Permanent URL: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/qv33rw67m
Arthur Mendel Papers, 1937-1981 (bulk 1950-1979): Inventory
C0600
Princeton University Manuscripts Division
One Washington Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
Phone: (609) 258-3184
Fax: (609) 258-2324
rbsc@princeton.edu
http://www.princeton.edu/~rbsc
Published in 2001
©2007 Princeton University Library
Summary Information
- Creator:
- Mendel, Arthur, 1905-1979.
- Title and dates:
- Arthur Mendel Papers, 1937-1981 (bulk 1950-1979)
- Abstract:
- Arthur Mendel was a prominent music scholar in the twentieth century and a professor at Princeton University. The collection contains correspondence with professional colleagues, course notes, musical notes, scrapbooks, and clippings. There is also additional unprocessed material from Mendel’s time at Princeton.
- Size:
- 9.30 cubic feet (23 boxes)
- Call number:
- C0600
- Location:
- Princeton University Library. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
Manuscripts Division.
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA - Language(s) of material:
- English.
- Storage note:
- This collection is stored onsite at Firestone Library.
Biography of Arthur Mendel
After graduation from Harvard University (B.A. 1925), Mendel went to Paris, where he studied with Nadia Boulanger (1925-1927). He was music critic of The Nation (1930-1933), literary editor for G. Schirmer (1930-1938), editor of the American Musicological Society's journal (1940-1943), and editor for Associated Music Publishers (1941-1947). He was also an active translator. From 1936 to 1953 he conducted the Cantata Singers, one of the first groups in the USA to give authentic performances of Baroque music. He taught at the Dalcroze School of Music and the Diller - Quaile School in New York (1938-1950), serving as president of the former (1947-1950).
In the late 1940s Mendel gained recognition as a musicologist. He was appointed professor of music at Princeton University (1952), where he was departmental chairman (1952-1967), and held the Henry Putnam University Professorship from 1969 until his retirement in 1973. He was a member of the editorial boards of the Neue Bach - Ausgabe and the new Josquin edition. Mendel published studies on the history of musical pitch and the rhythmic structure of Renaissance and Baroque music. His editions and studies of Bach's life and works, most notably the documentary biography The Bach Reader (1945, with Hans T. David), and his practical and critical editions of the St. John Passion (1951, 1974), brought him recognition as the foremost American Bach scholar of his generation.
In his later years he investigated the music of Josquin and possible applications of computer technology to musicological problems. A Festschrift in his honor, Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Music, was published in 1974 (edited by Robert L. Marshall).
Description
The collection consists of articles, correspondence, course notes, scrapbooks (1937-1952), memorabilia, and printed matter of Mendel, a professor of music at Princeton (1952-1973). The collection contains correspondence between Mendel, professional colleagues, and organizations such as the American Musicological Society, the Josquin Committee, and the International Josquin Festival Conference (June 1971) in New York, N.Y. There are also Mendel's records on the status of dissertations, course notes for a senior seminar in music history, material on pitches of various instruments and standard tuning frequencies, and scrapbooks containing letters, public relations announcements, and newspaper reviews of the Cantata Singers of All Souls Church in New York City, of which he was the conductor. In addition, there are liability insurance policies and cancelled personal checks of Mendel's wife, Elsa.
Additional material, also unprocessed was added to the collection in May 2007. This material includes sixteen binders and folders of Mendel while he was at Princeton University. The binders contain sheet music, original manuscript material, class curriculum and notes, and writings and criticism of Bach. Also included is correspondence; a binder labeled "Arthur's Honors"; photographs from an exhibition about Mendel; personal photographs; a photo album of his wife Elsa Wissell and her family, and documents about her death and her estate; photographs and letters about the "Cantata Singers"; printed material; and newspaper clippings.
Arrangement
This is an unprocessed collection and remains in its original arrangement.
Access and Use
Access
Collection is open for research use.
Restrictions on Use and Copyright Information
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and Special Collections. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
Acquisition and Appraisal
Provenance and Acquisition
Additional material : transfer from Princeton University's Woolworth Music Center, May 1, 2007. AM 2007-100.
Processing and Other Information
Processing Information
This is an unprocessed collection. The contents list provided is a preliminary inventory.
Descriptive Rules Used
Finding aid content adheres to that prescribed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard.
Encoding
Machine-readable finding aid encoded in EAD 2002 by Techbooks, Cristela García-Spitz, and Diann Benti on May 4, 2007. Created from MARC record via MarcEdit and XSL stylesheets in 2007.
Finding aid written in English.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Arthur Mendel Papers, Box and Folder Number; Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
Subject Headings
These materials have been indexed in the Princeton University Library online catalog using the following terms. Those seeking related materials should search under these terms.
- Josquin, Des Pres, 1440?-1521 -- Criticism and interpretation -- 20th century.
- All Soul's Church (New York, N.Y.)
- American Musicological Society.
- Cantata Singers.
- Princeton University. -- Dept. of Music -- 20th century.
- Music -- New York (State) -- New York -- Congresses -- 20th century.
- Music -- Instruction and study -- New Jersey -- Princeton -- 20th century.
- Musical pitch.
- Correspondence.
- Faculty papers.
- Scrapbooks.
- Conductors (Music) -- New York (State) -- New York.
- Princeton University -- Faculty.
Browse other finding aids related to the following terms:
Contents List
Correspondence: A - Ar
American Council of Learned Societies
Box 1, Folder 1 AMS
Box 1, Folder 2 AMS Publication, 1974
Box 1, Folder 3 AMS Publication, 1973 (incl.)
Box 1, Folder 4 AMS: Washington - 1974
Box 1, Folder 5 Archival Restoration Associates
Box 1, Folder 6 Correspondence: As - H
AS
Box 2, Folder 1 Babitz
Box 2, Folder 2 Bach Concordance: BG Sachverzeichnis
Box 2, Folder 3 Bach, J.S., Inst., etc.
Box 2, Folder 4 Barenreiter
Box 2, Folder 5 British Museum
Box 2, Folder 6 Dissertations in Progress
Box 2, Folder 7 Dufay Conference: 12/6 - 7/74
Box 2, Folder 8 Durr: Dadelson
Box 2, Folder 9 Handel and Haydn
Box 2, Folder 10 Haydn Proceedings
Box 2, Folder 11 Correspondence: I - Neu
Int(l Congress: Bach Symposium
Box 3, Folder 1 KNUF
Box 3, Folder 2 Microfilm Print(s)
Box 3, Folder 3 Neumann, Frederick, - 1972
Box 3, Folder 4 Neumann, Frederick, 1973-
Box 3, Folder 5 Correspondence: Neu - B, (1975)
Neumann, Werner
Box 4, Folder 1 NYPL
Box 4, Folder 2 Oxford
Box 4, Folder 3 Reese Memoir
Box 4, Folder 4 Research Committee
Box 4, Folder 5 Schmitz
Box 4, Folder 6 Smend
Box 4, Folder 7 Staehelin
Box 4, Folder 8 Strunk Festschrift
Box 4, Folder 9 A
Box 4, Folder 10 B, (1974)
Box 4, Folder 11 B, (1975)
Box 4, Folder 12 Correspondence: C - L
C
Box 5, Folder 1 D
Box 5, Folder 2 E
Box 5, Folder 3 F
Box 5, Folder 4 G
Box 5, Folder 5 H
Box 5, Folder 6 I
Box 5, Folder 7 J
Box 5, Folder 8 K
Box 5, Folder 9 L
Box 5, Folder 10 Correspondence: M - R
M
Box 6, Folder 1 N
Box 6, Folder 2 O
Box 6, Folder 3 P
Box 6, Folder 4 Q, R
Box 6, Folder 5 Correspondence: S - Z
S
Box 7, Folder 1 Departmental Business
Box 7, Folder 2 U-V-W-X-Y-Z
Box 7, Folder 3 Josquin Committee Papers
Confidential File
Box 8, Folder 1 Josquin Committee: 1979
Box 8, Folder 2 Committee Business
Box 8, Folder 3 CH/EL/HMB
Box 8, Folder 4 1977 Meeting
Box 8, Folder 5 Individual Committee Members
Box 8, Folder 6 Josquin Conference - T
Josquin Conference
Box 9, Folder 1 Mass Workshop
Box 9, Folder 2 Music 410
Box 9, Folder 3 T
Box 9, Folder 4 Cantata Singers: Personal Checks - Cantata Singers: 1937 - 1945
Personal Checks
Box 10, Folder 1-2 Obsolete Insurance Policies
Box 10, Folder 3 The Cantata Singers: 1937 - 1945
Box 10, Folder 4 Cantata Singers: 1946 /1947 - Cantata Singers: 1948/1949
The Cantata Singers: 1946 - 1947
Box 11, Folder 1 The Cantata Singers: 1948 - 1949
Box 11, Folder 2 Cantata Singers: 1950/1951 - Cantata Singers, 1952
Box 12 Pitch Material
Pitch: Miscellaneous & Curiosa
Box 13, Folder 1 Brass
Box 13, Folder 2 Cammer-Ton, Chorton, etc.
Box 13, Folder 3 Pitch: Chiavette
Box 13, Folder 4 Harpsichords, etc.
Box 13, Folder 5 Leipp
Box 13, Folder 6 Meeùs
Box 13, Folder 7 Organ - Pipe Measures
Box 13, Folder 8 Organs
Box 13, Folder 9 Praetorius
Box 13, Folder 10 Schlick
Box 13, Folder 11 Standards
Strings
Box 14, Folder 2 Thomas & Rhodes
Box 14, Folder 3 Vocal Compasses
Box 14, Folder 4 Woodwinds
Box 14, Folder 5 Pitch Material and Cantata Singers programs, etc.
Box 15
Permanent URL: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/qv33rw67m