Scottish-American violist William Primrose started the archive with the donation of his many materials on the viola.

The Primrose International Viola Archive was initially proposed in 1974 using the existing viola holdings of the Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL) at Brigham Young University (BYU) along with contributions from Scottish-American violist William Primrose, forming the William Primrose Viola Library.

[1][2][3] BYU faculty violist emeritus David Dalton had studied viola under William Primrose at Indiana University, and had established a close friendship with him.

Notable donors include Jan Albrecht, Paul Doktor, Ulrich Druner, Walter Lebermann, Rudolf Tretzsch, Ernst Wallfisch, and Franz Zeyringer, founder of the International Viola Society.

[6][7] The PIVA includes over 6,000 published scores,[6] around 250 sound recordings, and hundreds of manuscripts and correspondence.