Materials are open to research without restriction.
Permission to examine this collection will be granted to any qualified researcher upon completion of an application form. The original documents do not circulate and may only be used in the Reading Room of the Manuscripts Division.
Photoreproduction and audio reproduction of any materials in which the Minnesota Orchestral Association holds copyright, shall be performed only with the written permission of the MOA except for photoreproduction of any published materials of the Association in the public domain.
Dorothy Cummings Collection (PA12M), Minnesota Orchestra Archives, Performing Arts Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis.
Transferred to the Archives in 1996.
The collection was processed and the finding aid written by Leslie Czechowski, May 2003.
Dorothy Cummings ("Dottie") was the switchboard operator and receptionist for the Minnesota Orchestra for nine years. She retired in 1986. She came to the Twin Cities from Birmingham, Alabama via Chicago. In Minneapolis she worked for an answering service and for the United Way before taking the position with the Orchestra.
The collection contains a small photograph of Dorothy dated 1949 and five autographed photographs from : Julie Ayer and Carl Nashan, Joseph Giunta, Bill Cosby, Leonard Slatkin, and Emanuel Ax.
The most significant item in the collection is the scrapbook compiled by Orchestra staff upon Dorothy's retirement. In the scrapbook are many photographs of staff and notes and letters from them to Dorothy. The scrapbook provides a snapshot of life at the Orchestra in 1986.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.