A reception for an exhibit of some of the archive's treasures will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. in the C.K. and Teresa Tseng Gallery in the east wing of the university's Oviatt Library in the center of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

The reception will feature a free guitar concert on the lawn in front of the Library.

The archive is recognized as a world research center for classical guitar. The exhibit will feature a sample of its contents, including historical guitars on loan for this event, manuscripts, correspondence, music scores, recordings and other materials. The exhibit formally opens on Sept. 12 and will run though Nov. 11 in the Tseng Gallery.

The archive was created in the 1980s when collector, teacher and award-winning classical guitarist Vahdah Olcott-Bickford-Revere bequeathed Cal State Northridge a legacy of American and foreign guitar music prints, journals and correspondence reflecting the history of the guitar in the United States from 1830 to the present. With additional contributions over the years, the archive has grown to more than 10,000 music print titles, numerous photographs, transcriptions of correspondence and historic guitar periodicals.

CSUN's guitar archive is one of the most complete collections in the United States, rivaling archives in St. Louis, Austin, New York, Ohio and Colorado, said Ron Purcell, a CSUN music professor and director of the archive.

For more information about the archive, visit the International Guitar Research Archive Web at http://library.csun.edu/igra/ or e-mail igra@csun.edu.