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The Wisconsin Music Archives contains collections representing all Wisconsin musical traditions and encompassing the period from the 1850s to the present. Strengths of the collection include published sheet music, folk and ethnic music, scores by contemporary Wisconsin composers, recordings issued by Wisconsin labels, and of performers associated with Wisconsin.
To search for Wisconsin Music Archives, check the lists below and the library catalog. Material in the Cuca, Paramount, Wisconsin Folksong, and Wisconsin Sheet Music collections can be searched through the Mills Music Library Digital collections. Many additional collections are not yet processed, so please consult a staff member for assistance.
Wisconsin Music Archives material may be used within the Music Library. Many items are available upon request during regular business hours. However, fragile material, unusual formats or unprocessed collections often require staff time for preparation. To use Wisconsin Music Archives materials, contact us via email with questions or to request copies.
Video recordings of classes held by Japanese violinist and educator Shinichi Suzuki in 1976 at the American Suzuki Institute at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. During this time, he gave lectures and demonstrations to teachers and parents, as well as teaching master classes and group classes to students.
A collection of digital recordings originally made by Thomas Robert “Bobby” Anderson (1916-1971) of his jazz ensemble, Bob Anderson’s Oshkosh Serenaders. The original recordings are 17 custom-recorded discs and most have not been commercially issued. The material also includes some brief rehearsal, studio banter, and radio broadcast segments.
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Audiophile Records began in 1947 in Saukville, Wisconsin. The label specialized in high quality recordings of traditional jazz, classical chamber, and organ music. The Library’s collection contains approximately 50 discs published by the label while it operated in Saukville.
Jack Baker was a collector of jazz recordings, and producer and host of several jazz radio programs in Milwaukee. The collection includes over 9,000 recordings, mainly commercial releases from the 1920s to the 1940s; a small number non-commercial recordings of concerts, rehearsals, etc.; master tapes of his radio shows; and approximately 20 jazz discographies. Major jazz figures such as Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden are heavily represented, and the collection includes many Wisconsin artists such as Bill Carlson and Dick Reudebusch. The radio shows include Baker’s choice, Dance bands, Jazz classics, Sentimental journey and Sunday soundstage.
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John Barrows (1913-1974) was a renowned French horn teacher, composer and performer who played with Minneapolis Symphony, New York City Opera and City Ballet, Budapest String Quartet, New York Woodwind Quintet, Fine Arts Quartet, and other ensembles. He taught at Yale, New York University, Arizona State, and from 1961-1974, University of Wisconsin-Madison. His long friendship with Alec Wilder led to Wilder dedicating three of his sonatas and a suite to Barrows. The collection includes nearly 200 sound recordings, 56 manuscript scores, 19 published scores, correspondence, photographs, and a scrapbook.
related materials: Alec Wilder collection
Bunny Berigan (1908–1942), the well known jazz trumpeter who came to prominence in the 1930s, was born in Fox Lake, Wisconsin. He became a member of such notable bands as those of Hal Kemp, Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, and the Dorsey Brothers. Berigan also led his own group in addition to being an active studio musician. He is often associated with the tune “I can’t get started,” popularized by his 1937 recording.
The collection features a comprehensive collection of Berigan recordings as released on 78-rpm records; research materials from Robert Dupuis, who authored a Berigan biography; a vast amount of materials donated by Norm Krusinski; many photos, articles, videos, published music, and realia related Berigan. Other donors who have contributed significant resources to the collection include Audrey Baker, Lorraine Berigan, Tom Cullen, Norma Dobrochowski, Ron Flintjer, Phyllis Ger, Jacques Gilbert, John Grams, Joyce and Ken Hansen, Todd Krusinski, James B. Raue, and Bozy White.
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related materials: Bunny Berigan, Fox Lake’s own (UW Digital Collections and Fox Lake Public Library)
Bing Bingen (1909-1971) a pianist and sometimes bandleader from Marshfield, WI who worked with dance bands in the late 1920’s and 1930’s. He played with Lanky Neal and his orchestra, the Nite Owls and the Tice-Allen Band before forming his own groups, Bing Bingen and his band, and Bob and his Rhythm Rascals. The collection consists of correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, posters, and various ephemera.
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Aleksander Bogucki (d. ca. 1980), a Stevens Point resident, compiled a manuscript collection of melodic lines for several thousand Polish folksongs and dances, some of which include text.
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The Jerzy Bojanowski collection contains items relating to Jerzy Bojanowski (1893-1983), a Polish conductor who began his American career in Chicago in 1932 and relocated to Milwaukee in the early 1940s. He founded the Milwaukee Chamber Symphony Orchestra, and was conductor of the Milwaukee community concert series Music Under the Stars. The collection contains concert programs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs and one manuscript.
The Bruce Bollerud Collection contains materials documenting Bruce Bollerud’s life and work as a musician with the Goose Island Ramblers and the Good Time Band, as a solo performer, and his work as a special education teacher.
part of Local Centers/Global Sounds digital collections
related materials: Goose Island Ramblers Documentation Project collection, 1990-1991 (Wisconsin Historical Society Archives)
Cecil Burleigh (1885–1980) was a composer, violinist and former University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty member. The library has a large collection of Burleigh’s published music and sound recordings.
related materials: Cecil E. Burleigh Papers, 1906-1980 (Wisconsin Historical Society Archives)
Six unpublished compositions by UW–Madison trombone professor Allen H. Chase. Includes recordings of two of these compositions, plus three concerts of the UW–Madison Jazz Band, which Prof. Chase established in 1968.
Manuscripts: Palaguassa for twelve trombones, Rondo for eight trombones, Rondo for ten trombones, Sonata for eight trombones, Suite for Brass Choir, Suite for trombone quartet.
Recordings: Palaguassa, UW Trombone choir, March 28, 1972; Suite for Brass Choir (date & performers unknown); UW Jazz Band Concerts, December 8, 1970, March 14, 1971, May 9, 1971.
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John Check was a polka composer and band leader from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The Archives holds many of his commercial recordings which can be located in the Library Catalog and his printed music is documented in the Wisconsin Sheet Music Database.
related materials: Wisconsin sheet music database
The Civil War band collection was started when, in 1858, a group of citizens of Brodhead, Wisconsin, decided to form a brass band. They initially called themselves the Brodhead Tin Band, from the set of inexpensive tin instruments that they purchased. Soon, they purchased a set of brass instruments, however, and became known as the Brodhead Brass Band, or “B.B.B.” Under that name, they performed at the debate between presidential candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas on 27 August 1858 at Freeport, Illinois. During the Civil War, they served the Union in the 1st Brigade.
catalog record (UW Special Collections)
A collection of music from the library of this Milwaukee bandmaster and dates from the late-nineteenth century to the early-twentieth century.
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A collection of concert programs, clippings and correspondence from Robert Cole, flute player and music professor at UW-Madison. Programs are from Philadelphia Orchestra, recitals and concerts with the Wingra Woodwind Quintet and other UW-Madison ensembles Cole performed with, including orchestra tour programs from Europe and the Soviet Union.
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The Concert programs collection contains concert programs from around Wisconsin, including University of Wisconsin campuses, civic orchestras, and other musical organizations, mostly in Madison and Milwaukee.
The Coney Island Studios Recordings collection contains compact discs and vinyl disc recordings by regional rock, folk and popular musician produced between 1993 and 2008 at Coney Island Studios, an independent recording studio owned and operated by Wendy Schneider in Madison, Wis.
Manuscripts of arrangements and original composition by composer and conductor David Lewis Crosby. The collection also includes published sound recordings, scores, and books, which can be found in the Library Catalog.
The Cuca Records Collection is comprised of documents including correspondence, artist contracts, financial records, photographs and memorabilia documenting the Cuca Records company. The collection also includes releases on LP, 45, CD and cassette formats. The label operated out of Sauk City, Wisconsin from 1958 through the mid-1970s. Many of these recordings are available in the Music Library. Extent: approx. 24 linear feet. The database provides discographical information for the Music Library’s LPs and 45s released by Cuca Records including its affiliated labels.
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Transcriptions of Winnebago Indian songs and a typescript study of Winnebago Music (photocopies) by Densmore (1867–1957). Her published books are available through the Library Catalog.
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Dietz was a Milwaukee-based composer of popular songs. The collection contains 10 titles in various formats: typeset mock-ups for publication, handwritten manuscripts, sketches and lyric sheets.
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The Down Home Dairyland Collection has copies of broadcast tapes and research materials from this radio series (1980s–1990s) hosted by Richard March and James Leary. The Music Library holds the companion publication, Down home diaryland : a listener’s guide.
part of Local Centers/Global Sounds digital collections
related materials: Down home dairyland : a listener’s guide
Marie Endres (1904-1999) was the conductor of the Madison Sinfonia and also a violin teacher. The collection includes programs, photographs and recordings.
Olive Endres (1898-1995), a Madison resident, composed sacred choral music, piano music, and music for strings. The Archives holds her manuscripts and published compositions.
Milwaukee composer and conductor Carl Eppert wrote more than 70 works, many of them major compositions including 7 symphonies, several tone poems, an opera, a ballet, suites, songs, and choral works. The collection includes unpublished manuscript scores, some with accompanying parts, and a few published scores; sketches and drafts of unfinished works, notebooks and teaching materials; a small amount of correspondence; an essay draft, scrapbooks; concert programs, and photographs.
The collection documents traditional music of European immigrant communities in the northern tier of counties in Wisconsin and the western counties of the upper peninsula of Michigan along Lake Superior’s south shore. The collection reflects the mix of musical traditions among the region’s Cornish, Bohemian, Croatian, Finnish, French-Canadian, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Irish, Slovenian, Slovak, Swedish, Swiss, and Ukrainian immigrant singers, instrumentalists, dance hall veterans, and home performers.
part of Local Centers/Global Sounds digital collection.
The Federal Music Project (Wisconsin) collection consists of parts for 54 musical works by Wisconsin composers, principally for orchestra, band or mandolin ensemble. A small number are for piano solo or duet.
related materials: Records, 1936-1941 (Wisconsin Historical Society Archives)
related materials: Government and music : a study of the Federal music project (1935-1941) (Minds @ UW)
Annie Peat Fink and Albert Fink were married musicians and music instructors from Milwaukee whose careers spanned the early decades of the 20th century. Annie Fink (1877-1917) was a church organist and concert pianist. Albert Fink (1867-1950) was a violinist who played with several orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony. The collection contains annotated sheet music and papers related to their careers.
Emma C. Fink (d. 1956) was a Milwaukee-based composer of music for piano and organ. The collection contains manuscripts and copies of her compositions.
Finseth (1911–1991) was a folk fiddler from Mondovi, Wisconsin. The collection features his homemade tape recordings, biographical materials, and photographs.
part of Local Centers/Global Sounds digital collections
The collection contains recordings of performances conducted by the legendary UW-Madison choral director Robert Fountain (1917-1996) from between 1972 and 1994. The recordings are primarily of the UW Concert Choir and Choral Union concerts. The collection also includes programs, newspaper clippings, and other documents.
The collection contains master tapes and audio files from the radio program “WIBA/Full Compass live radio concerts” produced between 1973 and 1980 as broadcast on WIBA-FM radio, Madison, Wisconsin. Notable performers include Ben Sidran, Spooner, Clicker, Mr. Brown, Asleep at the Wheel, Head East, Luther Allison, Paul Filipowicz Blues Band, and Townes Van Zandt.
Collection of manuscript compositions of Alfred Galpin (1901-1983). Born in Appleton, Galpin was a former University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty member.
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related materials: Alfred Galpin family papers (1861-1966) (Wisconsin Historical Society)
The Joseph Gigante Collection contains manuscript scores by Gigante (1887–1975). Gigante was born in Palermo, Italy and became a longtime resident of Milwaukee who devoted his life to the band repertory as a performer, conductor, and award-winning composer.
A collection of recitals and concerts of UW–Madison School of Music choir director Dale Gilbert recorded between 1962 and 1973.
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The Marshall F. Granros Collection contains notes and audiocassette recordings related to the folk music radio shows presented by Marshall Granros on WFLM in Appleton. Granros presented the shows “Kaleidoscope for Kids” and “Kicking the Dog Around” from the early 1960s to 1990.
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The Oskar Hagen Collection contains mainly his manuscripts and published music. Hagen (1888–1957) was a German art historian and composer who founded the UW-Madison Art Department. The collection also includes 78-rpm recordings of his compositions which have been transferred to compact disc (request PMU 309).
related materials: Oskar Hagen papers, 1930-1945 (UW Archives)
The Bucky Halker collection contains audio and video recordings, papers, concert posters and flyers, and photographs related to the career of Bucky Halker, a Wisconsin-born and Chicago-based singer-songwriter and historian whose work concentrates on labor protest songs and Illinois folk music.
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Ethwell “Eddy” Hanson (1893–1986), was a Waupaca native who became a radio organist in Chicago in the 1920s and was also a composer of popular songs. The Archives holds his manuscripts, published music, poems, correspondence, photographs, and commercial recordings, as well as one cassette interview with Hanson.
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Ralph Hermann (1914-1994) was born in Milwaukee, studied at Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and variously served as music director for ABC, clarinetist under Toscanini with the NBC Orchestra, and staff arranger for NBC. The collection consists of manuscript scores and parts for 8 short works for orchestra, probably radio or television cues.
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Douglas Hill, Emeritus Professor of Music–Horn at UW–Madison, taught from 1974 until he retired in 2011. He performed and recorded with the Wingra Woodwind Quintet and the Wisconsin Brass Quintet. Hill’s books are considered classics of horn pedagogy. The collection contains research notes and draft manuscripts, educational CDs and videos, manuscript scores for horn and chamber orchestra, concert programs and performance recordings.
A collection of published Czech/Bohemian brass band music utilized by the Hillsboro Band of Hillsboro, Wis.
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Jacoby’s Orchestra collection contains approximately 200 published scores and parts used by Jacoby’s Orchestra of Kenosha, Wisconsin. The collection includes pieces for accompanying silent films and a few manuscripts arranged by F. R. Jacoby.
Gunnar Johansen (1906–1991) was a former University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty member. The collection contains over 100 reel-to-reel tape recordings of his improvised piano sonatas, plus recorded performances of complete keyboard music by J.S. Bach, Liszt, and Busoni. Documents include a manuscript of Johansen’s Vokaliser, as well as correspondence relating to the sales of his recordings.
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The Alice B. Keachie Collection contains printed music and books (mostly music instruction), newspaper clippings collected by Keachie, a piano teacher and resident of Madison, Wis. The collection also includes some manuscripts of compositions and arrangements by Keachie.
The KL Recording Service collection contains company records and vinyl sound recordings produced by KL Recording Service, a record label and recording service based in Hubertus, Wisconsin. The label operated from 1969 to 1998, producing polka recordings by local and regional musicians.
Rudolf Kolisch (1896–1978) was a former University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty member and leader of the Pro Arte Quartet. The Archives holds a collection of articles and programs, mostly in German, dating prior to his residence in the United States (photocopies). Some historic Kolisch and Pro Arte recordings are documented on School of Music recordings.
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related materials: Library Catalog
related materials: Rudolf Kolisch papers, 1886-1978 (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University)
Mike Kuehl, Sr. recorded bands at his Audio Unlimited recording studio in Rhinelander between 1966-1976, made mobile recordings throughout the state and was particularly known for recording bands in the Madison, WI area. The collection comprises some of his production and master sound recordings in various formats: DATS, cassettes, CDs, 45s, LPs, and a variety of open reel tape configurations. The recordings chronicle Kuehl’s studio recordings from 1966 through the early 2000s and also include his airchecks and sound productions for radio stations in Rhinelander, Marinette, Menominee, Minneapolis, Madison, and elsewhere. Highlights among the open reel tapes are the original mixes [marked “without overdubs”] of his 1960s and ‘70s rock recordings by the Illusions, Gord’s Horde, Rebounds, Sons of May, Midnight Sun, Lexington Project, Screamin’ Bob, Stratus, the Loaders, Dave Yonker, and others. Other artists recorded by Kuehl in the collection include Billy Folger, Kevin Vick, Lloyd Kaye, Maxwell St. Blues Band, Red Johnson, Mr. Brown, Exodus, Bad Influence, and many more.
A manuscript collection of 26 choral works by Daniel Kunene (1923-), poet and professor emeritus of African Languages and Literature at UW–Madison.
Geary Larrick (b. 1943) is a former University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point composer, author, and percussion professor. The Archives holds a collection of his published compositions, most featuring percussion instruments. His published books are available through the Library Catalog.
LeRoy Larson documented the traditional dance music of Scandinavians, chiefly Norwegians, in Minnesota with some overlap into western Wisconsin and northern Iowa. The collection includes his field recordings, along with accompanying documentation; several folios of fiddle tunes composed or transcribed by Otto Rindlisbacher; as well as private recordings of musicians including Leonard Finseth.
part of Local Centers/Global Sounds digital collections
The collection includes 8 photographs, and photocopies of newspaper clippings, publicity materials, and photographs. Lewis (1917-1992) played jazz trumpet, most notably with Woody Herman’s band during its days as “The Band That Plays the Blues.”
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Hilmar Luckhardt (1913–1984) composer and educator who taught composition and theory at the University of Wisconsin from 1939 to 1979. The collection contains Luckhardt’s manuscripts, published compositions, and several recordings of his works.
The collection includes scrapbooks, clippings, photographs, posters, and other materials from Carrel Pray, the group’s founder and director.
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Charles Mills (1873-1937) was the founding director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Music. The collection includes books, scores and published editions of his works, three letters, and many musical manuscripts. These manuscripts, which make up the bulk of the collection are in most instances incomplete workings of sections of his compositions or exercises in fugue and counterpoint writing. There are also numerous loose sheets of manuscript which have not been specifically identified.
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The Archives holds recordings, programs, and papers of this Stevens Point performing organization.
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Arnold Munkel (1918-2003) was a mechanic and welder from Spring Grove, Minnesota. Beginning in the 1960s, and especially after his retirement, he devoted much of his time to documenting Norwegian-American folk and old-time music in southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa. He recorded home parties, private events, public and festival performances, and a few non-musical events such as interviews and family reunions.
part of Local Centers/Global Sounds digital collections
Record label in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that specialized in polka and old-time music by Wisconsin artists. The Archives’ collection includes LPs, 45s, cassettes, and compact discs most of which can be found in the Library Catalog.
Manuscript score collection of musical works composed by Uno Nyman of Milwaukee, Wisconsin between 1915 and 1957. Most of his compositions were written for chamber groups. He also wrote extensively for solo piano, voice and piano, and several larger works for orchestra, including one symphony.
A collection on 181 reels of jazz music and interviews from Ken Ohst, long-time jazz announcer and producer at WHA Radio. Performers include Duke Ellington, Bunny Berigan, Dick Ruederbusch, Alex Wilder and others.
The Paramount Records Discography contains information about Paramount Records and affiliated labels produced by the New York Recording Laboratories of Port Washington, Wisconsin. All records included in the discography are in the collections of the Wisconsin Music Archives of the Music Library.
Harry Partch (1901–1974) was an experimental composer who spent several years in Madison in the 1940s. The library holds lacquer disc recordings of his Madison concerts, as well as some photographs and scores.
Jack Penewell (1897–1973) was a Madison resident and guitar player. The Jack Penewell collection includes photographs, scrapbook, commercial recordings, test pressings of unissued recordings, newspaper clippings, contracts, fliers, sheet music, and various issues of serial publications.
David Peterson (1935-2014) was a former University of Wisconsin-Extension faculty member and composer of musical shows based on Wisconsin subjects. The collection is comprised of his manuscripts, photos, audio and video recordings.
Contains sound recordings produced by Pfau Sound and Recording Studio, a record label and recording service based in Milwaukee. The company operated from 1946 to 1958, producing mostly popular, polka and old-time music recordings by local and regional musicians. Owner Harold Pfau operated the studio and label as an adjunct of his audio electronics shop, Pfau Sound Equipment Company. The collection includes original master disc recordings and commercial releases. Some of the artists recorded include Bernie Roberts, John Check, Emil Guenther, Ray Dorschner, Louis Bashell, Joe Gumin, Gene Heier, Dick Rodgers, Erv Matti, Pete Ochs, Joey Tantillo; country singers Dave Dudley, Ira Smith and Lois Walter; western swing band the Hiawatha Ramblers; Swiss Family Fraunfelder, Jolly Alpine Boys, Dave Prichard, Ken Davis, and the Gospelteers.
Edna Pietsch (1894–1982) was a Milwaukee composer of chamber and orchestral music. The Archives holds her complete known manuscripts.
Materials produced by Polkaland Records, a label founded circa 1950 by David A. Bensman in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. In 2006, subsequent owner Greg Leider donated the materials that make up the Archives’ current collection. The collection numbers over 500 recordings (78s, 45s, LPs, audiocassettes, compact discs, and audiotape reels), posters, contracts, and a history of the Polkaland label compiled by Leider.
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Formed in Belgium in 1913, the Quartet has been in residence at the University of Wisconsin–Madison since 1940. The collection includes recordings from the 1930s to the present and programs from the 1920s to the present, clippings, articles commercial 78-rpm recordings, and recordings from the UW School of Music. A paper inventory is available of Pro Arte recordings from the 1940s–1950s.
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related materials: Library Catalog
Otto Rindlisbacher was a musician, fiddle maker, composer, hunter and tavern owner and musician of Swiss-German origin from Rice Lake, Wisconsin. The bulk of the Rindlisbacher collection is unpublished music, essays and poems by Rindlisbacher and his wife Iva.
Heinz Roemheld (1901–1985) was a Milwaukee native and a prodigious composer of film music. The Archives holds copies of manuscripts for his concert music, a list of works, and a biographical study.
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Rosser (1913-2010) was a Madison resident, composer and violinist. The collection contains her manuscripts, papers, programs, and taped performances of her compositions.
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R.W. Rozelle, an oboe player, was band director in Athens, Wisconsin, before becoming band director at John Muir Junior High School from 1961 through the late 1970s. At John Muir he conducted the Junior band and Advanced Band as well as the Swingin’ Scots, a dixieland group made up of some of the more advanced players. He also conducted the Wausau Concert Band from 1960-1980, and played tenor saxophone professionally in small jazz groups in the Wausau, Wisconsin, area. The collection includes photocopies of manuscript scores with parts of marches composed by Rozelle, and 1 CD.
The collection consists primarily of early twentieth-century dance and theater music from this Madison performing group.
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Country and old-time music by the Dick Sherwood Band featuring Dick Sherwood (fiddle, guitar, vocals) and Goldie Sherwood (bass, vocals). The collection includes audio recordings from the television program “The Dick Sherwood Show,” videos of reunion shows and promotional posters.
The Ben Sidran collection contains paper records and audiovisual recordings related to the career of Ben Sidran, a Madison-based jazz pianist, singer, music producer, writer, and television and radio presenter. The collection includes books and articles written by Ben Sidran, production notes and business records, press, sheet music, photographs, posters and flyers, music and video releases performed by and produced by Ben Sidran, concert recordings, interviews of prominent jazz musicians, and radio and television performances.
This collection contains nearly 400 reel-to-reel tape recordings used as source audio for the Wisconsin Public Radio show Simply Folk. The performances are of Wisconsin and regional folk musicians performing live at various music festivals in and around Wisconsin.
related materials: Wisconsin Public Radio collection
Gene Ski (Gene Kurowski) was born April 16, 1944 in Green Bay, WI. He performed rockabilly and country music with a variety of backing bands such as the Mavericks, the Ski Boys and the Troubadours. In the 1960s Gene recorded for Cuca Records, and later for Tee Pee Records (Appleton, WI) and in Nashville in 1977. Ski originally recorded the first track, “Six foot down” in 1966 for Cuca Records. The collection includes master studio tape, with digital transfers, of unissued Gene Ski and the Country Show recordings.
A small collection of correspondence and a scrapbook of clippings, reports and programs from this music organization in Sparta, Wis. in the 1930s.
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A collection of partbooks and published orchestral parts collected by the Stahl Brass Band of Luxemburg, Wisconsin, that flourished in the late-19th and early-20th centuries.
Michael Stone is a guitarist and vocalist from Madison, Wisconsin, who performs with the Roots Band, Blackstone Reggae Allstars and the Kingtown Rockers. The collection contains sound recordings, press releases and promotional photographs.
Between 1940 and 1946, the Wisconsin Folk Music Recording Project, co-sponsored by the UW and the Library of Congress, sent School of Music faculty member Helene Stratman-Thomas (1896–1973) on collecting expeditions around Wisconsin to record and document the folk music and folklore that reflected the colorful pattern of immigration and occupational development in the state.
online (sound recordings)
The Archives holds materials gathered in the 1980s by Stuttgen when she visited descendants of the Jacobs family, singers earlier studied in the 1930s by folklorist Asher Treat.
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related materials: Songs from Langlade County, Wisconsin
Ricardo Vasquez is a percussionist and marimba player active in the Madison, Wis. area. He performs with the Zor Shrine Band and the Sugar River Band, as well as solo performances of his arrangements of popular music. The Library holds CDs and DVDs of performances, and papers relating to live performances, promotional materials, and business operations of Vasquez Productions.
Ramond Vickers (active 1930s) was a Wisconsin Rapids resident(?). The Archives holds a small collection of his manuscript art songs.
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This collection contains concert programs generated by the School of Music from approximately 1906 to 2024. The collection includes programs for university ensembles, student recitals, faculty and guest artist performances, and groups such as the Pro Arte Quartet and the Wingra Woodwind Quintet.
The Viking Accordion Band formed in 1931 in Albert Lea, Minnesota by Leighton A. Berg and Roy Simonson. The group grew to include eight members variously performing on accordion, clarinet, trumpet, saxophone, banjo, piano, bass horn and drums. They were a popular attraction at dance halls and radio stations throughout Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and the Chicago area, performing Scandinavian old-time and popular dance music. Between 1933 and 1941, the band recorded 46 tracks for Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana, Brunswick Recording Co. and Decca Records in Chicago. The collection includes papers, postcards, bound volume, audio discs, compact discs.
The Visual Materials collection of photographs primarily of musicians and music-related subjects dating from the late nineteenth century to the present. In addition to photographs, there are postcards, lithographic prints, advertising and promotional materials, posters, and other types of ephemera.
New images are added on a regular basis.
The collection consists of published music scores and books from the conductor’s personal collection. Many of the scores include handwritten conductor’s marks. The collection amounts to about 175 scores, principally operas and symphonies.
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Joseph Philbrick Webster (1819, New Hampshire-1875, Elkhorn, Wisconsin) composed music for ballads, hymns, patriotic drama, and a cantata, and, in all, published fully 1,000 songs. Among his most popular compositions were “Lorena,” sung by both Confederate and Union forces during the Civil War, and “In the sweet bye and bye.”
A collection of 24 reel-to-reel sound recordings of various performance ensembles, many featuring Donald Whitaker as performer or director. Whitaker was a UW-Madison professor of trumpet performance (1958?-1981) and founder of the Wisconsin Brass Quintet.
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The Herbert W. Willett collection contains published sheet music, music manuscripts, artwork, photographs, and piano tuning equipment. A composer, piano tuner, and performer, Willett worked primarily in Madison, Wisconsin from 1913 to 1944.
The Archives serves as the score repository for members of the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers. Many of the 500 compositions listed in the following catalog may be found in the Alliance’s periodical Catalog of compositions.
related materials: Catalog of compositions
A collection of music-related materials from the Wisconsin Folk Museum of Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, which operated from 1986–1996. Included in the collection are books, recordings, printed music, photographs, slides, videotapes, posters, programs, and brochures.
related materials: Wisconsin Folk Museum
The database represents materials from two collections housed in three discrete but closely related repositories. The Wisconsin Folksong Collection reflects and documents the state’s colorful pattern of immigration and occupational development during those years. It includes Wisconsin field recordings, notes, and photographs made by UW–Madison faculty member Helene Stratman-Thomas as part of the Wisconsin Folk Music Recording Project, co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin and the Library of Congress during the summers of 1940, 1941, and 1946; and recordings collected by song catcher Sidney Robertson Cowell during the summer of 1937 for the Special Skills Division of the Resettlement Administration.
related materials: Helene Stratman-Thomas collection, 1823-1979, (bulk 1940-1960)
related materials: Leland A. Coon papers, 1923-1961 (UW-Madison Archives)
Files of newspaper clippings, pamphlets, brochures, promotional materials, etc. on music-related subjects pertaining to Wisconsin. The files contains over 600 subjects including musical instruments, musicians, genres, organizations and performance groups.
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The Wisconsin Public Radio collection contains reel-to-reel tape and transcription disc recordings of various radio programs produced by WHA Radio in Madison, Wisconsin.
inventory (partial)
The Wisconsin Sheet Music Collection contains music written by Wisconsin composers, published by Wisconsin publishers, or pieces whose subject matter relates to Wisconsin. The publications date from the late 1850s, extend to the present, and include principally, but not exclusively, popular music traditions. While the majority of pieces are songs, the database also includes music for piano, instrumental music, and choral music. English, of course, predominates, but a significant number of German language items can be found. Most items are published. While each item in the index retains a strong Wisconsin connection, many of the titles were published elsewhere in the United States and some were published simultaneously in Germany. New titles are added on a regular basis.
Worth Watching was a live music television program that ran on WYOU in Madison, Wisconsin from 1997 into the early 2000s. The show featured hour-long performances by local bands. The collection comprises 153 VHS videocassette recordings.
A collection of published Czech/Bohemian brass band music utilized by the Yuba Band of Yuba, Wisconsin.
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