Minnesota Orchestra Archives: Collection Summary
This summary describes the series and major sub-series within the
collection. Dates represent the inclusive dates of materials in each group.
Linked from this page are complete finding aids for most series. [Finding aids are descriptive
guides or inventories that have been created by the archivist to provide information about the
contents of the collections.]
They are encoded in XML and can only be viewed
through Internet Explorer 6.0, Netscape 7.0, or Mozilla.
Complete finding aids for these collections are available in printed form in the archives.
Please contact the Performing Arts Archives (612-625-3550) with questions or for additional information
Overview of Collection
Series 1: Board of Directors
Finding aid for Series 1.1 - 1.5
- 1.1 Annual Reports, 1945-present
- 1.2 Annual Meetings, 1961-present
- 1.3 Board and Executive Committees, 1952-98
- 1.4 Board Committees, 1958-2001
- 1.5 Conductor Searches [RESTRICTED]
Series 1.1 Annual Reports vary in size and complexity. Early Reports contain brief financial information
and list officers and directors of the Board.
More recent Reports contain descriptions of Orchestra activities, detailed
financial information, lists of Board and staff, and lists of major
financial sponsors. From the mid-1970s a copy of the annual report appeared in the
January issue of Showcase. The set is not complete.
Series 1.2 Files contain materials from Annual Meetings and may include minutes,
reports of related groups such as WAMSO and YPSCA, reports from the President,
and financial reports and related correspondence.
Series 1.3 Contains minutes from Board and Executive Committee
meetings, correspondence from Association presidents,
and lists of Board and committee members.
Series 1.4 Contains minutes (incomplete) from meetings of various Board Committees,
lists of committee members, and related correspondence.
Return to Collection Overview
Series 2: President
Donald L. Engle was the first paid president of the Association. Previously the
Minnesota Orchestral Association was managed by an elected President and
the General Manager. The majority of the collection consists of copies of
correspondence from Engle, including
both administrative and artistic correspondence, much of which
focuses on fund raising and development activities.
The Richard M. Cisek series includes materials from his tenure as general manager and
as president. The collection consists of office correspondence (notably with Stanislaw
Skrowaczewski), personnel files, and subject files that reflect
his involvement with all areas of Orchestra operations notably
artistic planning and recording and airing of Orchestra recordings.
The David Hyslop collection contains office records from the tenures of Presidents Richard Cisek, Deborah Borda, Tom McBurney,
and Hyslop due to the ongoing and overlapping nature of the work of the President. They document the extensive range of
activities and responsibilities of the Orchestra President. S/he is involved with all activities relating to the Board of Directors,
initial planning for tours and major events, long-range and financial planning, development activities, community relationships,
and interactions with the Music Director, musicians, and Orchestra staff.
Return to Collection Overview
Series 3: Music Director [Series overview]
Series 3.1 contains correspondence to and from Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
regarding his role as music director and his professional activities around the world.
Files may have been kept in the office of Orchestra president, Donald Engle.
Series 3.2 contains office files from the period of Neville Marriner's directorship. Includes
correspondence relating to Minnesota Orchestra matters and to his other professional activities.
Also included is correspondence of Molly Marriner and some personal correspondence.
Series 3.3 contains correspondence, calendars, and office files of Edo de Waart and
his assistant, Polly Barten and documents de Waart's activities with the Minnesota Orchestra
including cover conductors and composers.
Series 3.4 contains a small amount of correspondence and information about tours during the tenure of Eiji Oue.
The majority of the collection consists of cumulative files kept by Oue's assistant, Michael Pelton, that are chronological files
of correspondence from Oue and Pelton.
Return to Collection Overview
Series 4: General Manager
[Series overview]
Series 4.1 includes general correspondence, minutes of staff meetings, some reports
and speeches, and correspondence & publications from the American Symphony Orchestra
League (ASOL). Files from many of these managers are also interspersed in other series,
notably Series 5.
Series 4.2 contains subject files of correspondence from Richard Cisek,
conductor Neville Marriner, and other Orchestra staff members.
The files in Series 4.3 have been left as they were arranged and described in the late
1970s-early 1980s. At the time these records were created, the size of the Orchestra staff
was small and most functions were handled by the offices of either the President or the
General Manager. These files contain correspondence, memos, etc. from
Richard Cisek, Richard Bass, and Donald Engle.
The files in Series 4.4 reflect the administrative and managerial
responsibilities of the general manager after the mid 20th century. He was involved in
most areas of Orchestra operation notably artistic programming, personnel, and touring.
These files come from managers from Richard Cisek through Robert Neu.
Series 4.5 contains files from the office of Robert Neu and include personnel records,
administrative records, and programming files from his tenure and those of his predecessors.
Return to Collection Overview
Series 5: Departments
- 5.1 Public Affairs, 1957-91
[finding aid]
- 5.2 Marketing, 1955-2000
[finding aid]
- 5.3 Artistic Administration, 1960-84
[finding aid]
- 5.4 Box Office, 1941-82
[finding aid]
- 5.5 Operations
[finding aid]
- 5.6 Personnel, 1952-85
[finding aid]
- 5.7 Finance, 1950-84
[finding aid]
- 5.8 Development, 1927-85 (bulk, 1954-85)
[finding aid]
- 5.9 Hall Facilities, 1974-82
[finding aid]
- 5.10 Education, 1960-94 (bulk 1966-86)
[finding aid]
Files in the Public Affairs series are from the offices of Richard Cisek, Richard Bass,
Donald Engle, and Charles Fullmer and were merged at some point. There is significant overlap between early files of the
Public Affairs Office and the Marketing Department
Marketing and Sales files are from many different offices; the files were merged at some
point. They include Marketing Committee meeting reports, staff reports on specific series
(Sommerfest, Weekender Pops, etc.), marketing summaries, and some marketing brochures.
Materials in the Artistic Administration collection include correspondence by various
general managers, music directors, and public relations staff. The bulk of the collection is the
Guest Artists' files that include correspondence, contracts, and biographical and publicity
materials for artists who performed with the Orchestra and at Orchestra Hall.
The Box Office collection contain files relating to box office and ticket sales
and contain information regarding tickets sold, weather conditions during concerts,
and names of conductors and soloists.
Personnel files relate to musicians and Orchestra staff members. Most of the
materials are restricted.
Finance Department records contain financial statements, office files,
and investment reports.
Records from the Development Office detail fundraising activities including the
Guaranty Fund. Many files chronicle the outreach activities of the Orchestra in the 1960s
and 1970s as the Orchestra sought funding for tours, run-outs, and summer concerts.
Applications and final reports to corporate foundations and to governmental agencies often
provide excellent summaries of the Orchestra's financial situation and financial difficulties.
Hall Facilities' files contain routine correspondence and information regarding
the rental and maintenance of Orchestra Hall.
The Education Department collection includes office files that document the
activities of various Education staff as they coordinated activities with volunteers from the
Young People's Symphony Orchestra Association (YPSCA) and WAMSO (Women's
Association of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra).
Return to Collection Overview
Series 6: Events & Special Projects
The extensive records in the Tours series include extensive documentation of touring by the
Orchestra from the late 1950s to the present. Tours included many U.S. states, Canada, Mexico, and other countries. These files
also include documentation of run-outs to nearby cities and towns, annual performance series in Rochester and St. Joseph,
Minnesota, and special performances within the Twin Cities' area in such programs as the Symphony for the Cities. Many tours
were supported with grants from local foundations and corporations, state arts council, national foundations and corporations,
and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The 75th Anniversary collection documents the series of events celebrating the
75th anniversary of the Minnesota Orchestra. Two activities that are extensively documented
are the Composers Competition and the fund raising and publication of the book, Ovation.
A small collection documents the two major events of the 80th Anniversary: the
production of the book, Fourscore, and the luncheon sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce,
"Big League Sports Salute the Minnesota Orchestra."
Scandinavia Today collection includes office files relating to a concert by the Orchestra,
"Tonight Scandinavia," performed as part of the celebration of Scandinavian culture.
The tours of Metropolitan Opera productions started in 1945. Staff of the Minneapolis Symphony
Orchestra/Minnesota Orchestra served as administrative staff for the Opera season. Files include include correspondence,
planning memos, meeting minutes, and publicity materials for the Met's annual spring
performances and the social events surrounding the week.
Sommerfest was inaugurated in 1980 as Viennese Sommerfest, a summer
music festival. Maestro Leonard Slatkin was the artistic director of the festival during the
1980s. The collection contains office records that document the artistic
planning, publicity, operations, and box office activities.
Minnesota Orchestra Visual Entertainment (MOVE) was a business venture established in the 1990s to bring classical music and
the arts to children and adults in new and innovative ways. Three video products were developed: On the Day You Were Born,
Nutcracker: The Untold Story, and Dr. Seuss's My Many Colored Days.
Return to Collection Overview
Series 7: Buildings & related materials
Finding aid for Series 7
- 7.1 Northrop Auditorium Shell, 1956-68
- 7.2 Orchestra Hall, 1965-79
- 7.3 Peavey Plaza, 1976-80
The Minnesota Orchestra performed in different auditoriums during the first seventy years:
- Lyceum Theatre/Minneapolis Auditorium (1905-30)
- Northrop Auditorium, University of Minnesota (1930-70)
- O'Shaughnessy Auditorium, College of St. Catherine (1970-73)
In the early 1970s the Association began investigating possibilities for a new performance
space for the Orchestra. The bulk of this series details the construction of Orchestra Hall.
Series 8: Related organizations
- 8.1 WAMSO, 1959-85 (not the official records of the organization)
[finding aid]
The official records of WAMSO are in the Performing Arts Archives,
collection PA67. The materials are not yet completely organized and described.
Note that YPSCA records are in Performing Arts Archives collection PA 51.
Return to Collection Overview
Series 9: Scrapbooks & clippings
Series 9.1 includes 132 scrapbooks (made from oversize ledger books) that contain
newspaper clippings, programs, box office receipts, and miscellaneous items documenting
the earliest history of the Orchestra from 1908-1964. There are additional scrapbooks, not
part of this group, that also reflect portions of the Orchestra's history, notably a
scrapbook completed by early Orchestra manager, Wendell Heighton (1910-23).
Series 9.2 is the collection of
newspaper clippings maintained by the Public Affairs office and generally continues after the
end of the scrapbooks. Series 9.3 includes all the official news releases from the
Orchestra's Public Affairs office.
Return to Collection Overview
Series 10: Publications
Finding aid for Series 10.1--10.4
- 10.1 Programs (bound), 1904-present
- 10.2 Programs (unbound), 1903-present
- 10.3 Live Music, 1999-2002
- 10.4 Other publications, 1972-89
The Archives has an incomplete set of bound and unbound programs. Early programs were small
and untitled. In 1969 the format was enlarged and the programs were titled Symphony .
In 1974 the title changed to Showcase.
Other publications include Live Music and a number of other short-lived
publications.
Return to Collection Overview
Series 11: Photographs, Slides, Negatives, 1906-present
Finding aid for Series 11
- 11.1 Music directors
- 11.2 Class photographs
- 11.3 People associated with the Orchestra
- 11.4 Guest artists
- 11.5 Events & special concerts
- 11.6 Orchestra Hall & other auditoriums
- 11.7 Related collections
Return to Collection Overview
Series 12: Recordings
Series 13: Posters & Realia
Return to Collection Overview
Series 14: Historical Materials
Finding aid
This artificial grouping includes items of historical interest that have been
donated to the Orchestra or located elsewhere. These materials include letters,
publications, etc. that were collected at various times by various people and
constitute an historical archive of the Orchestra. They include records created by or
about people associated with the Orchestra. A notable group of materials are the
correspondence, interview notes, and other research materials from John Sherman that
he collected in the late 1940s as he was preparing his book, Music & Maestros.
For historical information about the Minnesota Orchestra
see their Web site,
"About the MOA"
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