Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXV, no. 1 (Spring 1999)
Bulletin Board
Announcement of 2000 Epstein Award Requirements
The Dena Epstein Award for Archival and Library Research in American Music was created through
a generous endowment from Morton and Dena Epstein to the Music Library Association in 1995. Requests
are currently being accepted for one or more grants to be awarded for the year 2000. The
maximum value of the 1999 award was $2,000. The decision of the Dena Epstein Award Committee and
the Board of Directors of the Music Library Association will be announced at the MLA annual meeting
in Louisville, Kentucky in 2000.
A grant may be awarded to support research in archives or libraries internationally on any aspect
of American music. There are no restrictions as to an applicant's age, nationality, profession, or
institutional affiliation. All proposals will be reviewed entirely ont he basis of merit.
Applicants must submit four copies of the following documents:
1. A brief research proposal (under 10 pages) that includes a description of the project; a
detailed budget for the project, indicating the amoung of funding requested from MLA (capital
purchases such as computer equipment and furniture are ineligible); justification for the
funding and additional sources for the funding; a demonstration of how the applicant's research will
contribute to the study and understanding of American music.
2. A curriculum vitae of the applicant.
3. Three letters of support from librarians and/or scholars knowledgeable about American music.
Please note that awards may be presented to an individual applicant or divided amoung multiple
applicants during 2000. At its discretion the committee may choose not to award a grant during
any particular year. An aplicant who has not received an Epstein award for the first year of
application may resubmit a proposal in the following two years for any one project. An applicant
may receive only one award for any one project. The deadline for receipt of applications is
15 July 1999. Applications received after that date will be considered for funding in 2001.
Mail the required documentation to Therese Dickman, Fine Arts Librarian, Box 1063 Lovejoy Library
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Edwardsville, Illinois 62026.
International Who's Who in Music
The International Who's Who in Music is constantly researching new people and areas to be covered
in its listings. We would be happy to receive details from anyone who feels that they should be
included. Send either your snailmail address (so that a questionnaire can be sent to you) or your
full career and basic personal details to: research@melrosepress.co.uk.
Please also feel free to nominate other people whose standing you feel merits inclusion consideration.
All those included receive a typescript for additions/corrections prior to publication -- scheduled
for April 1999. Our mailing address is: Melrose Press Ltd., St. Thomas Place, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4GG.
Roger Imhof Collection at the University of Kansas
A significant collection of original vaudeville and burlesque materials are now housed in the Roger
Imhof Collection at the University of Kansas Spencer Research library in Lawrence, Kansas. Roger
Imhof (1875-1958) was a comedian in vaudeville and burlesque from 1895 to 1930. His most celebrated
characters were a "rube" in the city and an Irish comic, frequently praised as the best of the latter
type. He also worked as a character actor in films in the 1930s. The collection includes scripts,
gags, songs, scrapbooks of notices and programs and other theatrical material, letters, and theatrical
magazines. A number of Imhof's scripts include songs of his own composition. Some songs are extant with
notation, providing examples of oroginal music used in vaudeville and burlesque. Those interested
in more information on the collection should contact Ann Hyde, Manuscripts Librarian, Spencer
Research Library, (785) 864-4334, ahyde@ukans.edu.
American Musicians to be Honored
The list of new inductees into the Classical Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Cincinnati includes
several very familiar names to scholars of American Music and Sinfonians. Those to be inducted on
14 April are Milton Babbitt, Bela Bartok, Amy Beach, George Whitefiled Chadwick, Charles Tomlinson Griffes,
Jascha Heifetz, H. Wiley Hitchcock, Marilyn Horne, Dmitri Mitropoulos, Max Rudolf, William
Schuman, Edgard Varese, William Grant Still, and William Warfield. The ceremony will be held in
conjunction with the regular Cincinnati Symphony concert. More information is available from the
Hall of Fame at 1-800-499-FAME for information on how to receive tickets.
Sonances Studies in Music
Sonances is launching a new series of studies in music. The editors of this series is looking for
book-length manuscripts that deal with music in a variety of challenging ways. They seek a mix of
titles and formats, ranging from studies by a single author to symposia treating a given repertoire
or aspec tof music from differing points of view. Although any thoughtful and original work is
welcome, the editors are particularly interested in projects that bear upon the following: music
aesthetics; sociology of music; critical theories; ethnomusicology; twentieth-century music; history
of theory; and speculative theory. Authors are invited to submit proposals to Sonances, PO Box 8717,
Sainte-Foy (Quebec), CANADA GIV 4N6; (418) 657-7955 (fax); email:
studies@sonances.qc.ca.
Early Minstrel Show Reissued
Bob Winans reports taht New World Records has reissued his 1985 recording, "The Early Minstrel Show,"
as a CD (80338-2), including a vocal track for "Mary Blane" which had been omitted from the original
LP release. He feels that it is still the most authentic effort at recreating the music of the early
minstrel show, although anyone interested in this music should also be aware that he was involved
in the recording of "Minstrel Banjo Style" (Rounder CD 0321) [1994].
The Latest News from the ACLS
The ACLS is pleased to announce the latest releases in the Occasional Paper series:
* "Wave of the Present: The Scholarly Journal on the Edge of the Internet" by Christopher L.
Tomlins (ACLS Occasional Paper No. 43). tomlins, editor of Law and History Review,
assesses the future of the scholarly journal and its role in professional discourse in light of the
move toward electronic retrieval and distribution of information.
* "The Humanist on Campus: Continuity and Change" by Denis Donoghue, Lynn Hunt, Lucius Outlaw,
Judith Shapiro, and Robert Weisbuch (ACLS Occasional Paper No. 44).
As part of the public session of the 1998 ACLS Annual Meeting, panel members -- all recipients of
ACLS Fellowships at some point in their careers -- considered the place of the Humanist on campus
and explored aspects of continuity and change.
CAO of the ACLS in Denver
The Conference of Administrative Officers (CAO) of the ACLS held its semi-annual meeting in Denver
and Boulder, Colorado on 12-14 November 1998. Program sessions at the meeting included discussion of
the constituent societies involvement in K-12 education and the establishment of an education website within
the ACLS website; next steps for CAO programming regarding the impact of information technology
on society management; and a presentation by University of Colorado at Boulder faculty on Native
American Studies.
John H. D'Arms, President of the American Council of Learned Societies, described to the members of the CAO
his development and program efforts for the past year and his plans for the upcoming year. He
stressed an initiative concerning recently tenured scholars in the Humanities, one aspect of which
will be a series of conversations modeled on the program planning conversations which took place at the
ACLS during John D'Arms's first year as President. He distributed a draft of questions conversation
participants would be asked to address and asked for CAO comments on those questions and on the
initiative in general. Mr. D'Arms also reported on other projects under development including a
pilot electornic publishing effort and an ongoing Fellowship endowment campaign. In connection with
the latter, he noted that ACLS has for the first time compiled a comprehensive list of former fellows
and is seeking their help in this campaign.
As part of the CAO Business Meeting, Patti McGill Peterson, Executive Director of the Council for
International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), reported to the group on the current state of affairs
at CIES. John Hammer, Director of the National Humanities Alliance, also provided the group with an
update on the state of the Humanities in the Congress. As part of Maureen Grolnick's update on
K-12 activities, Deane Root, ACLS Delegate from the Sonneck Society for American Music and
Director of the Center for American Music at the University of Pittsburgh, presented a sample
lesson from a Sonneck Society pilot program to teach eighth graders American History through music.
Music in American Culture Series
A New Music in American Culture Series has begun this year at the College of William & Mary. THe
series is designed to focus on current scholarship in American music and to present historians,
critics, and performers who specialize in a variety of styles and genres. This past fall, featured
presenters included Ann Savoy (Eunice, LA), "Cajun and Zydeco Music Past and Present," followed
by a performance by the Savoy-Smith Cajun Band; Horace Clarence Boyer (U. Mass-Amherst), "Gospel
Music in Virginia"; and Robert Cantwell (UNC-Chapel Hill), "Folk Music in the Age of Information."
The Winter-Spring 1999 lineup is as follows: 19 February: Kyra Gaunt (U. Virginia), "I am Some Body:
Gender, Sexuality, and Oral-Kinesics in Black Musicking"; 1 March: Joel Sachs (Juilliard School),
"Finding an Audience for Comtemporary American Music"; 18 April: Tania Leon (Brooklyn College/CUNY
Graduate Center), "Composing to the Poetry of Rita Dove," followed by a performance of Leon's "Singin'
Sepia" by Joel Sach's new-music group Continuum. Coordinated by Mark Tucker (Music/American Studies),
the seires has been organized by an interdisciplinary committee made up by Arthur Knight (English/American Studies),
Carol J. Oja (Music/American Studies), Kimberley Phillips (History/Black Studies), Katherine Preston
(Music), Anne Rasmussen (Music), and John Dougan (American Studies). All events are free and open
to the public. For information, call (757) 221-1288.
Encyclopedia of Appalachia Proposed
The Encyclopedia of Appalachia will be the first comprehensive reference work ever published about
one of the most culturally rich and enigmatic regions of the United States. The project is
being directed by the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services, a Tennessee Center for Excellence
at East Tennessee State University. Scholars interested in writing entries in the music section
should contact Ted Olson, C-M #888, Union College, Department of English, 310 College Street,
Barbourville, KY 40906, tolson@unionky.edu.
Willis Conover Collection at University of North Texas
The Music Library at the University of North Texas has recently acquired the collection of Willis
Conover, jazz producer and radio voice of the Voice of America for over forty years. The collection
consists of over twenty-two thousand recordings, correspondence, memos, magazines, record catalogs,
manuscripts, program notes, memorabilia, photographs, books, and other personal items. All material
except the archival items will be made available to users of the Music Library as a part of the regular
collection.
100th Anniversary of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music
The Wisconsin Conservatory of Music will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 1999 and is in the process
of locating those whose lives and careers have been shaped by their experiences at the Conservatory.
Anyone who would like to participate is urged to contact Mary Ann Beaumont, 1584 North Prospect Avenue,
Milwaukee, WI 53202-6501, joycea@aol.com.
NEH Fellowships
The National Endowment for the Humanities annouces the 1 May 1999 potmark deadline for applications
for Fellowships for University Teachers and Fellowships for Collge Teachers and Independent Scholars.
Projects may contribute to scholarly knowledge or to the general public's understanding of the
humanities. For application materials and information, call (202) 606-8466 or (202) 606-8467, or
visit www.neh.gov.
Updated 04/15/99