University of Alberta Mixed Chorus
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
A Descriptive Inventory of the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus Fonds
Accession Number: 75-100, 75-122, 76-30, 77-142, 78-93, 80-151, 82-134, 85-111, 86-46, 87-73, 88-39, 90-115, 95-127, 95-196
Lynn McPherson
Summer 2003
UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
University of Alberta Mixed Chorus Fonds
This guide was prepared with financial assistance from the Archives Society of Alberta, Access to Holdings program. The University Archives gratefully acknowledges the assistance of this grant. Without it, these important records could not have been made accessible to researchers and the public.
Fall 2003
University of Alberta Mixed Chorus Fonds
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Descriptive Inventory of the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus Fonds
PREFACE......
INTRODUCTION......
HISTORY......
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE......
I. Executive/Director Files......
Membership Lists......
Social......
Commemorative/Historical......
Publicity/Promotion......
II. Performance Files......
Programs......
Sound Recordings......
Photographs......
University of Alberta Mixed Chorus Fonds
PREFACE
The University of Alberta Archives was established in 1968 at the recommendation of the President’s Standing Committee on Archives and Documents. Its primary mandate is to acquire, maintain, and preserve the records of the University, in any medium, which contain continuing administrative, legal, and historical value. The Archives constitutes the official “memory” of the University and represents the accumulated experience of our educational community. In addition to these official records, the University Archives also contain the private papers of the University staff whose subjects of research and teaching encompass the world.
University of Alberta Mixed Chorus Fonds
INTRODUCTION
The University of Alberta Mixed Chorus fonds consist of the records of the University of Alberta’s Mixed Chorus, and include textual records, photographs, and sound recordings. The records, arranged in two series and described in a basic chronological order, span the period from the Mixed Chorus’ beginning in the 1940’s until the most recent donation of records to the University Archives in 1990.
SOURCE: The records of the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus were deposited over a fifteen year period to the Archives by various individuals associated with the Chorus. The deposits included a variety of media, and the size of the accession varied greatly from one donation to the next; many accessions consisted of one, or just a few, discrete items. While there is a fair amount of textual and photographic material, the predominant record type is sound recordings (tape and phonograph) of Mixed Chorus rehearsals, performances, and productions. The University of Alberta Mixed Chorus, approaching its 60th anniversary, continues to thrive and the Mixed Chorus records at the University of Alberta Archives are considered an open fonds with ongoing donations of Mixed Chorus records expected at future dates.
ARRANGEMENT NOTE: Because the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus records were received at the Archives as several deposits over a period of years, there was a need to bring the records together intellectually to better aid researchers looking for as complete a picture as possible. Individuals associated with the Mixed Chorus deposited records in a variety of ways; one deposit might include a few items while others could consist of several boxes of mixed items. A basic chronological arrangement was maintained, with series arrangements assigned by the archivist to reflect function and format of the records.
The records are in good physical shape. There are a few ‘scrapbook’ style secretary’s books that are somewhat fragile and less stable because of the highly-acidic paper they contain, and the fact that clippings and articles were glued or scotch taped on to these pages. Where possible, photographs were removed from the scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings found throughout the records were photocopied and the original clippings removed. Generally, the textual material is in excellent shape, and the photographs and sound recordings are stored separately to enhance their preservation. The photographs and sound recordings vary in quality, but provide a valuable ‘sight and sound’ sense of the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus over its years of existence.
RELATED ACCESSIONS: Researchers may wish to consult the following accessions for University of Alberta Mixed Chorus related items: #71-34-1, #71-51-6, #74-112 (Mixed Chorus programs); and #75-122, #76-30, #77-106-3, #82-134, #85-111, and #86-46 (Mixed Chorus sound recordings). Researchers might also look generally at records associated with the University of Alberta’s Department of Music, and with Richard S. Eaton of this Department, who was very involved with the Mixed Chorus in its early years.
ACCESS: The University of Alberta Mixed Chorus records are open for research.
EXTENT: 73 cm of textual records, 1245 photographs (763 negatives), 134 sound recording items, 6 posters
DATE RANGE: 1946-1989
University of Alberta Mixed Chorus
1944 - Present
HISTORY
The University of Alberta Mixed Chorus is among the oldest non-sport organizations on campus, tracing its beginning to 1939 when a small choir was formed under the direction of Ottoman Cypress to supply music for Student Christian Movement services. In 1943, the Varsity Choir applied for membership to the Literary Association of the Students’ Union, allowing the choir to apply for Student Union funding to purchase music for the expanding choir. Rehearsals and practices for the choir were organized for the fall of 1944, under the leadership of Gordon F. Clark, a first-year medical student. Their first concert was presented in Convocation Hall on campus in February 1945, and was well received and reviewed. Their repertoire of short classical pieces and traditional folk songs prompted a name change and in 1945, the organization became officially known as the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus.
The Chorus continued to expand its membership, and by 1947 had approximately 130 members. The popularity of the Chorus necessitated the introduction of what would become annual auditions for the limited openings available in the Mixed Chorus. Performances were presented in Edmonton’s Convocation Hall and McDougall Church, as well as in halls in Calgary, Banff and Red Deer. Due to the demands of final year Medicine, Gordon Clark resigned as director of the Chorus in 1947. Richard S. Eaton, a new faculty member in the Department of Fine Arts, agreed to take over as Conductor of the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus.
Under Professor Eaton’s leadership, which was to last for twenty years, the Chorus increased in size and accomplishment. A New Trail article published in 1983, explains:
The music becomes more challenging and diversified, the reviews
more numerous and favorable as the Chorus expands the spring
tours begun under Clark, moves into regular radio appearances and
is asked to sing for special occasions, such as Princess Elizabeth’s
visit in 1951. “Forty Years of Harmony”, New Trail, Vol. 38, No 3, Winter 1983
The Mixed Chorus spring tour started in1947 to meet requests for the Chorus to appear in several Alberta cities and towns. The first tour, held between examination week and convocation in May, saw a group of about 80 members’ travel through southern Alberta for nine days, giving a concert each night, and ending with a culminating performance in Convocation Hall in Edmonton. Once the tour program was chosen, it remained constant with each community receiving the same program of choral music. The Chorus dressed in formal attire for the tours; women in pastel evening gowns and men in dark suits and black bow ties. Chorus members traveled to the various communities by bus, and were billeted in private homes. The spring tour (or May Tour) became an important annual event for the Mixed Chorus. Over the intervening years, tours expanded to include visits to communities in Saskatchewan, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.
Richard Eaton ‘s sudden death while on sabbatical in 1968 was devastating to the Chorus members. James Whittle, a member of the Chorus and Assistant Conductor since 1964, took over as director of the Mixed Chorus after Professor Eaton’s death. He conducted the Chorus in 1968, 1969 and 1971; Dr. David Stocker, a professor in the Department of Music, led the Chorus during 1970. In 1971, Dr. R.E. Stephens, Professor of Music Education at the University of Alberta, assumed the position of Conductor of UAMC, a post he held until 1986. His fifteen years with the Chorus were interrupted briefly by his sabbatical leave in 1979, when Merrill Flewelling conducted the Chorus. Robert de Frece, who sang in the Chorus from 1967 to 1971, took over as director of the UAMC from Ron Stephens in 1986 and is the present director.
In 1988, the Faculty of Education Handbell Ringers was established as a separate sub-group available to current members of the Mixed Chorus; the Handbell Ringers perform annually with the UAMC. The Mixed Chorus Alumni Association was established in 1991 to promote continuing contact among Mixed Chorus alumni and to support and promote the activities of the UAMC. An annual alumni dinner is held prior to the Mixed Chorus Spring Concert.
Members of the current University of Alberta Mixed Chorus represent almost every faculty and school on the U of A campus; auditions continue to be held each year during Registration Week, in September. The Chorus members rehearse four hours each week during the academic year, and sing annually at the University’s Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, and at the Lighting up the Legislature ceremony in Edmonton. Social activities are a constant in the UAMC history, with steak and pig roasts, alumni nights, and innumerable parties a part of each season’s activities. As Moira Day, a long-time member of the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus wrote:
…if there is a single quality that makes the University of
Alberta Mixed Chorus unique, it is a deep sense of continuing
tradition and community…a tradition that is as human as it is musical.
(“Forty Years of Harmony”, New Trail, Winter 1983)
University of Alberta Mixed Chorus
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The University of Alberta Mixed Chorus fonds housed in the University Archives span a period of more than forty years, and provide a valuable record of a long-standing University organization (approaching its 60th anniversary of operation). The Mixed Chorus was, and remains, an active contributor to University society, as well as the broader surrounding community because of its annual province-wide concerts and related public appearances. The Chorus is significant to the history of the development of choral music in Alberta, and its individual members and directors contributors in their own right to the province’s musical growth.
The records have been arranged and described in two broad series and several sub-headings, with a basic chronological order maintained within each series. The textual files provide information about the early years of the Chorus’ existence, particularly the years from 1946 to about 1971. Files maintained by the executive and directors (Richard Eaton and James Whittle) are significant for the information they provide about the Chorus’ yearly operations and activities. Information in the files after the Whittle years is sketchier, and more incidental in nature. The textual files include correspondence, clippings, some meeting minutes, membership lists, the organization’s constitution, and evidence of the planning and fundraising required to orchestrate the annual UAMC Spring Tour.
Series 1 consists of the Executive/Director files with sub-series providing information about membership; social activities, commemorative/historical records, and publicity and promotion files. Correspondence to and from members of the executive was filed together (in the form of scrapbooks in the 1940’s), with correspondence maintained by the Chorus director. Where possible, the original order of the files was maintained, while the series and sub-series titles were assigned by the archivist to reflect the record function.
Series 2 is the Performance-related records, comprised of printed programs, sound recordings, and photographs. As noted earlier, the sound recordings form the largest component of the Mixed Chorus fonds. They include both taped recordings (cassette and reel-to-reel) as well as disc recordings. The photographs, numbering over 1200 in quantity, include prints, negatives, and a few transparencies and contact sheets. While the photographs do vary in quality, they provide important documentation of Mixed Chorus performances, social activities, and tours. There are excellent images of the Chorus’s 40th anniversary activities taken by Hal Kinsey, as well as the annual formal photographs of the Mixed Chorus. Various alumni have sent copies of their personal photographs to the Mixed Chorus executive, adding to the views of the annual Spring tours, and various Chorus social events.
The records do not extend beyond the 1980’s, but future accessions from the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus are anticipated. The Mixed Chorus records provide a profile of an aspect of the non-academic life of the University of Alberta student community, as well as make a valuable contribution to musical/performing arts history documentation for both the University of Alberta, and the Province of Alberta.
Series 1
EXECUTIVE/DIRECTOR FILES
- Executive/Director Files. --1946-1989. --.53 m of textual records.
Archival Description: The Executive/Director files were maintained annually, and contain correspondence, minutes, and tour planning documentation. The files are complete from about 1946 through the 1970s, while the files maintained in the 1980’s are sketchier and more ephemeral in content. The files primarily contain chronologically maintained correspondence, with the letters sent to directors Richard Eaton, and James Whittle interfiled with the correspondence kept by various members of the UAMC executive. Sub-headings within this series umbrella, all small in extent, include membership, social activities, commemorative/historical records, and publicity/promotion records.
Scope and Content: The files in this series contribute significantly to the documentation of the growth of choral music at the University and in the Province as a whole. The activities of the Mixed Chorus, particularly for its first thirty years of operation, are well represented in these series files. The Chorus programs and posters are interesting for both their content and esthetic qualities and contribute to outsiders’ understanding of the operation of the University of Alberta Mixed Chorus. The files are maintained in their original chronological order.
The series title is based on the content of the records.
A file listing follows.
I. Executive/Director Files
1. Correspondence files maintained by Mixed Chorus Directors and Executive; retained in original chronological order:
AccessionAnd File #. / Description / Date
1940's, 1950's
75-100-1 / Richard Eaton, Conductor – Correspondence:
The file includes Varsity songs, a memorial service program for King George VI at Convocation Hall, pamphlet material, and correspondence to and from Richard Eaton concerning Mixed Chorus concerts and schedules, etc. / 1947-1952
75-100-2 / University of Alberta Mixed Chorus (UAMC) minute book and attendance record / 1951, Sept. 1952
75-100-3 / UAMC Executive Correspondence:
Includes correspondence to and from the President and Secretary, re: banquets, chaperones, sponsors and concerts. Executive reports are also included in this file. / 1951-1952
75-100-4 / Richard Eaton, Conductor - Correspondence:
Correspondence and photocopied news clippings / 1953-1954
75-100-5 / Richard Eaton, Conductor and Robin Stuart, Business Manager- Correspondence:
Correspondence concerning tour arrangements, financing of tour, and business matters related to the Mixed Chorus. Bank and financial statements are included in file along with the UAMC Business Manager's report for 1954-1955. / 1954-1955
-
75-100-6 / Richard Eaton, Conductor - Correspondence:
Includes a membership list and tour information / 1955-1956
75-100-7 / Richard Eaton, Conductor and UAMC Business Manager – Correspondence:
Two programs are in file, along with a letter regarding a testimonial dinner planned to celebrate Richard Eaton's tenth year as conductor of the Mixed Chorus. / 1956-1957
75-100-8 / Richard Eaton, Conductor - Correspondence:
Information on tours, concerts, and Chorus membership. / 1957-1958
75-100-9 / Richard Eaton, Conductor - Correspondence:
Programs, membership lists, and tour and concert information. / 1958-1959
75-100-10 / Secretary's Book:
Correspondence, class records, seating plans, programs, reviews, alumni news, and newsletters. / 1958-1959
75-100-11 / Richard Eaton, Conductor -Correspondence:
Concert and tour information. / 1959-1960
75-100-12 / Secretary's Book:
Correspondence and information related to the Mixed Chorus. / 1959-1960
1960's
75-100-13 / Richard Eaton, Conductor and A.G. Markle, Secretary – Correspondence:
Information about tours, concerts, and membership. / 1960-1961
75-100-14 / Richard Eaton, Conductor and UAMC Executive – Correspondence:
Includes the music for the U of A song, greeting cards, and newsletters written by the president and business manager. / 1961-1962
75-100-15 / UAMC Executive – Correspondence:
Includes correspondence about Mixed Chorus events and tours. / 1961-1962
75-100-16 / Richard Eaton, Conductor -Correspondence:
Includes an 'outline' of year's activities, lists, and tour information. / 1962-1963
75-100-17 / UAMC Executive – Correspondence:
Includes correspondence about Mixed Chorus events and tours; newsletter clippings. / 1962-1963
75-100-18 / Richard Eaton, Conductor and UAMC Alumni Secretary – Correspondence:
Includes programs and telegrams. / 1963-1964
75-100-19 / UAMC Executive – Correspondence:
Correspondence to and from the UAMC secretary, business manager, and publicity manager. / 1963-1964
75-100-20 / Richard Eaton, Conductor - Correspondence:
Information about Mixed Chorus events and activities. / 1964-1965
75-100-21 / UAMC Executive – Correspondence:
Information about Mixed Chorus events and activities. / 1964-1965
75-100-22 / Richard Eaton, Conductor - Correspondence:
Mixed Chorus correspondence. / 1965-1966
75-100-23 / Ted Drouin, Publicity Manager – Correspondence:
Expo '67 tour organization and promotion plans. / 1965-1966
75-100-24 / Richard Eaton, Conductor and UAMC Executive – Correspondence:
Tour organization and Chorus activities. / 1966-1967
75-100-25 / UAMC Executive – Correspondence:
Mixed Chorus events and activities. / 1966-1967