The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts > Collections > Music Division

Note: Our online finding aids represent only a small number of the archival collections available in the Music Division. Please contact the Music Division for more information about specific archival collections.

New Online Finding Aids

January, 2009

Block, Frederick, 1899-1945
Frederick Block papers, 1920-1951
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The Frederick Block Papers consist primarily of the scores for his music. They also include clippings, programs, correspondence, scripts and photographs.

Carson, Margaret, 1911-2007
Margaret Carson papers, 1935-2007
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The Margaret Carson Papers document the work of one of New York City’s leading classical music publicists of the 20th century. They consist of clippings, correspondence, promotional material, press kits, photographs, concert programs and itineraries.

Composers Recordings, Inc.
Composers Recordings, Inc. records, 1946-2007
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The Composers Recordings, Inc. Records contain recording project files, correspondence, business and financial papers and photographs documenting the history of the record label devoted to contemporary American music.

Conductor's Guild (American Symphony Orchestra League)
Conductor's Guild records, 1975-1997
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The Conductors Guild Records document the history and activities of the Guild, a non-profit organization that advocates for the conducting profession. The collection contains board and member correspondence, financial and membership records, publication history, and information about the Guild’s annual conferences and workshops.

Druckman, Jacob, 1928-1996
Jacob Druckman papers,1928-1999.
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The Jacob Druckman Collection documents the life and career of Jacob Druckman (1928-1996), a Pulitzer-prize winning composer, educator, and organizer of the New York Philharmonic’s Horizons series of new music concerts.
See also: Jacob Druckman collection of noncommercial sound recordings
Finding Aid  |  Catalog Record

Gohman, Don
Don Gohman papers, 1946-1974
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The Don Gohman Papers primarily consist of scores, mostly for the Broadway musical Ambassador (1972), but also for 19 other stage, television and film productions, some never produced. The collection also contains correspondence, business papers and clippings.

Jacobs, Paul.
Paul Jacobs collection, 1895-1984.
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The Paul Jacobs Papers are the personal and business papers generated by, and scores used by pianist Paul Jacobs, who specialized in 20th century music.

Kalmanoff, Martin, 1920-
Martin Kalmanoff papers, 1928-2002
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The Martin Kalmanoff Papers document the career of an American composer of operas, musicals, choral works, religious services and popular song. The papers consist of scores, correspondence, financial and business papers, writings, notes, concert programs, photographs and media clippings.

Langstroth, Ivan, 1887-1971
Ivan Langstroth scores, 1913-1970
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The American composer Ivan Langstroth had a successful career as a teacher, organist, pianist and composer in the United States and Europe. His papers consist mostly of his scores and sketches, with a small set of personal papers.

Perkinson, Coleridge-Taylor.
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson papers, 1975-1978
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The Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson Papers document Perkinson’s career as an arranger for Motown Records artists, particularly Marvin Gaye, in the mid 1970s, and as a composer for television.

Reese, Gustave, 1899-1977.
Gustave Reese papers, 1855-1978 (bulk 1930-1977).
Finding Aid (PDF)  |  Catalog Record
The Gustave Reese Collection documents the career of Gustave Reese (1899-1977), the eminent American musicologist, teacher and editor.

Selinsky, Wladmir, 1910-
Wladimir Selinsky papers, 1941-1981
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The Wladimir Selinsky Papers consist primarily of scripts and scores for the radio and television productions for which Selinsky wrote music. They also contain Selinsky’s arrangements of popular songs.

Sembrich, Marcella, 1858-1935.
Marcella Sembrich papers, 1790-1988 (bulk 1885-1930).
Finding Aid (PDF)  |  Catalog Record
The Marcella Sembrich Collection represents the life of the famous soprano Marcella Sembrich and her starring career both as an opera and concert singer and as a vocal instructor of pupils who became successful in their own right.

Siegel, Arthur, 1923-1984
Arthur Siegel papers, 1938-1994
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Arthur Siegel was a pianist, composer, lyricist and vocalist who wrote for musicals, revues and cabaret. His papers contain scores, clippings, correspondence, programs, promotional material and lyrics.

Thorne, Francis
Francis Thorne papers, 1956-2004
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Francis Thorne is a 20th century American composer, music administrator and founding member of the American Composers Orchestra. He has composed over 100 works, including symphonies, concerti, string quartets, as well as chamber music, choral music and songs. The collection consists mainly of scores. There are also office files.

October, 2007

Alvary, Lorenzo, 1909-1996.
Lorenzo Alvary papers, 1919-1992.
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This collection contains materials related to the Metropolitan Opera’s basso singer Lorenzo Alvary. In addition to the many photographs and clippings, there are several legal documents, correspondence and production materials relating to his co-production with Salvador Dali of The Spanish Lady and The Roman Cavalier.

Black, Ivan, d. 1979.
Ivan Black papers, 1887-1979
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The Ivan Black Papers document Black’s work as a publicity agent on behalf of nightclubs, musicians and entertainers in New York from the 1940s to the 1970s. They include press releases, clippings, correspondence, photographs, promotional material and published music scores.

Boromé, Joseph Alfred, 1919-2002.
Joseph Boromé research and writings on opera, 1931-1976.
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The Joseph Boromé Research and Writings on Opera consist primarily of the longtime City College professor's correspondence, research materials, and manuscript drafts of writings on opera and related topics in music history. The largest portion of the collection documents Boromé's efforts to do research for a proposed biography of the composer, Vincenzo Bellini; it also includes information that may be of interest to researchers studying the bel canto revival of the mid-twentieth century, as well as the economic aspects of nineteenth century opera performance history.

Hornberger, G.O.
Gustav Otto Hornberger scores, circa 1897-1944.
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This collection contains materials related to concert cellist and music professor Gustave Otto Hornberger. The materials primarily consist of scores created by Hornberger. There is a small amount of material documenting Hornberger's concert schedule.

Schwartz, Charles, 1922-
Charles Schwartz papers, 1898-1998 (bulk 1943-1993)
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The Charles Schwartz Papers document the career of the composer, author and concert impresario. They include correspondence, business and financial papers, manuscripts, notes, clippings, concert programs, publicity material, photographs and scores.

Steinert, Alexander, 1900-1982
Alexander Steinert papers, 1888-1977
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Alexander Lang Steinert (1900-1982) was a composer, conductor, and pianist who worked in television, film, and radio, as well as concert settings. The Alexander Steinert Papers consists primarily of the composer’s collection of published scores, the majority of these arranged for piano and four hands. The collection also contains scrapbooks as well as contracts and correspondence that detail some of the highlights of Steinert’s professional career.

Trueblood, Paul
Paul Trueblood papers, 1893-1977
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Paul Trueblood is a pianist and musical director based in New York whose work has focused on cabaret, Broadway, popular songs, and standards. This collection consists primarily of score manuscripts and published sheet music representing a range of songs and composers.

July, 2007

Aston Magna Foundation for Music
Aston Magna Foundation for Music records 1972-1979
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The Aston Magna Foundation for Music Records consist of office files that document the first years of the Foundation, a pioneering American organization for the study and promotion of early music. Established in 1972 by Albert Fuller and Lee Elman, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, the Foundation was created to serve as a center for the study and performance of seventeenth and eighteenth century music, and continues today to build upon its original mission.

Bradley, Lillian E.
Lillian E. Bradley papers, ca. 1893-1961
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Lillian E. Bradley was a singer, entertainer, and producer. This collection consists of Bradley's photographs, one scrapbook of recital programs and thank you letters from various groups she entertained, and one folder of loose clippings, programs, correspondence, and her single musical composition.

Clarke, Henry Leland
Henry Leland Clarke papers, 1929-1987
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The majority of the collection consists of Henry Leland Clarke’s scores from 1929 to 1978. There are several drafts of many of the compositions in the collection. There is also correspondence, clippings, programs and other professional records, including extensive documentation of Clarke's membership in the Unitarian Universalist Hymnbook Commission, including indexes, texts, scores, reports and memos.

Kramer, Catherine
Catherine Kramer Scores
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The Catherine Kramer Scores primarily consist of original music composed by Kramer, as well as her arrangements of works by other composers. Catherine (or Catharine) Kramer completed a three-year course in piano, piano pedagogy, and composition at the Master Institute of Roerich Museum in May 1934.

Patten, Grace Bigelow
Mrs. William Patten papers, 1801-1950
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The Mrs. William Patten Papers are comprised mainly of unbound scrapbook leaves containing press clippings and other materials relating to musicians active during the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. It is probable that the materials were compiled by Grace Bigelow Patten, the wife of the editor William Patten (1868-1936). She wrote at least one of the stories which appeared in the ten-volume Junior Classics series edited by her husband and is also is known to have published magazine pieces.

Strouse, Charles
Charles Strouse papers, 1890-2000
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Charles Strouse is a composer of stage and film musicals, known for such musicals as Bye Bye Birdie (1960), Applause (1970) and Annie (1977). He occasionally writes his own lyrics, but usually collaborates with a lyricist. His most frequent lyricist is Lee Adams, though he has also worked with Martin Charnin, Alan Jay Lerner, Richard Maltby Jr. and Stephen Schwartz. The majority of the materials in this collection are scripts and scores from Strouse’s shows from the 1960s through 2000. The collection also includes clippings, correspondence, production files and programs.

Warren, Leonard, 1911-1960
Leonard Warren papers, 1938-1963
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The Leonard Warren Papers document the professional career of the American baritone. Warren was a leading performer with the Metropolitan Opera for over twenty years, whose significant accomplishments have been overshadowed by his dramatic death onstage during a performance. Much of the collection is comprised of clippings and scrapbooks, as well as some promotional materials, such as broadsides and posters. It also contains numerous condolence cards, letters, and telegrams sent in the wake of the singer's untimely death

Wehner, George B.
George Wehner scores, 1936-1966
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The George Wehner Scores consist of original music created by the eccentric, but prolific composer, actor, writer, painter, and spiritualist, George Benjamin Wehner (1890-1970). After achieving some fame as a professional medium during the 1920s, Wehner began to compose prolifically from the mid-1930s up until the time of his death, writing numerous songs, orchestral works, and operas.