D.K. Wilgus and Wayland D. Hand established Folklore studies at UCLA, and together founded the Folklore and Mythology Program in 1965. Wilgus was the Program’s first chair and served in that position for 17 years. During his tenure at UCLA, Wilgus built an archive of folksong and folk music of over 8,000 commercial recordings and 3,000 field recordings. These recordings are now part of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive.