’s first CD music store, Almost Live CD Center, in Belmar from 1986 to 2000. She was the General Manager of several well-known Jersey Shore entertainment venues which include the iconic Stone Pony, Fast Lane and McLoone’s Rum Runner in Sea Bright. She serves on the boards of the Asbury Park Historical Society, Asbury Park Arts Council, Asbury Park Music Foundation, Asbury Angels, and is currently a member of MOCO arts marketing and Mid-Atlantic Region Archives and Music Library Association. She also spearheaded a trip with a group of Asbury Park High School students to Michelle Obama’s music program at the White House.

Board of Directors

  • Patrick F. Leahy, Chair
    President, Monmouth University
  • Marilyn Laverty
    Shore Fire Media
  • Jon Landau, Vice-Chair
    Jon Landau Management, Inc.
  • Lisa McKean
    Trustee, Monmouth University
  • Barry Rosenstein, Treasurer
    JANA Partners LLC
  • Nwaka Onwusa
    Music Historian
  • Henry D. Mercer III, Assistant Treasurer
    Trustee Emeritus, Monmouth University
  • Jeana M. Piscatelli
    Board of Trustees, Monmouth University
  • Grey J. Dimenna
    President Emeritus, Monmouth University
  • Michael A. Plodwick
    Trustee Emeritus, Monmouth University
  • Don Friedman
    Grubman, Shire, Meiselas & Sacks, PC
  • Ann Unterberg
    Former Trustee, Monmouth University
  • Leslie N. Hitchner
    Vice Chair, Board of Trustees, Monmouth University
  • Sean Wilentz
    Professor of American History, Princeton University
  • Brian Samelson
    Entrepreneur and Early Stage Investor
  • Douglas Brinkley
    Professor of American History, Rice University
  • Elliot Groffman
    Carroll, Guido, Groffman, Cohen, Bar & Karalian, LLP
  • Anthony DeCurtis
    Distinguished Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania
  • Charlene Diana
    Secretary to the Board
    General Counsel, Monmouth University