The University of Texas at Austin possesses considerable resources
relevant to the study and performance of American music.
Texas Music Oral History Project
The
Texas Music Oral History Project centers on three themes: preservation,
increased public access and education. Rare taped interviews and field recordings
are in the process of disintegrating more every day. Converting these archives to
digital formats helps preserve these vulnerable materials. Transferring the digital
text and audio files to a Web site creates a searchable database that is accessible
to everyone. The featured oral histories can be used in the classroom to supplement
topical class lectures.
Library Resources
Not only does the University of Texas have excellent holdings
in the main library and
Fine Arts Library, but
the University also has unparalleled primary source materials at the
Center for American History and Harry Ransom Center.
Center
for American History
Especially strong in the history of Texas music, the music collection
comprises sound recordings (phonodiscs, tapes, cassettes, and CDs),
manuscript and printed sheet music, and visual materials such as photographs,
videocassettes, and poster art. Genres represented include Texas western
swing, Mexican-American music, black gospel, traditional folk styles
such as German and Czech, concert music by German immigrant composers,
and popular forms such as blues, rock, jazz, and ragtime. Significant
holdings include field recordings made in the 1930s by musicologist
John A. Lomax, unique private recordings of Huddie 'Leadbelly' Ledbetter,
the Lipscomb/Alyn Collection containing tape recordings of Grimes County
blues master Mance Lipscomb, and the Townsend Miller Collection of 8,000
recordings of country music artists.
The
Harry Ransom Center - Performing Arts Collection
The Musicians Collection within the Theater Arts Collection consists
of approximately 5,200 items from the years 1727 to 1981, with the bulk
of materials falling between 1900–1940. The Collection includes
photographs of approximately 1700 musicians and musical groups.
The
Harry Ransom Center - Music Collection
Holdings in the Music Collection of the Harry Ransom Center include
music manuscripts by Paul Bowles, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Nicolas
Nabokov, and Virgil Thomson. The archive of Ross Russell, founder of
Dial Records, contains photographs, papers, recordings, and interviews
of notable jazz musicians from mid-century, including, for example,
Charlie Parker's recording contracts. In the Minstrel Show Collection
are some 4,000 items relating to the production of blackface musical
theater between 1821 and 1959.
Departments and Programs
The Center for American Music promotes the interdisciplinary
study of music through active collaboration with other departments and
programs at the University of Texas.
Center for African and
African American History
The Department of American
Studies
Center
for Asian American Studies
Cultural
Studies
Center for Mexican American
Studies
Center for Women’s
Studies
College of Communication: School
of Radio–Television–Film
Scholarly Societies
The Society for American Music
The American Musicological Society
International Association for the Study
of Popular Music
Centers
American
Music Research Center - University of Colorado at Boulder
Center for American
Music - University of Pittsburgh
Center for Black Music Research -
Columbia College Chicago
John Jacob Niles
Center for American Music - University of Kentucky
Center for Texas Music
History - Southwest Texas State University
Center for Popular Music
- Middle Tennessee State University
Institute
of Jazz Studies - Rutgers University
Institute
for Studies in American Music - Brooklyn College, City University
of New York
See also the comprehensive
listing available from the Society for American Music.
|
