Manuscript Resources on The History of Music, Drama, and Other Performing Arts
This guide describes manuscript resources in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections that document performing arts history. Most of the collections relate to music, with smaller numbers dealing with theater, and a few dealing with dance. Geographically, most of the collections center around Louisiana, with many reflecting the rich cultural history of New Orleans and its diverse French and American cultural streams. Baton Rouge and other cities and towns are documented to a lesser degree. The cultural life of rural Louisiana is reflected in plantation collections containing sheet music, playbills, and other evidence of cultural activity.
The collections include papers of music and drama teachers, composers and writers, and performers. They also contain papers of those who sat in the audiences of musical and other performances and commented on them in letters and diaries, or compiled collections of programs and other ephemera dealing with the performances they witnessed. Finally, they contain papers of researchers who wrote about music and theater history.
Though extensive, the resources listed in this guide form a small part of the totality of materials documenting performing arts history in LSU's Special Collections. An exhaustive search of available inventories of manuscript collections would turn up additional important documentation. The Rare Book Collections contain a wide variety of relevant imprints, and include an extensive database of uncataloged sheet music. Similarly, the Louisiana Collection contains additional imprints on the performing arts, specifically related to Louisiana and the Lower Mississippi Valley. A folder containing several music history finding aids in addition to this one is available at the Special Collections reference desk.
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Funchess, Lloyd Vance, 1908-1976, interviewee. Oral history interview, 1976. 1 sound cassette (1 hour), transcript (26 pages). Location: L:4700.0020. Faculty member at LSU, composer of the LSU alma mater, and supervisor of music for the Louisiana State Department of Education. Interview concerning the composition of the LSU alma mater and Funchess' career. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 4700.0020. Referenced in Guides: Performing arts, LSU
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Gaiety Theatre Broadside, circa 1830-1860. 1 item. Location: EPHEMERA COLLECTION SUBGROUP VI. Plays starring Laurette Taylor, Florence Vidor, Edmund Lowe, George Arliss, and Alice Joyce at the Gaiety Theatre in New Orleans, La. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 2525. Referenced in Guides: New Orleans to 1861, Performing arts
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Gardner, Joel. Papers, 1978-2021 (bulk 1980-1985). 3.5 linear ft. Location: G:86-87. Joel Gardner is a journalist and oral historian from Louisiana. Contains assorted oral histories, grant proposals, workshop materials, recordings from participants, entertainment articles written by Gardner for lifestyle magazines, assorted scholarly articles written on oral histories, and theory-related materials. Mss. 3954, 3562. Referenced in Guides: Performing arts, New Orleans 1866-, Baton Rouge, Acadiana, African Americans, LSU
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Gebelin-Walsh-Hynes-Frenzel family. Papers, 1860-2007 (bulk 1900-1970). 2.5 cubic feet. Location: 92:69-71, OS:G, AA:, MSS.MF:G. This collection of photographs and a few textual materials provides a largely visual record of the allied Gebelin, Walsh, Hynes, and Frenzel families. Beginning in the 1860s and continuing through the 1980s, portraits and informal photographs document the lives of family members and family friends and acquaintances. A few images, beginning 1900 and continuing until the 1960s, record three family homes in Baton Rouge. The bulk of the material documents the life and times of Elizabeth Gertrude Gebelin Hynes (Feb. 20, 1911-Feb. 9, 1982) including her childhood, marriage, travels, family events, and social life and customs of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 4983. |
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Geelvink, H. A. Notebook, 1824. 1 vol. Location: M:20. Native of Emden, Germany. Notebook contains handwritten music and lyrics. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 63. Referenced in Guides: Performing arts
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Gillespie, James A. and family. Papers, 1776-1929 (bulk 1840-1890). 1,530 items, 20 volumes. Location: E:22-24, E:118, G:16, 65:G, OS:G Vault:38. Planter of Hollywood Plantation, Adams County, Mississippi, and Indian Village Plantation, Concordia Parish, Louisiana. Collection includes plantation records, business papers, and correspondence of the Gillespie family and business papers of the Davis family. Papers include slave sales, land deeds, a will, diaries, portraits, maps, sheet music, and fashion publications. Includes some printed items in German. Available (with some omissions) on microfilm 6061: University Publications of America Records of Southern Plantations from Emancipation to the Great Migration, Series B, Part 4, Reels 5-8, or Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series I, Part 3, Reels 13-14. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 669, 695, 1104, 2086. |
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Girault, Auguste, ca. 1790-. Papers, 1808-1845. 12 items. Location: Misc., OS:G. Music professor in New Orleans. Girault (earlier known as Giraud) was a native of Nantes, France. Papers include passports, a discharge from military service, and correspondence, among it a letter from Dulisse Alleye recalling two years spent in prison with Girault. In French, one item in Spanish. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1145. |
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Glenk, Robert. Letter and French Opera House Lithograph, 1900-1925. 2 items. Location: Misc.:G, OS:G. Robert Glenk was the Chief Curator for the Louisiana State Museum. Letter from Robert Glenk to the wife of James Gallier, Jr., Algae Villavaso, asking for materials for a Louisiana State Museum exhibit featuring Louisiana architects (Sept. 14, 1925). James Gallier, Jr. was a prominent architect in New Orleans. The letter includes a lithograph by Gallier of the interior of the French Opera House, which was located on Toulouse and Bourbon Streets (circa 1900-1919). Mss. 5169. Referenced in Guides: Performing arts, New Orleans 1866-
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Gottschalk, Louis Moreau. Letter, circa 1850-1865. 1 item. Location: Misc. Louisiana composer and musician. Letter to 'Mon cher Antony' introducing Louisa Scheibel, a pupil of Gottschalk. In French. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1454. Referenced in Guides: Performing arts, French
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Gottschalk, Louis Moreau. Photograph, undated 1 item. Location: E:730. Louisiana composer and musician. Carte de visite photograph, possibly of Louis Gottschalk. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 2734. Referenced in Guides: Performing arts
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