"The Institute of Jazz Studies of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is a unique research facility and archival collection, the foremost of its kind. IJS was founded in 1952 by Marshall Stearns (1908–1966), a pioneer jazz scholar, professor of medieval English literature at Hunter College, and author of two essential jazz books: The Story of Jazz and Jazz Dance. In 1966 Rutgers was chosen as the collection's permanent home. IJS is located on the Newark campus of Rutgers and is a part of the John Cotton Dana Library of the Rutgers University Libraries.

IJS aims to preserve and further jazz in all its facets. The archival collection, which has more than quintupled in size since coming to Rutgers, consists of more than 100,000 sound recordings in all formats, from phonograph cylinders and piano rolls to CDs and DVDs; more than 6,000 books on jazz and related subjects, including discographies, bibliographies, and dissertations; comprehensive holdings in jazz periodicals from all over the world; extensive vertical files on individuals and selected topics; and large holdings of photographs, sheet music, scores, arrangements, realia, and memorabilia".