New York City Opera records, 1924-2019, bulk 1965-1991

Summary Information

Abstract

New York City Opera (NYCO) was famously dubbed "The People's Opera" by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia at its founding in 1943. The Opera company's mission is to inspire audiences with innovative and theatrically compelling opera at an affordable price. This collection documents the artistic productions and the daily administrative functions and operations attest to the mission of the company. The materials in this collection consist of administrative and financial records, production files, stage guides, scores, correspondence, programs, photographs, posters, scenery plans, memorabilia, printed materials, and audio and video recordings, dating from 1924 to 2019, with its bulk dating from 1965 to 1991.

At a Glance

Call No.:

MS#1684

Bib ID:

10567054 View CLIO record

Creator(s):

New York City Opera

Repository:

Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Physical Description:

214 linear feet (Box 1-227 Processed: 148 record cartons, 57 manuscript boxes, 13 XL flat boxes, 5 small flat boxes, 2 LP boxes, 2 CD boxes, 1 oversize mapcase folder, 3 costumes ); 189 linear feet (Unprocessed: 185 record cartons, 2 tube boxes, 14 hard drives with 35 TB of digitized material)

Language(s):

English , German , Italian , French .

Access:

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located offsite.

Subseries II.2: Contracts in Box 101-104 are restricted as they contain personally identifiable information (PII) of living individuals. Please email rbml@columbia.edu for access.

Additional Folder-level restrictions are marked in the container list.

All original copies of audio and moving image media are closed until after reformatting. Please contact the RBML at rbml@columbia.edu to discuss access options.

The collection also includes an extensive amount of digital material which has been preserved but is not described or processed. Please contact the RBML at rbml@columbia.edu to discuss access options.

Description

Summary

The New York City Opera (NYCO) records document the repertoire and its creative productions as well as the collective history of the people at company from its founding in 1943 to 2019, with the bulk of its materials dating from 1965 to 1991. The records consist of administrative and financial records, production files, stage guides, scores, correspondence, programs, photographs, posters, scenery plans, memorabilia, printed materials, and audio and video recordings.

Series I: Productions, circa 1944-2013

Series contains records of the company's repertoire, as well as the administrative operations behind the productions, dating from circa 1944 to 2013. The series is divided into 4 subseries: production files arranged by title, tours, production planning and reports, and recording projects and broadcasts. While this series focuses more on the artistic and creative aspects of the production produced by the company, materials related to the company's productions may also overlap with files in other series.

Subseries I.1: Production Files by Title consists of stage guides, production files, scores, photographs, and scenery plans, dating from circa 1944 to 2013. The production files consist of files such as technical files, set and costumes files, accounts and expenses, licenses, contracts, correspondence. Stage guides and production files from later years may also include materials from earlier years, with inscriptions by the stage managers. The photographs consist of mostly black and white positive and negative prints as well as color slides and reproductions depicting costumes, set designs, casts, photo call, and the stage of the production. Early photographs from the pre-1990s period were mostly taken by Fred Fehl and Beth Bergman. The scenery plans include stage and ground plans, props drawings, lighting, costume, and set designs. The records in this subseries demonstrate the artistic and creative productions in the vast repertoire of the company.

Subseries I.2: Tours consists of tour files, dating from 1946 to 1999, mainly in the U.S. but also internationally such as countries in Europe, Taiwan, and Japan. Materials include correspondence, contracts, clippings, box office, receipts, accounts and expenses, schedules, programs, photographs, etc. Early tour files are on acidic paper and could be fragile. Additional artist contracts for Los Angeles Tour, 1974-1979 can be found in Subseries II.2: Contracts. Additional box office files can also be found in Subseries III.3: Box Office, especially related to the LA Tours and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts dating from 1972 to 1982.

Subseries I.3: Production Planning and Reports contains records that document behind the scenes for the productions. Materials include budgeting, casting, scripts, schedules, original casts and changes, music sign out books, cast books, coaching register, assignments, performance reports, production planning and research, and set rental info. The earlier files overlapped with materials such as Casting and Budget Files from 1940s-1970s in Series III: Financial, Subseries III.1: General. Earlier rehearsal schedule and orchestration files may be found in Subseries V.2: Julius Rudel.

Subseries I.4: Recording Projects and Broadcasts comprises files related to radio, film, television, and other recording projects contracted with the company, dating from 1981 to 1986. Additional files can be found in Subseries I.1: Production Files by Title.
Series II: Administrative, 1944-2014

Series contains records documenting the administrative operation of the company, dating from 1944 to 2014. Materials in this series include office files, subject files, legal documents, personnel files, contracts, labor union files, notebooks, correspondence, bookings and venues, and so on. The administrative records demonstrate how the company changed over time with different styles of management and operation. The series is divided into 3 subseries.

Subseries II.1: General includes general administrative office files, dating from 1957 to 2014. Files are arranged by topic. The highlights of this subseries include the Passaic fire of 1985, legal documents, NYCO Guild files, fundraising events, acoustics renovations, office renovations, warehouses, storage, and other subject files.

Subseries II.2: Contracts contains employee contracts of dancers, singers and staff, chorus, choristers, wardrobe, designers, road crew, general, stage hands, super, union contracts, tour contracts dating from 1945 to 2013, with the bulk dating from 1954 to 1982. Contracts are restricted as they may contain personally identifiable information (PII) of living individuals. Please email rbml@columbia.edu for access.

Subseries II.3: Unions consists of files pertaining to labor unions, strikes, and negotiation notes and agreements, dating from 1944 to 2013, with bulk dating from 1970-1994. The majority of the records document the company's labor union relations with various performing arts unions such as AGMA, Local 802 AFM, United Scenic Artists, IATSE, NYST, Local 829, etc. Other materials also include correspondence, notebooks, and the work files of managers such as Donald Hassard (Managing Director for Artistic Administration), Mark Weinstein (Executive Director), Henson Markham (Director of Business and Finance), and Paul Kellogg (General and Artistic Director).
Series III: Financial, 1947-2013

Series documents the financial operations of the company. Materials consist of accounts, budget, box office revenue, financial reports, payroll, statements, financial summaries of the company, dating from 1947 to 2013. The series is divided into 3 subseries. Subseries III.1: General contains financial reports, summaries, budgetary information on various expenses such as advertising, salaries, tours, and payroll. Subseries III.2: Budget, Payroll, Statements consist of the House manager's statement and the day to day detailed financial records from 1964 to 1980. Subseries III.3: Box Office contain box office receipts, statements, reports, and analysis, dating from 1956 to 1962 and 1967 to 1987.
Series IV: Development, 1973-1995

Series consists of correspondence, solicitation letters, and research files of individuals, foundations, companies, and grants as part of the company's fundraising effort, dating from 1973 to 1995, with the bulk of the materials dated during the 1980s. The files are arranged in alphabetical order by last name and missing files from D-G, M-O, and S-Z.
Series V: Correspondence, 1947-2014

Series consists of correspondence covering all phases of opera management, including artistic, production, staff management and relations, subscriptions and ticketing, etc., dating from 1947 to 2014. The correspondence can present an informative picture of the myriad situations faced by opera administrators on a day to day basis. Some subseries may also include subject files of the managers.
Series VI: Education, 1970-2010

New York City Opera's first in-school performance in 1966 led to the creation of the Education Department, whose main purpose is to open up the world of opera to young people and other special audiences. The Education Department offers a number of specially designed presentations and fully staged children's operas which tour to regional schools. In collaboration with the NYCO Guild, the Education Department coordinates open dress rehearsals for students at the New York State Theater. For both this event and for the in-school programs, the department prepares background materials and teaching aids. One of the most popular services offered by the Education Department is OPERAPAK, which contains a plot summary, composer biography, historical notes, and other valuable materials relating specifically to the productions in the City Opera repertory. The Education Department also later expanded its in-school offerings to include preparation and follow-up workshops in conjunction with its performances. Another program that continues to thrive and expand is the New York City Opera-In-The-Community program, which provides performances for adult community groups in the metropolitan area.

This series contains files from the Education Department, dating from 1970 to 2010, with the bulk dating from 1980-1991. Materials in this series include administrative records such as budgets, contracts, correspondence, payroll, schedules, reports, vouchers, community outreach programs, teaching materials, and study and activity guides. The materials in this series served as teaching materials to support the Education Department's mission in educating and introducing students in the metropolitan area to operas and performing arts.
Series VII: Printed Materials, 1924-2019

Series consists of programs, scores, libretti, other marketing and publicity materials, as well as collected printed materials such as Opera News, programs, and guides from other performing arts institutions, dating from 1924 to 2019. Series is divided into 6 subseries.

Subseries VII.1: Programs consists of NYCO's programs dating from 1946 to 2019. The programs are an incomplete run with missing gaps. Some programs contain publicity clippings of the productions or casts. Programs from 2012 were signed by the casts. Season Guides from the 1990s to 2010s can be found in Subseries VII.3: Marketing. Additional programs can be found in Series XI: James North Addition.

Subseries VII.2: Opera News contains printed runs from 1946, 1950-1951, 1954-1965, 1968, 1979. It is a magazine published by the Metropolitan Opera Guild located at Lincoln Center which was included in this collection.

Subseries VII.3: Marketing contains files from the marketing department, dating from 1992 to 2014. The files include Season Guides, pamphlets and brochures, special events, ad books, membership guides, and other marketing materials.

Subseries VII.4: Press and Publicity contains publicity files, compiled press coverage, reviews, news clippings of specific productions and personnel.

Subseries VII.5: Other Collected Printed Materials consists of brochures, publications, and newsletters that NYCO collected from other opera companies. Also included are NYCO's tour programs at other venues.

Subseries VII.6: Collected Scores and Libretti consists of published and unpublished scores and libretti collected by NYCO's music library for reference purpose, dating from 1924 to 1979. Some items are noted and gifted by the composer with inscriptions. Also see Subseries V.10: Scores and Libretto Submitted for additional scores and libretti collected by the company.
Series VIII: Photographs, 1920-2000

The majority of the production photographs are arranged alphabetically by opera title under Series I: Productions, Subseries I.1: Production Files by Title. The production photographs include positive and negative photographs as well as color slides depicting costumes, set designs, casts, photo call, and the performance. However, the photographs in this series contain portraits of conductors and managers, guests, events, and mounted oversized photographs, dating from 1920s to 2000, with the bulk dating from 1943 to 1980s.
Series IX: Oversized and Memorabilia, 1945-2012

Series consists of oversized materials such as scenery and ground plans, posters, as well as memorabilia such as signed scrapbooks, awards, mounted materials, and costumes, dating from 1945 to 2012.
Series X: Audio-Visual, 1944-2013

Series consists of films, audio, and video recordings of operas produced by NYCO, dating from 1944 to 2013. Some materials are commercially produced.

All original copies of audio and moving image media are closed until after reformatting. Please contact the RBML at rbml@columbia.edu to discuss access options.
Series XI: James North Addition, 1974-2018

Series contains additional NYCO materials collected and gifted by James North in 2021. Audio and video recordings from the addition are integrated into Series X: Audio-Visual.
Series XII: Digitized and Born-Digital

Series consists of digitized and born digital records. Materials comprise 14 hard drives with an estimate of 35 TB of digitized material. The extensive amount of digital material which has been preserved but is unprocessed. Please contact the RBML at rbml@columbia.edu to discuss access options.
Series XIII: Archived Websites, 2024-present

Arrangement

The collection is in 12 series.

Series I: Productions, circa 1944-2013

Series II: Administrative, 1944-2014

Series III: Financial, 1947-2013

Series IV: Development, 1973-1995

Subseries IV.1: Subscribers, 1973-1995

Series V: Correspondence, 1947-2014

Series VI: Education, 1970-2010

Series VII: Printed Materials, 1924-2019

Series VIII: Photographs, 1920-2000

Series IX: Oversized and Memorabilia, 1945-2012

Series X: Audio-Visual, 1944-2013

Series XI: James North Addition, 1974-2018

Series XII: Digitized and Born-Digital

Series XIII: Archived Websites, 2024-present

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access

This collection is located offsite.

Subseries II.2: Contracts in Box 101-104 are restricted as they contain personally identifiable information (PII) of living individuals. Please email rbml@columbia.edu for access.

Additional Folder-level restrictions are marked in the container list.

All original copies of audio and moving image media are closed until after reformatting. Please contact the RBML at rbml@columbia.edu to discuss access options.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); New York City Opera records; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Related Materials

Oral history interview with Felix Popper, 1976. https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/14361976; Available digital content for this interview: https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-mqqb-1526

Jack Beeson papers; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Douglas Moore papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Julius Rudel papers 1945-2015. The New School Archives and Special Collections.

New York Public Library also has collections and materials related to NYCO:

Morton Baum Papers, 1938-1968 *LPA Mss 1992-001 . Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Images of the New York City Opera / by Fred Fehl, ca. 1940-1980, Music Division, The New York Public Library.

Plot summaries, recorded by the New York City Opera, Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, The New York Public Library.

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Custodial History

Processed portion: The records (Accession 2013.2014.M073) came from the storage at the Lincoln Center State Theater and were delivered to the Butler Library without notice just before NYCO declared bankruptcy during October 2013. The boxes arrived in two very large wooden bins marked NYC Ballet. The boxes were unpacked by Patrick Lawlor and stored on site. These were processed as box 1-227 along with the James North addition (2020.2021.M072) by Yingwen Huang in 2021-2022.

Unprocessed portion: A total of 291.6 cubic feet of NYC opera records were severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. NYCO received funding from FEMA to rescue the records and for digitization. The undamaged paper materials comprise 176 boxes. They have been scanned by Scantek in Willow Grove, Pa. onto 2 hard discs. Scantek scanned the dry boxes that were located near the Battery and moved to a higher floor. The physical boxes went to ReCAP and they are mostly Administrative/Business files (2014-2015-M040). The damaged records were scanned by Polygon. They scanned the wet/oily boxes that were two floors below ground when the hurricane hit after the elevator broke. The physical records were discarded after digitization. The Digital Accessions are: 2013.2014.M109.DIGITAL, 2013.2014.M111.DIGITAL, 2014.2015.M049.DIGITAL, 2014.2015.M117.DIGITAL.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Source of acquisition--New York City Opera. Method of acquisition--Deposit (converted to gift in 2021); Date of acquisition--2013. Accession number--2013-2014-M073.

Gift of James H. North, addition, 2021.

Bibliography

Sokol, M. L. (1981). The New York City Opera: An American adventure. New York: Macmillan.

Waleson, H. (2018). Mad scenes and exit arias: The death of the New York City Opera and the future of opera in America. New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company.

North, James H. New York City Opera Annals 1981-2013.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Collection-level record describing unprocessed material made public in summer 2018 as part of the Hidden Collections initiative.

Box 1-227 (Accession 2013.2014.M073; 2020-2021-M072) processed by Yingwen Huang, 2021-2022. Most of the records retain their original folder titles and original order during processing. In cases where materials were untitled or undated, the archivist derived the title from the content or added the circa date based on the Annals found in the bibliography. Loose papers and folders inside stage guides were rehoused in new folders and described. Production files and stage guides originally housed in binders containing curtain calls, scene props, prop lists, photographs, etc. were rehoused in folders. Photographs, negatives, and color slides were also rehoused in mylars and sleeves; envelopes with notes are kept in the same folder. The photographs series was processed with the assistance of Virginia Barrett Hellmann. Excessive duplicates of programs and marketing materials were deaccessioned.

1 record carton of 1975-1979 programs were sent to mold remediation due to apparent water damage, 2023.

Biographical / Historical

New York City Opera (NYCO) was famously dubbed "The People's Opera" by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia at its founding in 1943. The Opera's mission is to inspire audiences with innovative and theatrically compelling opera at an affordable price. The opera company first opened its doors in 1944 at the City Center West 55th Street Theater, with a performance of TOSCA on February 21, 1944.The first season of eight performances was only one week long and the repertory contained only three operas. In 1966, City Opera moved to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts at the New York State Theater from 1966. The company left Lincoln Center and moved its offices to 75 Broad Street in Lower Manhattan in 2011. The company declared bankruptcy in 2006, came back in 2013, and re-opened in 2016.

Music Directors: Laszlo Halasz, 1943-1951; Joseph Rosenstock, 1951-1956; Erich Leinsdorf, 1956; Julius Rudel, 1957-1979; Beverly Sills, 1979-1988; Christopher Keene, 1989-1995; Paul Kellogg, 1996-2007; George Steel, 2009-2013

For more information about the history of the New York City Opera, please consult the following: