Personal Papers and Research Collections

Perley Aldrich [catalog record] ^(RBMSCL)

Chiefly from Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, these letters document the development of the orchestra chorus, the Stokowski Medal, and early vocal recordings with the Victor Talking Machine Co.

Jane Berdes [catalog record] [ finding aid] ^(RBMSCL)

Personal research papers related to music in Venice

Allan Bone [catalog record] [ finding aid] ^(UA)

Allan H. Bone (1917-1992) spent nearly forty years in the Duke University Dept. of Music variously as professor of music, chair of the department, and conductor of the Duke Symphony Orchestra. His papers include material related to conducting, music subjects, courses, research, and the administration and history of the Duke University Dept. of Music, concert programs from Duke University performances, personal correspondence, and daily planners.

Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore [catalog record] ^(RBMSCL)

Records collected by Brown as secretary of the North Carolina Folklore Society, largely relating to folklore in the state but containing a small amount of material from other parts of the U.S. and Canada; together with correspondence, financial records, and notes, relating to the editorial project which published the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore (Durham, N.C., 1952-1964), several volumes of which deal with NC folk music.

Les Brown [catalog record] ^(RBMSCL)

Popular band leader, musician, and 1936 Duke University graduate. Collection consists of musical arrangements from Brown's library. Brown's band, "Les Brown and His Band of Renown," was a leading dance band during the 1940s and 1950s.

Sonny Burke [catalog record] [ finding aid] ^(RBMSCL)

Collection has as its focal point 76 arrangements of popular music for big band. These charts were used by Burke's bands during the 1940's-1950's for performances in the United States and Mexico. Most of the arrangements are by Sonny Burke, but other composers/arrangers include: Frank Erickson, Hal Schaefer, Stan Kenton, John Valentine Eppel, Laurindo Almeida, and Ray Conniff. Some of the arrangements were made for recordings on the Decca Records label.

Thomas Chapin [catalog record] [ finding aid] ^(RBMSCL)

Jazz saxophonist/flutist and composer (1957-1998) from Connecticut. Musical director of Lionel Hampton's orchestra and then leader of and participant in other ensembles, including his own trio. Collection contains sound and video recordings and compositions by Thomas Chapin, as well as clippings, programs, memorial messages, and other items about him; published materials on Chapin or featuring his music; copies of original scores; genealogical information; and other biographical information about him and his trio; correspondence; financial records; scrapbooks, graphic materials, posters, and other materials detailing Chapin's musical career.

Durham Savoyards [catalog record] ^(RBMSCL)

Durham (Durham Co.), N.C. production company of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Items in the collection make up the archives of this organization and consist of minutes, correspondence, programs, financial records, posters, director's notes, stage design, photographs, videocassettes, color slides, and clippings.

William Gedney photographs [catalog record] [online exhibit] ^(RBMSCL)

The collection documents Gedney's work as a photographer and his bookbinding expertise and interests. The photographs primarily document life in the United States, particularly in New York, rural Kentucky, and San Francisco; and American composers.

William Grant Still [catalog record] [finding aid] [online exhibit] ^(RBMSCL)

Music, writings, correspondence, diaries, pictures, printed material, clippings, and recordings, which primarily document Still's work as a Twentieth century African-American composer. Still's music gained recognition because he composed classical music reflecting African-American and African influences. A substantial portion of the collection is comprised of Still's compositions in manuscript, printed, and recorded formats, and is contained in the Music Series and Recordings Series. The various genres or mediums in which Still worked, including symphonies, operas, spirituals, songs, and chamber music, are represented in the collection. Conductors' scores and published arrangements are included.

Nancy Hanks [catalog record] [ finding aid] ^(RBMSCL)

The Nancy Hanks collection is useful as a study of the development of private and governmental arts programs, in particular through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the personal life and career (1950s-1970s) of an upper-class single woman. Arts and the federal government is a recurrent theme. The collection also contains information about a variety of arts organizations in which Hanks was involved, often as a board member.

Mildred Hendrix [catalog record] [ finding aid] ^(UA)

Mildred Hendrix (1905-1985) served as the Chapel Organist and University Organist at Duke University from 1944 to 1967 and as Professor of Music from 1944 to 1969. This collection includes correspondence, recital materials, photographs, and other programs. Major subjects in this collection are music for chapel services, organ instruction and performance, scholarly study of the organ, Duke University Chapel programming, and the Duke University Music Department.

Viola Hill [catalog record] ^(RBMSCL)

African American coloratura soprano of Philadelphia. Correspondence, recital programs, sheet music, clippings, business cards, notes, music tablets, publicity materials, pedagogical materials. Some correspondence, programs, clippings, and other materials document Hill's term as secretary of the Philadelphia branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians and her business and musical collaborations with the president, Carl Diton, including their participation in a major African-American music festival in Raleigh, N.C. in 1924. The Correspondence Series includes letters pertaining to Hill's attempt to gain admission to the Curtis Institute of Music, an attempt allegedly denied due to racial discrimination.

Hoof 'n' Horn (Duke Student Group) [catalog record] [ finding aid] ^(UA)

Hoof 'n' Horn Student Musical Theater Company was formed in 1939 at Duke University. The organization's purpose is to provide amateur theater to the Duke University and Triangle Area communities, to serve as an educational vehicle to provide practical experience in all aspects of musical theater, and to be responsible for all necessary assets for the production of shows which it sponsors. The collection features musical scores, sheet music, scripts, programs, posters, a scrapbook, video and audio recordings, and administrative materials.

Douglas MacKinnon [catalog record] ^(RBMSCL)

Collection contains diaries, correspondence, financial papers, photographs, printed materials and news clippings related to MacKinnon's radio broadcasting and business career, as well as his personal life. Some materials pertain to his work in New York where he founded WQXR, Armed Forces Master Records, Inc., U.S. Armed Forces Radio Service, and Radio Free Europe. Also included are critiques of operas he saw around the world, a draft of his autobiography, and other miscellaneous items.

Guido Mazzoni Libretti [catalog record] [finding aid] [online exhibit] ^(RBMSCL)

Material in this sub-collection includes librettos, oratorios, ballets and any kind of "melodramma" with some music. Most of the imprints are 19th century, and many of the later librettos were published by Ricordi. Italian is the principal language, and the predominant formats are pamphlets and small volumes.

Mendelssohn letter in the Bowring collection [image 1] [image 2] ^(RBMSCL)

Description of the Second London Performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah. From the Journals [1841-1857] of Edgar Alfred Bowring (1826-1911). Bowring, a resident of London, was a British civil servant holding various offices at the Board of Trade, Member of Parliament (1868-1874), author, editor and translator.

April 23rd [1847]

Went to Exeter Hall and heard Mendelssohn's new opera of "Elijah" performed. He himself conducted the performance. He is a tall, thin man, under 40 years of age, and very intellectual looking. The Queen and Prince Albert were there, and almost every body being in full dress, the effect was very fine. The National Anthem was beautifully sung. The oratorio itself is a most splendid composition. The pieces encored were the themes of "Baal we cry to thee", the trio of "Lift thine eyes to the mountains", beautifully sung by Misses Kirkham, Duval, and Dolby, and "O rest in the Lord" by Miss Dolby. Many other pieces would have been encored, had it not been for respect to the Queen. The other solo singers were Philips, Miss Birch, Novello, and Lockey. The oratorio is quite worthy of Handel. Mendelssohn was tremendously cheered. The performances were over at 1/2 past 10 o'clock. I was in the Area Reserved Seats, very near the Queen. I should have been very sorry not to have her present.

Bobbye Ortiz Sound Recordings [catalog record] [ finding aid] ^(RBMSCL)

Spoken word and music sound recordings collected by Ortiz from the early 1950's until her death in 1990. The items represent a wid variety of popular and political protest songs and poetry from Central America, Latin America, South America, Cuba, Puerto Rico, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, and the United States. The bulk of the collection consists of works by or about Central America, Latin America, South America, and the Caribbean, but there is also considerable material about the United States, including topics such as integration and race relations, the women's movement, labor movements (including the United Farm Workers), and the Vietnamese Conflict. Women performers and composers are well represented.

Marshall Pike [catalog record] ^(RBMSCL)

Composer, performing artist, drum major in the 22nd Massachusetts Regiment in the Civil War. Chiefly letters from Pike to James H. Brown, also a song-writer and family friend, describing Pike's life as a touring musician and composer, other songwriters, his service with the Massachusetts 22nd Regiment, and his health. Also contains a few of Pike's printed song texts and a biographical newsclipping about Pike.

Robert Ward [catalog record] [ finding aid] ^(RBMSCL)

Composer of operas and other works who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1962. Chancellor of the N. C. School of the Arts and a faculty member at Columbia and Duke Universities. The collection contains scores and score sketches, correspondence, scrapbooks, research and information files, writings and speeches by Ward, as well as other materials documenting Robert Ward's life and work. Also includes several manuscript copies and seven audiocassette tapes of musical compositions by others; concert programs, newspaper clippings, reviews of Ward's work, and photographs.

Frank and Anne Warner [catalog record] ^(RBMSCL)

Video and audio tapes, positive and negative photographs, correspondence, and printed material relating to the Warner family's collection, publication, and performance of American folk music. These materials contain biographical information on the Warners, extensive documentation of Frank Warner's career as a performer of American folk music, his recordings, his service on the board of directors of the Newport Folk Foundation, and a lawsuit over the origins of the popular song "Tom Dooley."

Alexander Weinmann [catalog record] [ finding aid] ^(RBMSCL)

Includes title pages and parts of arrangements, focusing on Viennese publishers and composers, including Georg Druschetzky, Joseph Haydn, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jan Baptists Vanhal, Johann Joseph Rosler, and Ferdinand Kauer. The series also documents Weinmann's study of 19th century Viennese publishing firms including Artaria and Company, Cappi, Leopold Kozeluch and Franz Anton Hoffmeister, Carlo and Pietro Mechetti, Tranquillo Mollo, Ignaz Sauer, Johann Traeg, and Thaddus Weigl. Anthony Hoboken, Willi Boskovsky, Franz Giegling, Anto Fietz, and Arthur Fiedler are among primary correspondents in the collection. Weinmann also collected letters (originals and copies) from persons and publishers he studied, including J.P. Gotthard, Johann Strauss, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, and Tobias Haslinger.