Sidney Robertson Cowell collection, 1901-1992 (bulk 1936-1990).

ArchivalResource

Sidney Robertson Cowell collection, 1901-1992 (bulk 1936-1990).

The collection consists of Sidney Robertson Cowell's personal papers that document her life and work. It includes correspondence with family, friends and colleagues, inlcuding husband Henry Cowell, Ansel Adams, Ernst Bacon, Suzanne Bloch, Bertrand Bronson, Frank Brown, John Cage, Adrian Dornbush, Sam Eskin, Warde Ford, Grete Franke, Alfred Frankenstein, Lou Harrison, H. Wiley Hitchcock, Maud Karpeles, John Kirkpatrick, William Lichtenwanger, John Lomax, Dorothy Maynor, Colin McPhee, Laurence Powell, Bruce Saylor, Charles Seeger, Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger, Nicolas Slonimsky, Stephen Spackman, Virgil Thomson, Margaret Valiant, Robert Van Hyning, Hugo Weisgall, Yehudi Wyner, and Shinʼichi Yuize. The collection contains materials that document her field recording projects and trips during all phases of her career, including her work with the Resettlement Administration; the W.P.A. California Folk Music Project, which she conceived and directed; the Appalachian collecting trip with Maud Karpeles; the Wolf River/Ford-Walker family, Cape Breton Island, and Aran Islands recording trips; and her travels to Asia and the Middle East with Henry Cowell, during which she recorded many traditional musicians. In addition, it contains published and unpublished written material by Sidney Robertson Cowell, including books, articles, essays, reviews, reports and papers; autobiographical narratives and essays relating to her career and to her personal life; project proposals; and teaching materials. There is material related to Henry Cowell, including transcripts of recorded biographical narratives that Sidney made for a biography of Henry that was never completed; narratives and articles about Henry written by Sidney and others; articles on music written by Henry; a selection of folk songs with piano settings by Henry Cowell in his own hand, and photocopies of a small collection of Henry Cowell holographs, some annotated by Sidney. The collection also contains materials relating to personal and professional interests, including schools where Sidney Robertson Cowell taught, conferences in which she was involved, her travels both alone and with Henry, personal and professional relationships with individuals such as Percy Grainger, John Cage and Roland Hayes, and materials relating to the Cowell's book on Charles Ives. It also contains photographs and song sheets and song books.

5067 items (29 containers, 13 linear feet)

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 8075804

Library of Congress

Related Entities

There are 41 Entities related to this resource.

Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k46k6g (person)

Pete Seeger (1919-2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. As a member of the Weavers, Seeger was often heard on the radio in the early 1950s, most notably on their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene". In the 1960s, Seeger re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, counterculture, workers' rights, and environmental causes. A prolific songwriter, his best-known songs include "Where Have ...

Cowell, Henry, 1897-1965

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p37pnh (person)

Composed 1916-18. The original ms. had a pencilled-in note saying: "This is the only copy anywhere." See note from Mrs. Cowell 19 Nov. 1959: "The first symphony is a student work, and I hope earnestly for it not to be performed." This is a facsimile of the composer's holograph score, according to Bill Lichtenwanger.--Cf. Fleisher Collection. From the description of Symphony in B minor / Henry Cowell. 1918. (Franklin & Marshall College). WorldCat record id: 45207014 Compo...

Ives, Charles E., 1874-1954

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qs5n92 (person)

The poem by Edwin Markham. Composed 1912. Arranged for voice and piano, 1921 and published as no. 11 of 114 songs. Quotations: The Battle Hymn of the Republic; Hail Columbia; The Red, White, and Blue; The Star-Spangled Banner; America; The Battle Cry of Freedom. Dedicated to Dr. David Cushman Twichell.--Cf. Fleisher Collection. From the description of Lincoln, the great commoner / Charles Ives. [19--] (Franklin & Marshall College). WorldCat record id: 52368029 Composer. ...

Dornbush, Adrian

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6md1msp (person)

Art administrator. From the description of Adrian Dornbush interview, 1965 June 13. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220193142 ...

Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67b4ts6 (person)

Ansel Adams, American photographer, was born February 20, 1902 in San Francisco, California. He was tutored privately at home where he studied piano, San Francisco, from 1914 to 1927, then studied photography with the photofinisher Frank Dittman, in San Francisco, in 1916 and 1917. He married Virginia Best in 1928, and had two children, Michael and Anne. Adams began his career as a photographer, 1927, and worked as a commercial photographer, from 1930 to 1960. He was a photography correspond...

Van Hyning, Robert

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6744f99 (person)

Wyner, Yehudi, 1929-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65q5ffq (person)

Yuize, Shinʼichi

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62p2rtz (person)

Franke, Grete

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ds0krc (person)

Ford, Warde H.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n37mv2 (person)

Grainger, Percy

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63j3c1d (person)

Melbourne-born pianist and composer who spent much of his working life in the United States. From the description of Letter to Virginia Morley and Livingston Gearhart [manuscript]. 1949. (Libraries Australia). WorldCat record id: 225793948 From the description of Postcards from Percy and Rose Grainger, 1916-1925 [manuscript]. 1916-1925. (Libraries Australia). WorldCat record id: 271311978 Percy Aldridge Grainger, 1882-1961 was an Australian Composer/Pianist. Rose an...

Harrison, Lou, 1917-2003

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63x8d02 (person)

Composer and teacher at Black Mountain College (1951-1952). From the description of Lou Harrison papers, 1946-1971. (University of Connecticut). WorldCat record id: 28418179 Composed 1940. First performance Oakland, California, 18 July 1940.--Cf. Fleisher Collection. From the description of Canticle / Lou Harrison. 1940. (Franklin & Marshall College). WorldCat record id: 52199133 American composer. From the description of Interview conduc...

Lichtenwanger, William, 1915-2000

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fn2wcv (person)

American music librarian. From the description of Typewritten letters signed (2), dated : District Heights, Md., and/or Berkeley Springs, W. Va., 25 October and 6 December 1976, to Jim [Fuld], 1976 Oct. 25 and Dec. 6. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270874494 ...

Grover, Carrie B.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kw64nh (person)

Spackman, Stephen P.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s25rrh (person)

Seeger, Charles, 1886-1979

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6833xgx (person)

Musicologist. From the description of Ballad of Hattonchatel : manuscript and typescript poem, 1920. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70981474 Seeger was born on Dec. 14, 1886 to American parents in Mexico City; graduated from Harvard University, 1908; taught music at UC Berkeley (1912-19), the Institute of Musical Arts, N.Y. (1921-33), and the New School for Social Research, N.Y. (1931-35); served as asst. director, Pan American Union (1941-53); visiting prof., Yale Univ. (19...

Lomax, John A. (John Avery,), 1867-1948

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b8699q (person)

Collector and publisher of North American folk songs, born in Mississippi; settled near Meridian, Texas (1869); served University of Texas as secretary to the president and to alumni organizations until 1917. He published collections of folk songs (1910, 1927-1947) and a memoir (1947); and served as curator, Archive of American Folksong, Library of Congress. Married Bess Baumann Brown (1904), who died in 1931, and Ruby R. Terrill (1934). Fathered four children: Shirley Lomax Mansell Duggan; John...

Cage, John, 1912-1992

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r030xw (person)

John Cage was born in Los Angeles in 1912. He studied composition with Richard Buhlig, Henry Cowell, Adolph Weiss, and Arnold Schoenberg. In 1938 he began working as an accompanist for dance and a teacher at the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, Washington. It was here that he first met the dancer Merce Cunningham, with whom he would have a lifelong working relationship. Together they were responsible for a number of radical innovations in musical and choreographic compositions, such as the...

United States. Farm Security Administration

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64v08cx (corporateBody)

The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was established within the United States Department of Agriculture to implement the provisions of the Bankhead-Jones Tenant Act of 1937. The agency also took over certain functions of its predecessor, the Resettlement Administration (RA). The FSA made available and administered long-term loans to tenants and sharecroppers, loaned funds to rural cooperatives, and operated camps for migrant farm workers. The FSA was abolished in 1946; the Farmers Home Adminis...

Eskin, Sam

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fn8nkx (person)

Weisgall, Hugo.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68g91j4 (person)

Ballet commissioned by the Baltimore Ballet. Composed 1938. First performance of this suite New York, 21 March 1942, New York Philharmonic, John Barbirolli conductor.--Cf. Fleisher Collection. From the description of Suite from the ballet Quest / Hugo Weisgall. [19--] (Franklin & Marshall College). WorldCat record id: 57122732 Hugo Weisgall was a Moravian-born American composer. Weisgall studied composition and conducting at the Curtis Institute,...

United States. Resettlement Administration

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zm07mp (corporateBody)

Slonimsky, Nicolas, 1894-1995

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pz573t (person)

Composed 1933. First performance Hollywood Bowl, 13 July 1933, the composer conducting.--Cf. Fleisher Collection. From the description of Fragment of chorus from "Orestes" of Euripides : from a conjectural version (400 B.C.) / arranged by Nicolas Slonimsky. [19--] (Franklin & Marshall College). WorldCat record id: 54759973 Movements 1-6 and 8 originally composed 1928 in Studies in Black and White for piano. Transcribed and Valse added, 1941. First performance Buenos Aire...

Saylor, Bruce

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64n09xf (person)

Bacon, Ernst, 1898-1990

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k937bq (person)

Ernst Bacon, 1898-1990, was an American composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher. From the description of Papers, 1962-1976 (inclusive), 1972-1976 (bulk). (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122639945 From the guide to the Ernst Bacon papers, 1962-1976 (inclusive, 1972-1976, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.) Composed 1937. First performance Chicago, 5 February 1940, Illinois Symphony Orchestra of the Works Progress Administration, the compos...

Powell, Laurence, 1899-1990

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c53rf1 (person)

Composed 1923; revised 1930. First performance (of revised version), Madison, Wis., 20 May 1931, Madison Civic Symphony Orchestra, Sigfrid Prager conductor.--Cf. Fleisher Collection. From the description of Keltic legend / Laurence Powell. [19--] (Franklin & Marshall College). WorldCat record id: 53324243 Composed 1933. First performance Little Rock, Ark., 18 March 1937, Little Rock Symphony Orchestra, the composer conducting.--Cf. Fleisher Collection. From t...

Hitchcock, H. Wiley

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vq30s8 (person)

H. Wiley Hitchcock was an American musicologist who did much to advance the study of American music in the United States. Born in Detroit in 1923, he received his BA from Dartmouth College in 1944 and his MM from the University of Michigan in 1948, after which he studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He returned to Michigan, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1954 and began his teaching career. In the early 1960s he moved to New York, where he was professor of music at Hunter College,...

Bronson, Bertrand Harris, 1902-1986

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x63sfr (person)

Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley. From the description of Bertrand H. Bronson collection, ca. 1700-ca. 1987. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 214992393 From the description of Bertrand H. Bronson broadside ballads collection, ca. 1720-ca. 1820. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 214962038 Bertrand Bronson taught in the English Department for 43 years. He was a Rhodes Scholar, Guggenheim fe...

Kirkpatrick, John, 1905-1991

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qz2w5r (person)

American pianist. From the description of The John Kirkpatrick papers, 1836-1993 (inclusive). (Yale University). WorldCat record id: 702150415 Professor of Music. Pianist and professor of Music, Cornell University. From the description of John Kirkpatrick papers, 1951-1965. (Cornell University Library). WorldCat record id: 74898137 b New York Epithet: pianist British Library Archives and Manus...

Seeger, Peggy, 1935-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pc4kpb (person)

Maynor, Dorothy

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w6784q (person)

Singer. From the description of Reminiscences of Dorothy Maynor : oral history, 1976. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309733402 ...

McPhee, Colin, 1900-1964

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jw8g5t (person)

McPhee was born on Mar. 15, 1900 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; graduated from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD (1921) and studied in Paris with Paul Le Flem (1924-6) and in New York with Edgard Varèse (ca. 1927); he was based in the US from 1926, except for the years he spent in Indonesia; went to Bali in the early 1930s after having heard recordings of Indonesian music, where he composed the toccata Tabuh-Tabuhan; his books A house in Bali (1946), Dance in Bali (1948), and Music in Bali (1...

Thomson, Virgil

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c53hwz (person)

The hymn is How Firm a Foundation, words and music commonly ascribed to Robert Keene. The melody is also called Geard. Also quoted Yes, Jesus Loves Me and For He's A Jolly Good Fellow. Composed 1926-28. First performance New York, 22 February 1945, New York Philharmonic, the composer conducting.--Cf. Fleisher Collection. From the description of Symphony on a hymn tune / Virgil Thomson. [19--] (Franklin & Marshall College). WorldCat record id: 56078995 Composer. ...

Valiant, Margaret

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g813vr (person)

Karpeles, Maud, 1885-1976

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fj2ntr (person)

Epithet: folk-song collector British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000560.0x00024b ...

Archive of Folk Song (U.S.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q57h55 (corporateBody)

Biographical History and Administrative History Woody Guthrie, born in Okemah, Oklahoma in 1912 and raised in Texas, moved to California during the Depression, where he met actor and activist Will Geer and toured migrant labor camps documenting conditions and injustices in the camps for The Light newspaper. He also performed on Los Angeles radio KFVD-LA, singing old-time ballads, some of which he updated with lyrics about contemporary issues....

Frankenstein, Alfred V. (Alfred Victor), 1906-1981

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k35wpr (person)

Art historian; San Francisco, Calif. From the description of Alfred Victor Frankenstein interview, 1965 Nov. 9. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220193439 Music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. From the description of Alfred Frankenstein collection, [ca. 1930-1932]. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 39146032 Art critic, art historian; San Francisco, Calif. Died 1981. From the description of Alfred Victor Frankenst...

Brown, Frank Clyde, 1870-1943

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mg7mp9 (person)

Frank Clyde Brown (1870-1943) served as Professor of English at Trinity College and Duke University, and as Comptroller and University Marshal of Duke University. He oversaw the initial construction of Duke University's West Campus and the renovation of East Campus. Brown also founded the North Carolina Folklore Society. From the description of Frank C. Brown papers, 1899-1943. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 55635825 Frank Clyde Brown (1870-1943)...

Cowell, Sidney Robertson, 1903-1995

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68k7fx9 (person)

Henry Cowell was an American composer; his wife, Sidney Cowell, was an ethnomusicoloist. From the description of Anniversary pieces [list] : music by Henry Cowell for his wife, 1941-1965, 1979. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122431873 From the description of Cowell family music box [list], 1979. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122532987 Sidney Robertson Cowell (b. June 2,1903, in San Francisco, California; d. February 23, 1995, in Shad...

Bloch, Suzanne

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62806cm (person)

Lutenist and daughter of Ernest Bloch. From the description of Interview conducted by Oliver Daniel, Dec. 2, 1977 [sound recording]. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 155861479 ...