Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/perform.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/2006560198
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
According to accession slips in the collection, the U. S. Work Projects Administration (WPA) Federal Music Project (FMP) records were received by the Library of Congress as the WPA L.C. Project, Music Unit, on October 15, 1940.
The George Allen Foster Collection, which consists of approximately 300 items, was given to the Library of Congress Music Division by George T. Foster on September 22, 1992 and pertains to George Allen Foster’s work for the WPA Federal Music Project.
The Federal Music Project Collection was processed in 1999 by Wilda M. Heiss. This finding aid was prepared with Corel WordPerfect 9. In 2009 Nancy Seeger coded and edited the finding aid for EAD format. An additional box of material was processed and the finding aid amended by Janet McKinney in 2016.
Sound recordings have been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division in the Library of Congress.
Additional Federal Music Project materials are in the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 69, Washington, D.C.
In a report dated July 29, 1949, which was compiled by Frances T. Bourne, some records were deposited in the Folklore Division of the Library of Congress and other records were stored in various Library locations. A memo from May 19, 1971 provides a survey and preliminary inventory of WPA materials stored at that time in the Library's warehouse in Middle River, near Baltimore and gives recommendations for the disposition of the WPA materials. As an apparent result of this memo, the different WPA projects (Federal Writers’ Project, Historical Records Survey, Federal Art Project, Federal Theatre Project and the Federal Music Project) were dispersed among appropriate divisions of the Library. Some materials were transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). During the summer of 1978 two lists were created that briefly described the Federal Music Project and Federal Theatre Project materials held in the Music Division at that time. These lists do not mention any Federal Writers’ Project or Federal Art Project materials, although a memo dated May 24, 1979 from the Music Division to the Director for Special Collections, includes these other projects in the subject area.
Other Federal Music Project materials can be found in the Federal Writers’ Project which is housed in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, and in the Federal Theatre Project which is in the Library of Congress Music Division. WPA recordings of performances of various musical groups sponsored by the Federal Music Project are housed in the Recorded Sound Section of the Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Materials from the Federal Arts Project are housed in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. In addition, the Library of Congress Manuscript Division holds the United States Work Projects Administration Records .
The status of copyright on the Federal Music Project Collection is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The Federal Music Project Collection is open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Performing Arts Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Certain restrictions as to the use or copying of the materials in this collection may apply. Consult a reference librarian in the Performing Arts Reading Room for further permission information.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: container number, Federal Music Project Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The Work Projects Administration (known as the Works Progress Administration until July 1, 1939) was established May 6, 1935. On July 1, 1939 it was made part of the Federal Works Agency with responsibility for the Government's work-relief program. It succeeded the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Civil Works Administration (CWA), both established in 1933. The Work Projects Administration (WPA) was officially abolished June 30, 1943 but the Division for Liquidation of the WPA was set up in the Federal Works Agency and functioned until June 30, 1944.
The WPA operated at four organizational levels—the central administration in Washington, D.C., the regional offices, the state administrations and the district offices. Except for certain federally-sponsored projects, state and local governments helped finance and supervise WPA work projects. The Federal Arts program was approved as the WPA-sponsored Federal Project No. 1 on Sept. 12, 1935 to provide employment for qualified artists, musicians, actors, and authors on local relief rolls. It superceded all arts projects operating under FERA or WPA state administrations and consisted of the Federal Art Project (FAP), the Federal Music Project (FMP), the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) and the Federal Writers' Projects (FWP). The Writers Project included the Historical Records Survey (HRS) until Oct. 1936, when the Survey was made an independent unit. All the arts projects known as Federal Project No. 1 were terminated June 30, 1939. With the exception of the FTP, which was abolished in July 1939, the arts programs continued as state projects. The National Archives is the repository of the records of the WPA Federal Project No. 1, 1935-1940 and consists of 792 linear feet. Within these records are records of the Federal Music Project (FMP) which include correspondence, narrative, statistical and miscellaneous reports on the general program and its sponsorship, and newspaper clippings.
When all projects sponsored by the WPA were terminated on Aug. 31, 1939, a new organizational structure emerged as art projects within state WPA programs, and the FMP became known as the WPA Music Program. The prime objective of the Federal Music Project (1935-1939) and the subsequent WPA Music Program (1939-1943) was "designed to give employment to professional musicians registered on the relief rolls. The project employed these musicians as instrumentalists, singers, concert performers, and teachers of music. The general purpose of the Music Project was to establish high standards of musicianship, to rehabilitate musicians by assisting them to become self-supporting, to retrain musicians and to educate the public in the appreciation of musical opportunities. Component activities of the FMP were symphony orchestras, small orchestral ensembles, string quartets, chamber ensembles, dance orchestras, bands, theatre orchestras, music teaching, music copying, maintenance of music libraries, piano tuning, vocal ensembles, vocal soloists, operatic and light opera ensembles, vocal quartets, grand opera, opera comique and chamber opera." Dr. Nikolai Sokoloff, former conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, was appointed director of the FMP. In addition to the appointment of five administrative staff, Dr. Sokoloff appointed five regional directors and approximately 23 state directors. It was not necessary to establish new organizations in each state because large music programs had already operated under the CWA and the Emergency Relief Administration (ERA).
The Historical Records Survey (HRS) initially was part of the Federal Writers' Project; later, it became a separate project of the WPA on equal footing with the four other projects. Its basic purpose was the preparation of inventories and other bibliographical guides which would render more accessible to the public unpublished official documents of the states, counties, cities and other units of local government throughout the country, and also of significant non-public historical materials. One individual project proposed in 1936 under the HRS, in close cooperation with the FMP, was a Guide to the Study of Music in America. This project was envisioned as a three-part guide; only the first part, an alphabetical list of approximately 14,000 people, was completed and published in June, 1941, as the
The Federal Music Project Collection consists of agency reports, programs, catalogs, index cards, lists, correspondence, questionnaires, clippings, some music scores and parts, a few writings and the papers of George Allen Foster, regional director for New York and New England. The George Allen Foster Collection consists of correspondence, photographs, programs, clippings and reports. These materials span the years from 1935 to 1948, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1936 to 1941. The collection is arranged into nine series: Reports, Music Library, Music and Other Performing Media, Composer’s Index, Bio-Bibliographical Index of Musicians, Writings, Programs, Clippings and the George Allen Foster Collection.
The Reports series contains three sub-series: Exhibit Reports, Special Reports and State Reports. Exhibit Reports include summaries on the Federal Music Project in general and in selected states, meetings of the National Advisory Committee, activities and programs, analyses and statistics on performances and attendance, manuals for teaching, bulletins on specific state activities, official sponsors in various states, catalog of copied music, list of world premieres of American works and surveys about different performing groups. The following subjects are covered: the Folk Music Research Project in Mississippi from 1936-39, a correspondence course on the history of music in Kentucky, music theory, music as recreation, teaching of music appreciation, music for deaf children, foundations of musicianship, guitar method with guitar arrangements of Spanish-American folk songs of New Mexico, study book for plectrum instruments and rhythm band book, among others. Of note are three addresses: (1) Ashley Pettis’ opening address at the Composers’ Forum-Laboratory, on Oct. 30, 1936, stating the purposes of the forum-laboratory, including the “development of a more definite understanding and relationship between the composer and the public;” (2) an address by Dr. Charles Seeger, who was in charge of music education, before the sixtieth convention of the Music Teachers National Association on Dec. 30, 1938; and (3) an address by Dr. Nikolai Sokoloff, national director of the Federal Music Project, at a joint session of the National Association of Music Teachers and The American Association of Schools of Music on Dec. 29, [1940?]. An additional report contains an article, “The Importance to Cultural Understanding of Folk and Popular Music,” by Charles Seeger.
The Special Reports sub-series contains six reports: summaries of the Federal Music Project in 1937 and the Music Program in 1940, statistical information on the number of individual projects, employment by state, and number of performances as well as participants and official sponsors. A report from June 5, 1936 presents a summary of music festivals in America and their history by Lenore Neville Long.
The types of reports under State Reports are diversified. They include program operation and accomplishment or narrative reports from Arkansas, Northern California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Wisconsin. A series of four music appreciation programs for the Chicago elementary schools, which date from 1940, includes descriptions of programs by five performing groups−two bands, an orchestra, a choir and a singing group. Another series of music appreciation concerts from Ohio centers on four subjects: music of the American Indian, Ireland, Scandinavia and the American Negro. A report from the Minnesota Music Program contains a complete music theory course. Bulletins from Minnesota on organized radio broadcasts for classroom reception are also included. Three reports focus on projects in New York City−musical compositions performed by symphony orchestras from September 1934 through June 1936 and the accomplishments and activities of the concert division with excerpts from letters and comments from organizations and the press. The summary of one report on the Virginia Symphony Orchestra from July 1936 to June 1937 was written by Richard H. Bales who later became the founder and director of the National Gallery (of Art) Orchestra in Washington, D.C. in 1943.
The Music Library series consists of Catalogs and Index Cards which indicate what music was available for loan from centers located in different states during the lifetime of the Federal Music Project. The series does not include any actual music. When the WPA Federal Music Project and the WPA Music Program ended, the music was distributed to libraries or other institutions within each state. Various cities within thirteen states participated as distribution centers. The Index Cards are cross indexed by composer, state, title and type of composition, some of which include the publisher, instrumentation, date acquired and number of scores and/or parts or performances given. The types of music available for loan were band, orchestra, orchestral accompaniment, grand and light opera, vocal and choral music, piano and instrumental solos and chamber music as well as theory books. Another catalog lists the programs produced by the WPA that were broadcast coast-to-coast from April 1936 through November 1939. 230 sound recordings were recorded by RCA, Allied and Decca in Boston, New York and Los Angeles. The catalog includes the program number, the performing group, the conductor, if any, and the works performed. Forty-two performing groups are represented, including symphony orchestras, concert bands, dance bands, swing bands, choirs, and vocal and chamber ensembles. The Recorded Sound Section in the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division of the Library of Congress has copies of these recordings and catalogs of the recordings made from 1936 through 1942.
Very little music exists in the Music and Other Performing Media series. The five works are Aaron Copland’s
The folk songs include tunes and/or lyrics transcribed by WPA Federal Project One workers during field trips in various states. Noteworthy are reels, play party, dance and ring songs and lullabies submitted by Ruby Pickens Tartt of Livingston, Alabama, from 1938 and 1939. Other titles included are harmonizations of “Old-Time Negro Spirituals” by Cora M. Taylor from 1936-37, Ludwig M. Sedlaczek’s arrangement for chorus and piano of “Lovely Nancy or Bachelor’s Warning ” and “The Lonesome Dove,” and a chorus arrangement of H. T. Burleigh’s “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen ”. In some cases, the historical background on the origin of the song is given. The states represented are Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, and New York; miscellaneous songs are from other states. Similar material is found in the Federal Writers’ Project papers in the Manuscript Division in the Library of Congress.
The other performing media include dramas, poetry and a chronicle.
The Composer’s Index series compiles information on American composers living during the WPA Federal Music Project and Program period. This information was intended for an “Index of American Composers” whose works were performed by the Music Project Units. The Index was never finalized. The lists include the name of the composer, composition titles, date of performance including the name of the city and the performing group and the conductor, if any, and biographical information, when known. Separate index cards with basically the same information were created from these lists and are arranged alphabetically by the composer’s name. Another index file contains magazine and newspaper clippings on the composers. It also contains a photographic reproduction. Similar information can be found by state, through questionnaires from California and Michigan composers, and by the type of composition, such as cantatas, marches and pageants. Another index file denotes other professions such as, performers, conductors, teachers, music editors/critics and a recorder of authentic songs associated with Oklahoma’s American Indians. Correspondence to and from the composers is interspersed throughout the state, questionnaires, and subject files. Filed within the subject files are a memo from Dr. Sokoloff on the “Assignment and Commissioning of American Composers” dated February 24, 1939 and sample pages for the “Index of American Composers.”
The Bio-Bibliographical Index of Musicians series contains material collected for A Guide to the Study of Music in America under the sponsorship of the WPA Historical Record Survey (HRS). As originally planned, the guide encompassed three parts: (1) a bio-bibliography of people and their musical activity since 1620; (2) a bibliography of references to books, pamphlets, and magazine and newspaper articles on all phases of musical life; and (3) a chronological, topical syllabus of the history of musical life in the United States. Dr. Luther H. Evans, national director of the Historical Records Survey, summarized the importance of this guide in his article “Music Study Guide is a Monumental Work.” However, only the first part of the guide, the
To gather the data for this bio-bibliography, compilers used index cards to record the sources from books, the authors’ names, the musicians’ names and the processes. They then handwrote drafts of the musicians’ names and the source names. From these they made typewritten drafts which went through many revisions and corrections before a typewritten draft was finalized. The preface also went through many revisions.
Only three works exist in the Writing series, two of which are translations. The first is a translation of Karl Bücher’s 1896 work
The Programs series spans the inception of the Federal Music Project in 1935 through the end of the WPA Music Program in 1943 and covers forty-one states and the District of Columbia. The following groups are represented: symphony, dance and novelty orchestras; operetta, opera and ballet companies; vocal recitals; concert bands; choral groups; and joint programs with the Federal Theatre Project. In some states special programs were created to celebrate National Music Week and American Music Week and for radio broadcasts. Additionally, repertoire lists, advance booking schedules, miscellaneous program activities, and narrative reports of these activities are included.
The Clippings series primarily consists of newspaper announcements of WPA music projects, meetings and concerts. Some clippings were provided by the Division of Press Intelligence clipping service. Forty-one states are represented with most of the clippings collected in 1940. Most of the clippings are on the Northern California Music Project. A sizeable amount cover Michigan. A scrapbook of clippings on music project concerts and events in Connecticut, Ohio, Virginia and New York State from 1936 to 1940 was compiled by Eva Arnow.
GEORGE ALLEN FOSTER COLLECTION
George Allen Foster was appointed acting deputy director of the National Office after the resignation of the national director, Nikolai Sokoloff. This was after the Federal Project No. 1 was terminated on June 30, 1939 and before the WPA Music Program began in August 1939. When a permanent director was appointed, Mr. Foster returned to his duties as regional supervisor for Region I (New York State and New England). The correspondence in this collection spans 1936 to 1948 and covers salary issues and job responsibilities during the agency’s life and, afterwards, during his tenure as manager of the New Orleans Symphony Society. The photographs feature directors and supervisors of various programs including Nikolai Sokoloff and Harry L. Hopkins (WPA Director), conferences of Music Supervisors of the Professional and Services Division Directors and the National Advisory Committee, and of Mr. Foster himself. One photograph shows Eleanor Roosevelt in the inaugural broadcast of
Wilda M. Heiss, 1999
The Federal Music Project Collection is organized into ten series:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/2006560198
Exhibit Reports include compilations of state reports which consist of charts, lists, programs, reports, minutes, correspondence, manuals, bulletins, transcripts, catalogs, addresses, method and study books, and black and white photo prints.
Arranged numerically.
Special Reports consist of reports, memoranda, and black and white photo prints.
Arranged chronologically.
State Reports consist of reports, memoranda, black and white photographic prints, bulletins, lists, a journal, instruction manuals.
Arranged alphabetically by state.
Catalogs consist of typescript lists of musical compositions by medium, arranged alphabetically by state, and lists of recordings and instrumentations, arranged alphabetically by subject.
Index Cards are divided into four categories: Composer, State, Title and Type of Composition.
Each category is arranged alphabetically, except for Type of Composition which is in quasi-alphabetical order.
Music consists of photocopies of full scores and parts.
Arranged alphabetically by composer.
Other Performing Media consists of manuscript scores, manuscript and photocopies of vocal parts, a typescript libretto and lyric sheets.
Arranged alphabetically by state.
The Composer files consist of draft and final versions of typescript lists of musical compositions.
Arranged alphabetically by composer.
The Index Cards are divided into three categories: Bio-pictures, Composers and Non-composers.
Each category is arranged alphabetically by name.
The Questionnaire files consist of typescript and handwritten correspondence, indexes and lists of music compositions.
Arranged alphabetically by state, then by composer.
The State files consist of typescript correspondence.
Arranged alphabetically by state.
The Subject files consist of typescript correspondence, lists, reports, addresses, notes and press clippings.
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
The Type of Composition files consist of typescript lists of composers and their works; requests for catalogs; information from composers; miscellaneous incomplete records.
Arranged alphabetically by type of composition, then by composer.
Correspondence consists of typescript and handwritten correspondence.
Arranged in reverse chronological order.
The Index files consist of typescript and handwritten bibliographies and lists of musicians.
Arranged alphabetically by category.
The Index Cards are divided into five categories: Authors, Books, Books on Folk Music, Musicians and Processing.
Each category is arranged alphabetically by name, title or subject.
The Musicians files consist of draft and omitted handwritten lists of musicians and their specialty.
Arranged alphabetically by name.
The Subject files consist of typescript and handwritten memoranda, lectures, bibliographies, biographies of musicians, syllabi, newspaper clippings and various lists.
Arranged alphabetically by subject or name.
Writings consist of typescript translations and a libretto.
Arranged alphabetically by author.
Printed, mimeographed and typescript programs.
Arranged chronologically by year and then alphabetically by state.
Printed, typescript and photocopies of clippings from newspapers and magazines.
Arranged chronologically by year, then alphabetically by state.
Miscellaneous items are arranged in alphabetical order by subject matter.
The papers of George Allen Foster consist of typescript correspondence, black and white photographs, printed and typescript programs and newspaper clippings, and reports.
Each sub-series is arranged chronologically by year except for the photographs which are arranged alphabetically by name or subject.