Gwendolyn Belle collection on her opera career
Overview
Collection of photographs and ephemera concerning African American contralto Gwendolyn Belle's career in opera.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1928-1967
Creator
- Belle, Gwendolyn (Collector, Person)
Condition Description
Collection is housed in a binder which should be removed. There is water damage to a couple of documents.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
This collection is shelved offsite. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
.2 linear feet (1 box)Collection includes 34 photographs with negatives, manuscript music, clippings, and ephemera. The collection focuses on Belle's role as Carmen in the 1956 revival of Carmen Jones. Some photographs relate to Belle's participation in African American sororities. Other material includes programs, a New York City performer permit, two pages of handwritten sheet music, and Belle's contract to be a member of the cast and understudy for the role of May in Sidney Kingsley's Night Life. Includes photograph of Tana Leigh. (source: dealer's description)
Biographical / Historical
Gwendolyn Belle was an African American contralto who performed in opera. She shared the lead role in a revival of Carmen Jones along with the original Carmen, Muriel Smith. Belle grew up in St. Louis; in 1953 she attended Boston University on a scholarship. She was the featured soloist with Leopold Stokowski at Carnegie Hall as well as at Symphony Hall in Boston in 1954. (source: dealer's description)
Arrangement
Collection is in order as received.
Physical Location
Pusey Library, 2, North [Range: 5, Bay: 1]
Custodial History
Ownership of collection prior to this acquisition is unknown.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2021MT-7. Purchased from Langdon Manor Books LLC with the Frank E. Chase Bequest, 2020 September 24.
Processing Information
99154550016203941
Processing Information
Collection was minimally processed by Melanie Wisner, 2020 December.
Creator
- Belle, Gwendolyn (Collector, Person)
- Title
- Belle, Gwendolyn, collector. Gwendolyn Belle collection on her opera career, circa 1928-1967 (MS Thr 2075): Guide
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University
- Date
- 2020 December 15
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou03354
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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