Personal and business-related correspondence, mostly from the 1970s, arranged alphabetically. Among the correspondents are Geza Frid, Lawrence Gilman, James Laughlin, and Peter Bartók. Subseries also includes the correspondence of Miriam Serly concerning Serly's career with scholars, publishers, and the Bartók estate through the 1980s; and three folders of reproductions of Serly's brief correspondence with Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, and more extensive correspondence with the music critic Henry Pleasant. These copies were obtained by Serly from other archives.
Box 1
Arranged Correspondence, 1937-1978, (2 Folders)
Box 1
Carbons and Photocopies of Replies, 1931-1978
Box 1
Letters by Others, 1936-1985
Box 1
Letters to Miriam Serly, 1979-1992, (2 Folders)
Box 1
Serly/Bartók Letters, 1939-1944 (photocopies), 1939-1944
Box 1
Serly/Zoltán Kodály Letters, 1930s-1966 (photocopies), 1930s-1966
Box 1
Serly/Henry Pleasant Letters, 1931-1951 (photocopies), 1931-1951
Box 1
Unidentified Correspondence
Serly thoroughly documented his performing and composing career, best represented in an oversized scrapbook spanning his career, from music school concerts in Budapest from 1925; through his active period in the 1930s and 1940s, playing under Leopold Stokowski, Eugene Ormandy, and Arturo Toscanini; to his later years in the Pacific Northwest. Scrapbook includes an almost complete record in programs of performances of Serly's work, as well as clippings, reviews, and personal letters. Also, provides a record of Bartók's reception in New York during his exile and tributes to him after his death. Other notables in the scrapbook include Kodály, Ezra Pound, and Geza Frid. Subseries 2 also contains a file of newspaper clippings kept by Serly; a collection of clippings about Ezra Pound, mostly from the 1970s; a folder of orchestra programs from Serly's career; and original copyright forms and contracts for his published work.
Flat Box 749
Scrapbook, 1925-1978
Box 4
Copyright Forms and Contracts
Box 4
Orchestra Programs from Serly's Career, 1935-1988
Box 4
Newspaper Clippings about Serly
Box 4
Clippings on Ezra Pound, collected by Serly
Box 4
General business and publicity materials
A small collection of personal items including: certificates, awards, and medals presented to Serly; membership cards; the 1911 naturalization certificate of Lajos Serly and his family; postcards and items collected by Serly in Hungary; and official documents pertaining to Serly's accidental death in London, including his death certificate.
Two folders of photographs and negatives: the first contains photographs related to Bartók and his family, including several excellent images of casual moments from Bartók's time in America, as well as the last photograph (and negative) of Bartók, standing in front of Columbia University with his family. The second folder includes professional, publicity, and personal photographs, arranged chronologically, of Serly throughout his career, from 1930s orchestra photos through a 1976 trip to Hungary that Serly took with his wife to visit Kodály, and personal photographs of Serly at the end of his life in Longview, Washington.