The foundation is supporting documentary films, photo projects and, most ambitiously, cataloging, digitizing and making searchable online Mr. Strachwitz's collection of some 17, 000 Mexican-American and Mexican 78rpm records, at the University of California's Strachwitz Frontera Collection.

WSJ: Five Decades of Arhoolie Records | By Barry Mazor

The anniversary shows were in support of Mr. Strachwitz's special joy, the nonprofit Arhoolie Foundation, which, backed by private donations and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, disseminates and preserves the earthy, energetic roots music he loves.

WSJ: Five Decades of Arhoolie Records | By Barry Mazor

At 81, the amiable Mr. Strachwitz, whose family relocated to the U.S. West Coast in 1947, recalls falling first for early jazz when seeing the Louis Armstrong-Billie Holliday film "New Orleans" as a teenager, then hearing everything from hardcore hillbilly to "Harlem Matinee" and the Serbo-Croatian hour on Los Angeles-area radio.

WSJ: Five Decades of Arhoolie Records | By Barry Mazor