The Center for Black Music Research Collection contains materials that reflect many areas of Black music including collections from composers, ethnomusicologists, music researchers, music journalists, and also scores, published music, and audiovisual collections across all genres. These collection guides, or finding aids, provide access to materials held in archival special collections. The guide describes the organization and offers content information so researchers can discover relevant information.
Many musical works listed in these guides are handwritten; those listed with a publisher's name are printed. Please check the guides for more information.
Additional guides will be added as they are completed..
Please contact archives@colum.edu with questions.
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Guide to the Wendell Wright Collection
Columbia College Chicago
The Wendell G. Wright Collection consists primarily of materials relating to the Lois J. Wright Memorial Concert Series as well as programs and correspondence. Also included are several published musical scores by Black composers and manuscript and facsimile manuscripts of Gerald Burks Wilson.
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Guide to the William A. Brown Collection
Columbia College Chicago
William A. Brown was a founding member of the Center for Black Music Repertory Ensemble and a Distinguished Professor of Voice at the University of North Florida. He was a tenor and a recitalist and his collection includes concert programs, promotional materials, photographs, correspondence, and media chronicling his career.
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Guide to the William C. Banfield Collection, 1979-2010
Columbia College Chicago
William “Bill” Cedric Banfield is professor emeritus of the Africana Studies Division at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. The collection contains his compositions, including songs and jazz works, and is strong in concert music. It also holds, correspondence, writings, and flyers and programs documenting his career.
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Guide to the William T. Dargan Collection
Columbia College Chicago
William Thomas Dargan is a published ethnomusicologist and an elder in the United Methodist Church, retired from teaching Music at Fisk University and St. Augustine’s College. Dargan grew up listening to Dr. Isaac Watts' hymn singing as well as rhythm and blues. His collection holds audio musical examples that accompany the written text in his book, Lining Out The Word, and field recordings of spirituals and hymns discussed in his work. The term “lining out” is a form of a cappella hymn-singing where a leader sings or chants each line of a hymn before the congregation sings it together.
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Guide to the Zenobia Powell Perry Collection
Columbia College Chicago
Zenobia Powell Perry was a professor, pianist, and composer of classical music. The collection is comprised entirely of Perry’s unpublished scores and music manuscripts, and the collection was arranged by her biographer, Jeannie Gayle Pool.