American Musicological Society Records

The American Musicological Society's purpose is to advance scholarship in the various fields of music through research, learning, and teaching.

Handwritten sheet music.

Collection Overview

The American Musicological Society was founded in 1943, reflecting trends in musicological scholarship and academic training through the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Penn holds the administrative records, oral history documentation, journal production records, and more.

AMS and Related Collections

This collection comprises the administrative records of the Society, reflecting trends in musicological scholarship and academic training through the course of the twentieth century. Included is correspondence with individuals and institutions related to music research, as well as correspondence among officers of the Society and among committees. Also included are minutes, membership records and directories, records of annual meetings, events and chapters, financial and tax records, and miscellaneous administrative records. Publication series contains substantial correspondence with authors and editorial staff regarding scholarly works, including Tischler’s Earliest Motets, the Works of William Billings, Ockeghem’s Works, and the New Josquin Edition. Administrative correspondents include Presidents Charles Seeger, Curt Sachs, Gustave Reese, Donald Grout, William Mitchell, William S. Newman, Oliver Strunk, Jan LaRue, James Haar, Claude Palisca, Margaret Bent, H. Wiley Hitchcock, Janet Knapp, and Lewis Lockwood; Treasurers Otto Albrecht and Paul Henry Lang; Executive Director Alvin Johnson; Secretary Rita Benton; and Members of the Board Nino Pirrotta, Manfred Bukofzer, Alfred Einstein, Arthur Mendel, and Edward Lowinsky.

Creator American Musicological Society
Date 1934-1992
Extent 122 boxes

Finding Aid 

 

This collection contains correspondence and administrative records supplementing the main collection of records, focusing on the 1980s and 1990s, with detailed records on committee activities and publications. Several officers of the AMS figure prominently in the collection. The supplementary records overlap chronologically and should be used in conjunction with Ms. Coll. 221, American Musicological Society Records.

Creator American Musicological Society
Date 1950-2003 (Bulk: 1980-2003)
Extent 66 boxes

Finding Aid 

 

 The American Musicological Society, founded in 1943 to promote the systematic study of music, actively documents its history, its members, and, more generally, the history of musicology in North America through its oral history project. This collection contains transcripts and written memoirs resulting from oral history project which began in 1996 and continues to the present.

Creator American Musicological Society
Date 1996-
Extent 1.5 linear feet (3 boxes)

Finding Aid 

The records primarily consist of correspondence with authors, editorial staff, employees of the William Byrd Press, and officers of the American Musicological Society; copies of many issues of the Journal at various stages in th e publication process; and business records. The most prominent figures in the collection are the editors of the Journal; musicologists Oliver Strunk, Donald Grout, Lewis Lockwood, James Haar, Martin Picker, Don Randel, Lawrence Bernstein, Nicholas Temperley, Ellen Rosand, and Richard Kramer are also well represented.

Creator American Musicological Society
Date 1931-1995
Extent 60 boxes

Finding Aid 

Otto Edwin Albrecht (1899-1984) was an internationally known music bibliographer and professor of romance languages and musicology at the University of Pennsylvania. This collection documents his professional career and contains extensive information on his research relating to the history of music in Boston, New York and Philadelphia, the location of European music manuscripts in the United States, and his work identifying sources for Répertoire International des Sources Musicales; his work with music organizations including the American Musicological Society and the Music Library Association; and his work at and for the University of Pennsylvania's Music Library.

Creator Albrecht, Otto E. (Otto Edwin), 1899-1984
Date
1870-1984 (Bulk: 1930-1984)
Extent 27.5 linear feet (28 boxes)

Finding Aid 

Leonard B. Meyer (1918-2007) was a musicologist and composer who taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1988. The papers, dating from 1935 to 2008, consist of correspondence with Meyer, drafts and notes for many of his works, research and teaching materials, musical compositions, and memorabilia.

Creator Meyer, Leonard B.
Date
1935-2008
Extent 7 linear feet (18 boxes)

Finding Aid 

 

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