Research Catalog

Title

Henry Cowell papers, 1851-1994.

Author

Cowell, Henry, 1897-1965

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Becker, John J.
• Cage, John
• Chávez, Carlos, 1899-1978
• Cowell, Olive Thompson, 1887-1984
• Cowell, Sidney Robertson
• Dixon, Clarissa, 1851-
• Grainger, Percy, 1882-1961
• Harrison, Lou, 1917-2003
• Ives, Charles, 1874-1954
• Riegger, Wallingford, 1885-1961
• Ruggles, Carl, 1876-1971
• Seeger, Charles, 1886-1979
• Slonimsky, Nicolas, 1894-1995
• Varian, John
• California State Prison at San Quentin
• New Music Society of California

Description

82. 3 linear feet (203 boxes)

Summary

The Henry Cowell papers cover every aspect of Cowell's life and career in great detail. The collection contains extensive correspondence, including letters to and from Cowell while he was incarcerated at San Quentin Prison (Cowell, who was a bisexual, had been arrested in 1936 on charges of sexual activity with a minor). Major correspondents include John Becker, John Cage, Carlos Chávez, Percy Grainger, Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, Nicolas Slonimsky, John Varian, and Cowell's mother, Clarissa. Cowell's musical career is documented through scores and sketches (including notebooks from his early music studies with Charles Seeger), concert programs, photographs, scrapbooks, posters, and publicity material. Also included is an extensive set of news clippings, articles, financial records, and teaching material associated with the various schools at which Cowell taught, as well as some information about Cowell's students. Major portions of the collection consist of notes, manuscripts, correspondence and other papers of Sidney Robertson Cowell, including manuscripts for an incomplete biography of Henry Cowell, her own autobiography, Chapbooks of Cheer, and a work about animals, Many Nations. Another significant feature of the collection is material documenting the history of the collection itself and the whereabouts of other portions of Cowell's archives.

Uniform Title

New music.

Alternative Title

Henry Cowell collection.

Subjects

• Pianists
• Music teachers
• Composers
• Bisexual men > United States > Sexual behavior
• Lecture notes
• Posters
• Pianists > United States > 20th century
• Music teachers > United States > 20th century
• Music publishers
• Financial records
• Chávez, Carlos, 1899-1978 > Correspondence
• Becker, John J > Correspondence
• World music > History and criticism
• Manuscripts
• Composers > United States > 20th century
• Clippings
• Bisexual men > United States > Social conditions
• Ives, Charles, 1874-1954 > Correspondence
• Dixon, Clarissa, 1851- > Correspondence
• Cowell, Sidney Robertson
• Prisoners > California > San Quentin > Correspondence
• Slonimsky, Nicolas, 1894-1995 > Correspondence
• Music critics
• Varian, John > Correspondence
• Correspondence
• Notebooks
• Cage, John > Correspondence
• Grainger, Percy, 1882-1961 > Correspondence
• Ruggles, Carl, 1876-1971 > Correspondence
• Folk music > History and criticism
• Cowell, Henry, 1897-1965 > Imprisonment
• Scrapbooks
• Scores

Genre/Form

• Clippings.
• Correspondence.
• Financial records.
• Lecture notes.
• Manuscripts.
• Notebooks.
• Posters.
• Scores.
• Scrapbooks.

Note

• The Henry Cowell papers originally were substantially processed in 1999-2000 as the Henry Cowell collection; when processing was completed in 2006, it was decided to change the name of the collection to the Henry Cowell papers.

Additional Formats (note)

• Also available on microfilm as part of the Henry Cowell papers;

Reproduction (note)

• Microfilm.

Biography (note)

• Henry Cowell (1897-1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, educator, lecturer, and publisher. Initially schooled at home by his mother, Clarissa Dixon Cowell, he began music studies as a child in the San Francisco Bay area. Among his earliest mentors were Charles Seeger, with whom he began studying in 1914 at the University of California at Berkeley and the Irish Theosophist poet John Varian. Following a stint in the army in 1918-1919 and further study, Cowell embarked on an extensive series of tours throughout the United States, Europe, as well as the USSR, performing his own music and attracting publicity for his use of tone clusters and experimental keyboard techniques. A tireless advocate for contemporary music, Cowell formed the New Music Society of California, helping to promote such composers as Charles Ives, Carlos Chávez, John Becker, Carl Ruggles and Wallingford Riegger through the quarterly journal, New Music. Cowell's music defined many of the major developments of twentieth-century music, and he was among the earliest composers to endorse the view that the musical materials of the whole world, not just Western Europe, should be available to composers and inform their musical and cultural outlook. To this end, he studied comparative musicology in Berlin early on and he would continue these explorations with his wife, ethnomusicologist Sidney Robertson Cowell, (who, along with his stepmother Olive Cowell and composer Percy Grainger were instrumental in helping Cowell to gain early release from his imprisonment on a morals charge). Cowell taught at many institutions, most notably the New School for Social Research, where his students included John Cage and Lou Harrison. He also was a prolific writer, whose output included the books, New Musical Resources (1930), an exploration of modern compositional methods, and Charles Ives and his Music (1955), the first monograph about the composer (co-written with his wife).

Processing Action (note)

• Microfilmed;

Call Number

JPB 00-03

OCLC

NYPG06-A161

Author

Cowell, Henry, 1897-1965.

Title

Henry Cowell papers, 1851-1994.

Additional Formats

Grainger letters. Also available on microfilm as part of the Henry Cowell papers; service copy classmark: *ZB-4336.

Reproduction

Grainger letters. Microfilm. New York : New York Public Library, 2008. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. (MN *ZZ-41175)

Biography

Henry Cowell (1897-1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, educator, lecturer, and publisher. Initially schooled at home by his mother, Clarissa Dixon Cowell, he began music studies as a child in the San Francisco Bay area. Among his earliest mentors were Charles Seeger, with whom he began studying in 1914 at the University of California at Berkeley and the Irish Theosophist poet John Varian. Following a stint in the army in 1918-1919 and further study, Cowell embarked on an extensive series of tours throughout the United States, Europe, as well as the USSR, performing his own music and attracting publicity for his use of tone clusters and experimental keyboard techniques. A tireless advocate for contemporary music, Cowell formed the New Music Society of California, helping to promote such composers as Charles Ives, Carlos Chávez, John Becker, Carl Ruggles and Wallingford Riegger through the quarterly journal, New Music. Cowell's music defined many of the major developments of twentieth-century music, and he was among the earliest composers to endorse the view that the musical materials of the whole world, not just Western Europe, should be available to composers and inform their musical and cultural outlook. To this end, he studied comparative musicology in Berlin early on and he would continue these explorations with his wife, ethnomusicologist Sidney Robertson Cowell, (who, along with his stepmother Olive Cowell and composer Percy Grainger were instrumental in helping Cowell to gain early release from his imprisonment on a morals charge). Cowell taught at many institutions, most notably the New School for Social Research, where his students included John Cage and Lou Harrison. He also was a prolific writer, whose output included the books, New Musical Resources (1930), an exploration of modern compositional methods, and Charles Ives and his Music (1955), the first monograph about the composer (co-written with his wife).

Location of Other Archival Materials

See also John J. Becker papers (JPB 04-27), Frank Wigglesworth papers (JPB 97-44), Wallingford Riegger papers (JPB 91-18) and Hugo Weisgall papers (JPB 00-43) in the Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and Henry Cowell collection of non-commercial recordings (*L(Special) 88-33) in the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

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Finding Aid

Occupation

Composers.

Music critics.

Music publishers.

Music teachers.

Pianists.

Added Author

Becker, John J.

Cage, John.

Chávez, Carlos, 1899-1978.

Cowell, Henry, 1897-1965. Charles Ives and his music.

Cowell, Henry, 1897-1965. New musical resources.

Cowell, Olive Thompson, 1887-1984.

Cowell, Sidney Robertson.

Cowell, Sidney Robertson. Chapbook of cheer.

Cowell, Sidney Robertson. Many nations.

Dixon, Clarissa, 1851-

Grainger, Percy, 1882-1961.

Harrison, Lou, 1917-2003.

Ives, Charles, 1874-1954.

Riegger, Wallingford, 1885-1961.

Ruggles, Carl, 1876-1971.

Seeger, Charles, 1886-1979.

Slonimsky, Nicolas, 1894-1995.

Varian, John.

California State Prison at San Quentin.

New Music Society of California.

Other Title

Formerly known as : Henry Cowell collection.

Added Title

New music.

Research Call Number

JPB 00-03 [Text]

*ZB-4336 [Microfilm]