The Archive
The Archive of The Maud Powell Society contains original photographs, artwork, letters, recordings, recordings,transcriptions, and other memorabilia and artifacts associated with Maud Powell, collected over the last two decades.
The Archive includes research gathered in connection with the preparation of the definitive Powell biography, Maud Powell, Pioneer American Violinist. It includes copies of all of Maud Powell's scrapbooks, transferred from the microfilm to hard copy. Over 400 photographs are in the collection which also includes numerous important reference books on music and musicians and historic and contemporary music periodicals.
The sound archive includes a wide variety of violin literature recorded by violinists from the turn of the century to the present day on disc and on audiotape and videotape. These provide a solid basis for comparison and study of changing performance practices, styles, and technique. It also contains audiotape and videotape interviews of important violin performers and teachers.
The Maud Powell Society Archive is available to support scholarship, educational programs and music performances. Access to the Archive is by appointment only. Please contact The Maud Powell Society to make an appointment.
Researchers will find the following to be significant repositories of original Maud Powell materials:
- New York Public Library - Scrapbooks on microfilm and file folders of programs, clippings and program notes, photographs, letters
- Detroit Public Library - Music Collection
- Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan - G. B. Guadagnini violin
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington, DC - N. R. Brewer oil portrait of Maud Powell
- LaSalle Historical Museum, Utica, Illinois
- Peru Public Library, Peru, Illinois
- Aurora Historical Museum, Aurora, Illinois
- Aurora Public Library, Aurora, Illinois
- Division of Recorded Sound, Library of Congress, Washington, DC - Repository of The Maud Powell Society's 78 rpm collection
- Johnson Victrola Museum, Delaware State Museums, Dover, Delaware
- The Maud Powell Society Archive will eventually reside in the Music Division of the Library of Congress.