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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Opelousas Philharmonic, Literary and Dramatic Association handbill. Handbill, circa 1880-1920. 1 item. Location: E:Imprints. Benefit performance given for the Public School Building Fund. 'Ten Nights In A Bar-Room,' dramatized from T. S. Arthur's novel, was presented. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1189. |
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Order of the Eastern Star, Unity Chapter No. 79 papers, 1910-1940. 23 items. Location: W:1. Secret social order composed of Masons, their wives, sisters, daughters, mothers, and widows. Papers of Frankie Mae Lewis, Worthy Matron of the Order of the Eastern Star, Unity Chapter No. 79 (Dodson, La.) in 1940, consisting of notes, clippings, hymns, and handbooks of procedural rules and parliamentary practice. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 2600-73. Referenced in Guides: Performing arts, Women
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Orpen, William, Drawings. 2 items. Pen and ink portrati drawings of Woodrow Wilson from 1919 Paris Peach Conference. Drawings contain notes and signature from the artist. For additional information see online catalog. Mss. 5013. |
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Oxford, Henry. CRESCENT RIFLES Song, 1903. 1 item [photocopy]. Location: E:Imprints. Sheet music for 'Crescent Rifles' dated January 26, 1903. Musical arrangement by N. Martinez. The music was published by Junius Hart of New Orleans. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 3061. Referenced in Guides: Performing arts, New Orleans 1866-
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Page, Frank Crawford. Papers, 1923-1972, undated. 0.5 linear ft. Location: W:135, OS:P. Organist and professor of music at LSU, originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Papers include correspondence, notes, and printed materials related to teaching activities, recitals, general music studies, pipe organ specifications, church music, and limericks. Mss. 2837. |
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Palfi, Stevenson J. Papers, 1960-1997. 9 items. Locations: MISC:P, OS:P. Music documentarian originally from Chicago, Illinois. Papers include a concert poster, three photographic prints, three picture postcards, a letter, and a Christmas card. Concert poster shows Allen Toussaint, Tuts Washington, and Professor Longhair (circa 1983). Picture postcards are advertisements for an airing of Palfi's "Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together" documentary. Photographic prints are of Palfi with Toussaint, Glen Campbell, and Martin Sheen. Mss. 5344. |
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Patti, Adelina, 1843-1919. Letters, 1889-1891. 15 items. Location: Misc. Italian opera singer. Letters from England and United States to Patti's friend, concert singer Giulia Valda Cameron, giving information on personal plans. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1541. Referenced in Guides: Performing arts, Women
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Patti, Adelina, 1843-1919. Sheet music, undated. 1 item. Location: 65:. Italian opera singer. Sheet music illustrated with a large picture of Patti, advertising Myers Brothers, leading grocers of Martinsburg, West Virginia. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1557. |
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Paull, E. T. Sheet music, 1898. 1 item. Location: 65:. Spanish-American War march, 'We'll Stand by the Flag,' published by E. T. Paull Music Company, New York City. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1638. Referenced in Guides: Performing arts
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Peters, Samuel J., Jr. Diary, 1840-1862. 1 volume. Location: E:49. Samuel J. Peters, Jr., was the son of New Orleans merchant, civic leader, and banker Samuel Jarvis Peters. He worked as a clerk in New York City (1841-1842), then returned to New Orleans to work in his father's business. Diary describes social life in New Orleans during the antebellum period and in the Civil War prior to federal occupation of the city. Includes entries on family life and health, theater in New Orleans, and national news. Some early 1840 entries are in German. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1355. Referenced in Guides: New Orleans to 1861, Performing arts, New Orleans in the Civil War, New Orleans 1866-, German, Medicine
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