This collection contains records of the Music Department of Columbia University and its faculty. The bulk of the collection was gathered by Professor Howard Shanet, who chaired the department from 1972-1976.
Douglas Stuart Moore (1893-1969) was an American composer, educator, and author. His best known works include the operas The Devil and Daniel Webster (1937-1939), The Ballad of Baby Doe (1953-1956), and Giants in the Earth (1949-1950), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1951. The papers include clippings, correspondence, course and lecture materials, librettos, photographs, programs, publicity materials, recordings, and scores.
George Edwards (1943-2011) was an American composer, critic, and teacher. He taught in Columbia University's Music Department from 1977 to 2006 and was named an Edward MacDowell Emeritus Professor of Music by Columbia's Board of Trustees. This collection includes scores, teaching materials, audio recordings, programs, clippings, correspondence, and biographical materials, including medical records and information surrounding Edwards' death from Alzheimer's disease.
Gloria Coates is an American composer who studied at Columbia University with Jack Beeson and Otto Luening. These papers include correspondence, concert programs and business records related to her activities as director of the German-American Contemporary Music Series in Munich from 1970 through 1986.
Jack Beeson (1921-2010) was a noted twentieth-century American composer, professor of composition, and the chair of the Columbia University Department of Music from 1968 to 1972. The collection includes scores, correspondence, subject files, scrapbooks, datebooks, drafts of written works, biographical materials, programs, and audio and audiovisual recordings.