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 , Anis Fuleihan’s and his , Daniel Gregory Mason’s , and Ludwig M. Sedlaczek’s . All works consist of a photocopy of a full score and parts. was compiled by Esther Schultz as part of a New York City project.

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. (Agua Fria Version) was collected, condensed, and translated by the Federal Writers’ Project of New Mexico and presented by the Santa Fe Unit of the Federal Music Project of New Mexico on Christmas Day, 1938. A shortened version of this traditional folk drama was prepared for the Federal Music Project in 1939 and was sponsored by the University of New Mexico.

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 , was completed and finally published in June 1941. Organized in 1936 by Keyes Porter under the supervision of Dr. Evans, the index’s primary purpose was “to assemble under one cover the names of persons who have contributed to the history of music in the United States....” When Federal Project No. 1 was discontinued in 1939, the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia became its official sponsor for the District of Columbia Historical Records Survey. The methodology employed for the guide is explained in “Guide to the Study of Music in America” in the Subject subseries.

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 by the Reference and Research Department, Music Education Division, of the New York WPA Music Project. Karl Bücher (1847-1930) was a professor of political economy at the University of Leipzig in the field of historical statistics. His treatise discusses the relation between physiology and the psychology of labor in which he “substantiates his hypothesis that the origins of music and poetry can be traced to the need for sublimating toil and making it pleasurable.“ The second translated work is , Russian composer and pedagogue Sergei Taneyev 's (1856-1915) 1906 work in which he applies elementary algebraic methods to contrapuntal combinations, substitutes words with symbols, and unifies the rules for convertible counterpoint. The third writing is by Herman E. Wolff. This is an operetta adapted from the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen with music by Theodore Hahn, Jr. Only the book and lyrics exist in this collection.

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 or . Another photograph depicts the WPA Tipica Orchestra in San Antonio, Texas. Various reports are included in the collection, such as the 390-page “The Record of Program Operation and Accomplishment of the FMP and the WPA Music Program” which is the most comprehensive summary of the work of these organizations from 1935 to 1943. Two other significant reports are the “Check List of Historical Records Survey Publications” and the “Bibliographies of Research Projects Reports”, both from 1943.

Wilda M. Heiss, 1999