Abstract The American Conservatory at Fontainebleau was originally established in 1919 to improve the quality of United States military bands mobilized in France at the end of World War I. In 1921, the school opened to American civilians, welcoming music students for summer classes in the Louis XV wing of the Château de Fontainebleau. The School of Fine Arts was established in 1923, and architecture has become the focus of its instruction. Still active today, the Conservatory's faculty has featured...

Abstract

The Edward Cogan Correspondence documents aspects of Cogan's career as leader of the Hill Billy Boys, a young, New Jersey-based mountain music band that performed on Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour and did tours for Major Bowes from 1935 to 1936. Correspondence is primarily between Edward Cogan and his family, friends, and associates.

Abstract

Record label orders, record label copy sheets, press release information, recording studio job sheets, and cut-out project information from Columbia Records.

Abstract Russian-American musician Jascha Heifetz was a virtuosic violinist who became a dedicated teacher. The collection includes his personal music library of original compositions, arrangements, and transcriptions. Concert programs document his performances from 1911 to 1974, and photographs, photo albums, and scrapbooks span the violinist's entire life. The correspondence contains letters from significant twentieth-century musical figures such as Leopold Auer, Benjamin Britten, Sergei Prokofiev,...

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Burl Ives was a singer, author, and a film, television and theater actor. The collection primarily relates to Ives's career in radio and television and on the concert stage. It includes articles by and about Ives, press and publicity materials relating to various radio and television shows, and to concerts and tours, correspondence, scripts, contracts, fan mail, financial materials, rehearsal schedules, photographs, and clippings.

Abstract Charles Mingus was a jazz double bassist, band leader, and composer. A prolific recording artist and pioneer in double bass technique, Mingus composed works that often incorporated elements of hard bop and gospel music and featured collective improvisation. The collection includes manuscript and printed music by Mingus; writings; correspondence; business papers; clippings; programs; publicity materials; photographs of Mingus, his family, and colleagues, such as Eric Dolphy, Dannie Richmond,...

Abstract Les Paul was a Grammy-winning musician and inventor known for his virtuosic guitar playing, pioneering of multitrack recording, and invention of the solid-body electric guitar. His inventions left an indelible impact on the music industry. In addition to live concerts he performed on the radio and on television, notably with his second wife, singer and guitarist Mary Ford. The Les Paul Papers contain music arranged for Les Paul's ensembles by himself or others and printed sheet music of...

Abstract The Theodore Presser Company Archive contains not only business records and music published by the Theodore Presser Company, but also that of the publishing companies they acquired, including the Oliver Ditson Company and John Church Company and their subsidiaries. The music includes manuscripts, annotated galley proofs, and printed music for solo instruments and voices, chamber ensembles, choirs, band, and orchestra. Catalogs and indices, correspondence, financial and legal records,...

Abstract Though composer, arranger, and conductor John Philip Sousa is best known for his marches, his oeuvre also includes many songs, dances, overtures, suites, fantasies, and operettas, among others. The collection consists largely of holograph full scores for band and orchestra, but there are also some parts, sketches, and printed scores, as well as works by other composers. The business papers document the operations of John Philip Sousa, Inc., primarily after his death. The collection also...

Abstract

The papers consist of correspondence, research files, photographs, scrapbooks, and other materials that form part of a larger collection of sound recordings and audio equipment assembled by journalist, radio host, and early recording collector Jim Walsh.