MUS:6314 Topics in Ethnomusicology (Resonant Historical Ethnography: Musical Communities of Iowa's Past and Present: Iowa Collections

Iowa Collections

List of Collections

Available at the Rita Benton Music Library

University of Iowa School of Music Recordings Archive
Most recordings available online are from 2000-present. There are a great many more recordings available per request dating back to the 1940s, and many of the programs associated with those performances may be found in the online collection. If your search is not returning results in the online collection, please contact music librarian Katie Buehner to see if what you're looking for is only available offline or if it's not included in the archive.

What is in the Archive: ensemble concerts, faculty recitals, some guest recitals

What isn't in the Archive: student recitals

Ann and Alan January Cylinder Collection
Fifteen brown wax cylinders; 12 from Ed. Jedlicka and 3 homemade by the Jiruska family of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Recordings, transcriptions, and text translations are available through the Iowa Digital Library.
Goldman Band Records
Consists of approximately 4,000 compositions for band, both manuscript and published, as well as correspondence, radio scripts, concert programs, and business papers. Richard Franko Goldman donated 2,200 scores to the University of Iowa School of Music in 1967, and the remaining 1,776 scores and other business documents were transferred to the School following Mr. Goldman’s death. The collection is stored off-site, but materials may be requested and paged to view at the Rita Benton Music Library or the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room.
Hawkeye Marching Band Records
The Hawkeye Marching Band Records include photographs, drill charts, posters, sheet music and band arrangements, scrapbooks, audio and video recordings, select uniform pieces, and other papers related to band operations ranging from the 1940s-present. Most materials date from the directorships of Frederick Ebbs (HMB Director, 1954-1966), Tom Davis (HMB Director, 1968-1972), and Kevin Kastens (HMB Director, 1998-2017). This collection is stored off-site, but materials may be requested and paged to view at the Rita Benton Music Library or the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room.

Available at University Special Collections Reading Room

Redpath Chautauqua Collections
Redpath Lyceum Bureau was founded in 1868, and like other Chautauqua circuits, its mission was to create self-improvement through lectures and discussions on literary, scientific, and moral topics. This collection spans from the 1890 to 1940s and includes information about various acts that travelled the Redpath circuit, which covered areas of Iowa. Talent includes musical acts from around the country and world, all stopping in Iowa to entertain thousands.
Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century
Search thousands of publicity brochures, promotional ads, talent circulars and more from Redpath Chautauqua digitized on Iowa Digital Library
Iowa Friends of Old Time Music Archives
The Iowa Friends of Old Time Music started as a faculty organization at the University of Iowa but in the early nineteen nineties, the group became a non-profit enterprise. According to their bylaws, “The purpose of the Iowa Friends of Old Time Music is the promotion and preservation of the many traditions of old time music.” Harry Oster and Art Rosenbaum, the well-known folklorists, were primary founders.
Tess Catalano Papers
An activist and musician, Tess Catalano papers include mostly material about her activism, especially with the 1982 Take Back the Night rally, but it also includes music she wrote for causes and flyers from her performances. There is a CD that features women artists who performed at the Iowa Women’s Music Festival in the mid 1990s (which is also found in other collections like the Emma Goldman Clinic).
William Hibbard Papers
Prominent composer William Hibbard joined UI School of Music faculty in 1966, teaching Composition and Theory. He was appointed head of the section in 1987. While at UI, Hibbard co-founded (with Richard Hervig) the Center for New Music. The Center was created through joint funding from UI and a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and was the first program west of the Mississippi devoted to the performance of new music.
Philip Greeley Clapp Papers
Professor of music, Philip Greeley Clapp was at the University of Iowa from 1919 until his death in 1953. Composer and symphony conductor, collection includes compositions, correspondence, and scrapbooks containing newspaper articles about his work.
Louise Crawford Papers
Crawford served as Professor of Theory of Music and as Assistant Professor of Piano at Coe College in Cedar Rapids from 1916 to 1941. This collection includes many of her compositions, including two Iowa folk-songs, The Pudding and My Grandma.
Edith Reed Atkinson papers
Edith Reed Atkinson, a classically trained singer and former editor of instruction books, bids, proposals, and production scheduler, served as the choir director at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Cedar Rapids. Beginning in 1943, Edith Atkinson had a radio show on local station WMT for a time, during which she sang requests. She also performed for such celebrities as Nat King Cole during the dinner hour. Since her retirement, Atkinson continued to teach people about African-American history through her music.
Voices of Soul [vertical file]
The Voices of Soul Gospel Choir was a group out of the Afro-American Cultural House at the University of Iowa. The group was the “primary initiator of the maintenance of the Black spiritual movement in and around Iowa City” (Afro-American Cultural House booklet).
Red Cedar Chamber Music Collection
Red Cedar Chamber Music was founded in July 1997 by concert artists Jan Boland and John Dowdall. The mission of the ensemble is "to perform chamber music with virtuosity, energy, and artistic excellence, enriching broad and diverse audiences through concerts and educational activities stimulated by creative collaborations."
Dessa Manion Music Collection
The Dessa Manion Music Collection is an accumulation of the lyrics of country and folk songs collected and transcribed by Dessa Manion from the early 1900's into the 1950's.

Available at the Iowa State Historical Society

Frederick Crane Oral Histories about Iowa Music
Oral History Project: Musicology Seminar, Frederick Crane Collection, OH 3, Boxes 1-2. Contains tapes and transcripts. This collection has not been digitized, ask librarian for assistance.
William C. Wright and Elizabeth Wright Heller Collection
William C. Wright was Frank Lloyd Wright's father, recording of his compositions can be found at the Music Library, CD 35918. 1847-1950, Oversize sheet music,
PA 43.
The Cherry Sisters of Cedar Rapids
If you want to know about the Cherry Sisters, talk to Dr. Platte. Orville Rennie and Jane Rennie collection, 1875-1987, Ms 178
Music Songbook collection
9 boxes; search “music songbooks” in the online catalog, Library section
Iowa Sheet Music collection
One cabinet in Special Collections. These have not been digitized, see manuscript card catalog on site
Iowa Musicians Project
Contains inventory, images of ephemera, and oral histories (recording and transcripts)
Clinton Harmonic Club records 1909-1945, Ss 18
Student music club in Clinton, IA
Music Study Club of Iowa City records
1916-2016, R 42; Women’s music organization in Iowa City, IA