Music

Scope and Contents The Dom Flemons American Songster Collection (110 linear feet) consists of audio recordings, materials related to the creation of the album Black Cowboys, reference materials, drafts and liner notes, correspondence, ephemera and tour materials, press and promotional materials, photographs, folk art and fan art, garments, artifacts, framed items, posters, books, born digital files and musical instruments. The collection is arranged in twenty two series. It covers the years of 1950 to 2022...

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The collection contains numerous document formats all pertaining to Country and Western music. The contents date from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, with only a few exceptions.

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The Doris Fleming Collection documents the life and contributions of Doris Fleming, a singer and patron involved in multiple music clubs in Nashville. This collection encompasses a wide range of personal and biographical materials, including correspondence, photographs, and writings. The most significant part of the collection is the Music Collection, consisting of sheet music, programs, and notes on the music and songs.

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This collection contains four boxes related to the original musical “Founder’s Capers” performed at the Vanderbilt Faculty Club, specifically related to their 1961 performance. The complete cast was comprised of Vanderbilt professors, family members, and students.

Abstract The John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie Collection comprises materials related to the life and professional journey of the renowned jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader, Dizzy Gillespie. Predominant among these artifacts is a substantial collection of photographs, spanning from the 1930s to the early 2000s, with the major portion dating from the 1950s to the 1990s. These photographs not only provide a comprehensive visual chronicle of Gillespie’s personal life and musical career but also serve...

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The Montague F. Gowthorpe Opera Collection was created by Montague F. Gowthorpe during his time as the chairman of the Detroit Symphony and one of the original vice-presidents at Paramount Pictures. The collection, consisting of 200 reel-to-reel tapes recorded from radio broadcasts, along with 48 libretto books to accompany the recordings, reflects his lifetime passion for opera.

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This collection, donated in 1967 by Jesse Wills, is composed of a wide variety of items of historical and musical interest, including songbooks, correspondence, photographs, and other unique items. As president of National Life and Accident Insurance Company, the parent company of WSM, Inc. and the Grand Ole Opry, Wills had access to a wide variety of material associated with country music in general and the Grand Ole Opry in particular.

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This collection contains the papers of Vanderbilt graduate Mildred Haun, who wrote a number of short stories, songs, articles, and more, including the book The Hawk's Done Gone.

Scope and Content Note

This small collection (.42 linear feet) contains letters, programs, and newspaper clippings collected by Sara Holroyd, a 1946 graduate of George Peabody College for Teachers. (Peabody merged Vanderbilt University in 1979.). Ms. Holroyd was a student leader and a musician while at Peabody, and many of the programs feature her as a student musician. This collection also chronicles the end of WWII and activities at Peabody College during that time.

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Isabel Howell served as a librarian at Vanderbilt University from 1931 to 1939. Her collection, spanning from 1843 to 1976, includes correspondence, sheet music, and writings by Howell and other authors.

Scope and Contents This collection contains 1.67 linear feet of material contained in 3 ½ Hollinger boxes and 1 flat box and includes photographs, letters, telegrams, scripts, playbills, legal documents, and newspaper clippings that relate to the collaborative theatrical efforts of producer Joseph Hyman and playwright Moss Hart and his brother Bernard Hart. The collection covers the years 1918-1977.The majority of the collection highlights the long standing and successful professional and personal...

Abstract George Pullen Jackson was a professor of German at Vanderbilt University. Much of the collection reflects Jackson’s deep interest in American folk music, particularly southern spirituals – a subject he extensively researched and lectured upon. Included in the collection are correspondence perttaining to song collectiion and arrangement for performances, research materials and printed songs, note cards with tune indices, a bibliography of hymn and tune books, a directory of Sacred harp...

Abstract The Papers of Louis Thurston Nicholas, which cover the years 1894-2006, consist of 208 linear feet of material and are concerned with Nicholas’s personal and professional life. Major series in the papers include Personal and Professional Correspondence; material relating to his activities in the National Association of the Teachers of Singing (NATS); Personal and Biographical papers; his Musical and Academic Career and programs from the George Peabody College Concert Series; ...

Abstract The Photographs of Jazz Musicians collection represents 80 photographs primarily from the 1930s and 1940s. These photographs showcase jazz musicians, bands, and vocalists, including Sarah Vaughan, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Sidney Bechet, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Christian, Max Roach, Nat King Cole, Lionel Hampton and others. Through these images, ranging from promotional stills to candid live performance shots and behind-the-scenes captures, we can trace the evolution of jazz music...

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The Boots Randolph collection is dedicated to a renowned American saxophonist Boots Randolph. It consists of photographs and other materials, notably planners, from the 1980-1990s.

Abstract Francis Robinson Collection represents materials related to the life and work of Francis Arthur Robinson, (1910-1980), who is most known as the longtime spokesman for the Metropolitan Opera in New York. This extensive collection comprises a diverse range of materials that Robinson both received and collected during his tenure at the Met. The collection encompasses correspondence with Geraldine Farrar, family correspondence, gramophone records, photographs, newspaper clippings, playbills, as...