Stephen Foster Collection and archive

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This is considered to be Stephen Foster's last message, 1863-1864, found in his wallet when he died. It bears the words "Dear friends and gentle hearts" in his handwriting. It may have been an idea for a song. Fosters last message dear friends and gentle hearts.PNG
This is considered to be Stephen Foster's last message, 1863–1864, found in his wallet when he died. It bears the words "Dear friends and gentle hearts" in his handwriting. It may have been an idea for a song.

The Stephen Foster Collection and archives are the largest collection of primary source materials on the life and work of composer Stephen Foster. The collection consists of documents and other items of historical interest related to the life and work of Stephen Foster. It resides in the Stephen Foster Memorial at the University of Pittsburgh. Josiah K. Lilly donated an almost complete set of first edition music. [1] The memorial houses sketchbooks and other memorabilia. [2] The process of assembling the collection was methodical, well-organized and funded by various non-governmental and governmental sources. The cost of maintaining the collection is partially funded by the University of Pittsburgh.

Contents

Purpose

Stephen Foster, one of the most influential composers in American history, never composed an autobiography or made any autobiographical statements. Following his death in 1864, his brother Morrison Foster, apparently ashamed by Stephen's association with abolitionists, destroyed nearly all manuscript material about him, preserving only a few dozen letters, none of which contain any biographical information, and some of his music manuscripts. Morrison also destroyed references to Stephen's life from his own letters, and published a biography of Stephen which is regarded as unreliable and nearly useless for historical purposes. 50 years after Stephen's death, historians felt a need to gather the scattered material by and about him in a single place, and thus created the Stephen Foster Collection. [3]

History

The Stephen Foster archives are housed in the Stephen Foster Memorial which was designed by architect Charles Klauder. Its construction reflects the same style as the Cathedral of Learning, and Heinz Chapel on the University of Pittsburgh's campus. The W.F. Trimble & Son's Company was contracted to help erect the building on March 2, 1935. [4] It consists of 35,000 cubic feet (990 m3) of Indiana limestone, 400 tons (360,000 kg) of steel, and 2,500 cubic yards (1,900 m3) of concrete. [4] In 1930, Josiah Kirby Lilly began collecting all forms of Foster's music, letters, furniture, original manuscripts and instruments. He kept his collection in his own stone cottage in Indianapolis. He called it Foster Hall. Then in 1932 Josiah Kirby Lilly pledged more than 10,000 Foster items to form the initial archive collection. Other efforts began the necessary fund-raising. Lily and his son covered almost half of the cost at that time amounting to $550,000. [5] A portion of the collection has now been digitized and can be accessed through the University of Pittsburgh's University Library System. [6]

Methodology

Establishing the scope of Stephen Foster music and discography was conducted by Dr. Deane Root, the curator of the Stephen C. Foster Memorial at the University of Pittsburgh. He initiated the revision of the standard reference work on Stephen Foster music – "Songs and Compositions and Arrangements by Stephen Collins Foster 1826-1864" published in 1933. [7] The new reference work, published with the Smithsonian Institution Press was assisted by the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archive of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, New York City. At the time of the drafting of the new discography, other archives were reviewed. These were Stanford University, Stanford, CA; Yale University, New Haven, CT; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Rodgers and Hammerstein Archive, Lincoln Center, New York City; and Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, and the Library of Congress, Music Division. Creating the new discography was aided by collectors throughout the United States and in foreign countries. These loaned their own catalogs, listed out specific records in their collections, and supplied other known listings. The examination of private, commercial auction lists and other retail mail offerings were also used to identify Foster pieces for purchase and to compare to the other listings. [8]

In updating the 1933 discography, Root employed other materials. Slips came with the early-unmarked cylinders, and were often hand-written. These written descriptions were not attached to the cylinders themselves. This was not the case for labels pressed on a disc recordings which were badly deteriorated. [8]

One the collections notable recordings was a brown Wax Cylinder (c.1895) from Wheeling, WV. This recording by the vocalist Edward M. Favor is one of the earliest recordings in the archives. Its volume is faint and was intended to be used with a tube and earphone type machine. Historians assume that not more than 50 pieces were made of this cylinder. [8]

Research into creating a new, authoritative and complete discography included the review of marketing materials of the Edison Amberol record supplements were published every month from 1906 to the 1920s by the Edison Record sales staff in Orange, NJ, The purpose of the promotional materials was to keep the public and recording retailers up to date on the newest Edison releases. Edison's company wanted to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. His marketing materials were helpful in expanding the discography and identified marches by Sousa, a recitation by Davenport), violin solos by Spaulding, orchestra selections such as Herbert's Operetta Little Nemo, and a ballad by tenor Will Oakland (Just Before the Battle Mother). [8]

Though today recording companies are generally cooperative, creating a comprehensive discography was hampered by the usual business practices of controlling costs and the lack of financial incentives in the preservation of commercial record companies. At the time that a recording was made, it was not viewed as "a creation of recorded history", and files were maintained for "commercial control". Recording companies have not been found to support research into their own history in house or by outside researchers. For example, Columbia Records, established in the 1890s has little information on the thousands of cylinder recordings it sold. [8]

Discography

The Stephen Foster archives are housed in the Stephen Foster Memorial on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, also the location of the Center For American Music (Pittsburgh). The contents were collected by various organizations and individuals who conducted their efforts between 1896 and 1925. The collection includes the acoustic recordings made in US during these years and are cataloged in a discography. This list describes the over 450 published and 32 unpublished acoustic recordings. In addition to the recording themselves, the collection documents biographical details along with accompanying photographs of the musicians, groups, vocalists and music publishers who performed or sold Foster's music.

The recordings were transferred from original cylinders and record albums. The cylinders are of various speed, speeds and manufacture and origin. They are made of both wax and celluloid. The cylinders are recordings of songs that are from two and four minutes long (some longer). The long playing albums (70 rpm), made of shellac, of the music were also transferred to audio cassettes. Disc recordings range from five to twelve inches. Player piano rolls and music box perforated discs were also used at the time to play Foster's music, although these are not part of the collection. [8]

Contributors to the collection include: Creegan, The Association of Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC). [8]

Holdings

The Foster Hall Collection contains many primary sources:

Biographical materials

The resources of the collection have been used by numerous biographers. [15]

Related Research Articles

Phonograph Device for playback of acoustic sounds stored as deviations on a disk or cylinder

A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue recording and reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physical deviations of a spiral groove engraved, etched, incised, or impressed into the surface of a rotating cylinder or disc, called a "record". To recreate the sound, the surface is similarly rotated while a playback stylus traces the groove and is therefore vibrated by it, very faintly reproducing the recorded sound. In early acoustic phonographs, the stylus vibrated a diaphragm which produced sound waves which were coupled to the open air through a flaring horn, or directly to the listener's ears through stethoscope-type earphones.

Phonograph cylinder Medium for recording and reproducing sound

Phonograph cylinders are the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity, these hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engraved on the outside surface, which can be reproduced when they are played on a mechanical cylinder phonograph. In the 1910s, the competing disc record system triumphed in the marketplace to become the dominant commercial audio medium.

Stephen Foster American composer and songwriter (1826–1864)

Stephen Collins Foster, known also as "the father of American music", was an American composer and songwriter known primarily for his parlour and minstrel music during the Romantic period. He wrote more than 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "Old Black Joe", and "Beautiful Dreamer", and many of his compositions remain popular today. He has been identified as "the most famous songwriter of the nineteenth century" and may be the most recognizable American composer in other countries. Most of his handwritten music manuscripts are lost, but editions issued by publishers of his day feature in various collections.

My Old Kentucky Home 19th-century sentimental ballad by Stephen Foster

"My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!" is a sentimental ballad written by Stephen Foster, probably composed in 1852. It was published in January 1853 by Firth, Pond, & Co. of New York. Foster was likely inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, as evidenced by the title of a sketch in Foster’s sketchbook, “Poor Uncle Tom, Good-Night!”

David Hall was a sound archivist and writer.

Arthur Collins (singer) Musical artist

Arthur Francis Collins was an American baritone who was one of the most prolific and beloved of pioneer recording artists, regarded in his day as "King of the Ragtime Singers".

Stephen Foster Memorial United States historic place

The Stephen Collins Foster Memorial is a performing arts center and museum which houses the Stephen Foster Archives at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It is dedicated to the life and works of American songwriter Stephen Foster.

Fletcher Hodges Jr. was an American who curated the Foster Hall Collection, a collection of documents and music related to Stephen Foster at the University of Pittsburgh, for fifty-one years.

Hard Times Come Again No More Song

"Hard Times Come Again No More" is an American parlor song written by Stephen Foster. It was published in New York by Firth, Pond & Co. in 1854 as Foster's Melodies No. 28. Well-known and popular in its day, both in America and Europe, the song asks the fortunate to consider the plight of the less fortunate and includes one of Foster's favorite images: "a pale drooping maiden".

Albert Spalding (violinist)

Albert Spalding was an internationally recognized American violinist and composer.

<i>Actionable Offenses: Indecent Phonograph Recordings from the 1890s</i> 2007 compilation album by Various Artists

Actionable Offenses: Indecent Phonograph Recordings from the 1890s is a compilation of jokes and stories recorded to wax cylinders during the 1890s. At the time the recordings were made, they were considered indecent, and nearly all similar recordings from this era have been destroyed, often by law. The compilation was assembled by Patrick Feaster and David Giovannoni, and released on Archeophone Records, an archival reissue label, in 2007. It received two Grammy Award nominations.

Tim Brooks (historian) American historian, author and retired television executive

Tim Brooks is an American television and radio historian, author and retired television executive. He is credited with having helped launch the Sci Fi Channel in 1992 as well as other USA Network projects and channels.

Morrison Foster

Morrison Foster was the older brother, business agent and biographer for Stephen Foster, a composer and lyricist of early American music. When Stephen Foster died at age 37, Morrison continued to manage Stephen's estate and acted as a mediator between music publishers and Stephen Foster's wife and daughter. Documents demonstrate his correspondence with publishers in his receipt of royalty payments on behalf of Stephen's heirs. Morrison also wrote the first biography of Stephen Foster. Morrison's daughter Evelyn Foster Morneweck, wrote a biography about her uncle, Chronicles of Stephen Foster's Family.

"Willie Has Gone To War" is a song written by Stephen Collins Foster sometime in 1862. It was considered a 'Civil War Song', though it was not as popular as some of his previous work. George Cooper wrote the lyrics. He may have composed up to 285 songs, hymns, arrangements and instrumental works during his lifetime. He also created many of the lyrics.

William Barclay Foster

William Barclay Foster was the father of Stephen Foster and a notable businessman in his time. He has been referred to one of the most prosperous merchants of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was a Pennsylvania state legislator and served three terms. He was also elected mayor of Allegheny City twice in his lifetime. He has been identified as a "patriot", a "lover of home" and an "outstanding servant to his community, state and government". He married Eliza Clayland Tomlinson on November 14, 1807, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

Jane McDowell Foster Wiley Wife of Stephen Foster

Jane Denny McDowell Foster Wiley was born December 10, 1829. She died at the age of seventy-three in a fire on January 17, 1903 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Darlington Collection

The Darlington Collection is extensive collection of rare documents, maps, and other historical material focusing on early American history, particularly that of Western Pennsylvania. The original material is housed by the Archives Services Center (ASC) of the library of the University of Pittsburgh with digitized material available at the Darlington Digital Library. The collection was inherited by Darlington's daughters Mary O'Hara Darlington and Edith Darlington. The donation of the collection was first given to the University of Pittsburgh in 1918. The rest of the collection was donated in 1925.

North American Phonograph Company

The North American Phonograph Company was an early attempt to commercialize the maturing technologies of sound recording in the late 1880s and early 1890s. Though the company was largely unsuccessful in its goals due to legal, technical and financial problems, it set the stage for the modern recording industry in the mid 1890s.

Stephen Fosters sketchbook

Stephen Foster's sketchbook is the hand-written book authored by early American composer and lyricist Stephen Collins Foster. It spans a nine-year period beginning on June 26, 1851. It was donated to the University of Pittsburgh Library System by the Foster family in the early 1930s. The National History Education Clearinghouse considers it a " useful resource for those researching Foster or the history of 19th-century American music and culture."

Marion Foster Welch Educator and composer

Marion Foster was the only child of composer Stephen Collins Foster and, together with her daughter Jessie Rose, was the caretaker of the Stephen S. Foster Memorial Home located at 3600 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1914 until her death in 1935. She taught the piano and occasionally composed music.

References

  1. ↑ "Stephen Foster Memorial Plans". New York Times. 14 January 1934. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "Stephen Foster really did write songs the whole world sang". TribLIVE.com: Access provided by the University of Pittsburgh Library System {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  3. ↑ Root, Deane L. (March 1990). "The "Mythtory" of Stephen C. Foster or Why His True Story Remains Untold" (PDF). American Music Research Center. U. Colorado, Boulder. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Untitled Document" . Retrieved 2015-10-27.
  5. ↑ Lowry, Patricia (30 March 2003). "Theater: A dramatic makeover for the Stephen Foster Memorial". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  6. ↑ "Foster Hall Collection". Guide to Archives and Manuscript Collections at the University of Pittsburgh Library System. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  7. ↑ Wittlesey, Walter; Sonneck, O,G. (1915). Songs and Compostions and arrangements by Stephen Collins Foster 1826-1864. Washington, D.C.: Washington, Government Printing Office. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Creegan, George C. (Fall 2002). "The Acoustic Recordings of Stephen C. Foster". ARSC Journal. 33 (2): 214–228. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "Holy Bible (Philadelphia: E.H. Butler & Co.), 1854 Foster Hall Collection, CAM.FHC.2011.01, Center for American Music, University of Pittsburgh" (PDF). Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "Walker's Dictionary, Foster Hall Collection, CAM.FHC.2011.01, Center for American Music, University of Pittsburgh" (PDF). Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  11. ↑ "National Melodies of Scotland United to the Songs of Robert Burns, Allan Ramsay and Other Eminent Lyric Poets with Symphonies and Accompaniments for the Pianoforte by Haydn, Pleyel, Lozeluch (London; New York; John & Frederick Tallis), 1849" (PDF). Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  12. ↑ "Nouveau Petit Paroissien (Tours: Mam et Cie), 1855 Foster Hall Collection, CAM.FHC.2011.01, Center for American Music, University of Pittsburgh" (PDF). Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  13. ↑ "Foster's last message, 1863-1864Foster Hall Collection, CAM.FHC.2011.01" (PDF). Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  14. ↑ "Western Union Telegram reporting Foster's death, Jan. 14, 1864Foster Hall Collection, CAM.FHC.2011.01, Center for American Music" (PDF). Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  15. ↑ "Stephen Collins Foster, Introduction to Pictorial Biography" . Retrieved 2015-11-07.

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