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

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Creator:

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.

Extent:

215 linear feet Box 1-231 Processed: 148 record cartons, 61 manuscript boxes, 13 XL flat boxes, 5 small flat boxes, 2 LP boxes, 2 CD boxes, 1 oversize mapcase folder, 4 OS mounted standing posters, and 3 costumes and 189 linear feet Unprocessed: 185 record cartons, 2 tube boxes, 14 hard drives with 35 TB of digitized material

Language:

English , German , Italian , French .

Scope and content:

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.

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:

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.

Acquisition information:

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.

Gift of the MET Opera Archives (10 programs), 2024.

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. 1 record carton of Tour programs were processed as Box 228-231 after return from mold remediation, Fall 2024.

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.

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.

10 programs from the MET Opera Archives interfiled and added to the collection, 2024. 1 record carton of Tour programs were processed as Box 228-231 after return from mold remediation, Fall 2024.

Arrangement:

The collection is in 12 series.

Accruals:

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

Rules or conventions:

DACS

Related material:

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.

Access and use

Restrictions:

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.

Terms of access:

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.

Location of this collection:: Rare Book & Manuscript Library

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