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Shirk
COLLECTION: William Allen (Andrew?) Shirk collection
LOCATION AS OF January, 2002: University Press Building Library storage area
(78-rpm records); Music Library Special Collections (scrapbooks, with index);
Collections File (register of recordings).
PROVENANCE: Personal library of donor, a University of Illinois graduate, class
of 1912.
WHEN ACQUIRED: 1952-1957.
DESCRIPTION: Total of 1,165 78-rpm records, chiefly operatic, but also several
other prominent figures in the entertainment world. "Drama from will Rogers to
Sarah Bernhart. Stage personalities from Eva Tanguay to Bea Lillie. Singers from
Caruso & Schumann-Heink to Tony Martin & Kate Smith. However, majority of
recordings are of such opera stars as Witherspoon, Tetrazzini, Sembrich, Patti,
Plancon, Marsh, Melba, McCormack, Lilli Lehmann, Journet, Hempel, Homer, Garden,
Gadski,
Gluck, Galli-Curci, Farrar, di Reszke, Destinn, Culp, Calve, Chaliapin, Amato,
Alda." (Unsigned memo, Collections File folder, "Shirk"). Among the total, 495
are on the Victor label, 172 Columbia, 45 Bruns
wick, 185 International Record Collectors Club, and about 25 other record
manufacturers.
A series of 15 small (octavo-size) scrapbooks, containing clippings,
photographs, advertisements, etc., along with copious commentary by Shirk
himself, accompanied the donation:
782 Sh 85 Shirk, William Allen.
Stars of the past.
v.1-2: A number of general topics, including Shirk's description of how he
developed his interest in opera and his record collection (v.l); personnel lists
of Chicago opera during specific years ( v. 2 ) .
v.3-14: Entries arranged alphabetically by name of performer (mainly
singers).
v.15: Index by name of singer, listing specific recordings in the collection,
as well as brief lists by record manufacturer/serial number .
An additional handwritten register. ("Opera Records" binder, ca.500p. ) is
arranged by name of composer, providing information as to titles of vocal works,
performers, and labels plus serial numbers.
Along with the recordings and related scrapbooks, Shirk also donated to the
University of Illinois a number of books about music, as well as books and
pictorial materials on topics other than music, which were distributed to
appropriate Library units. In 1956 Shirk sent eight tinted mounted plates of
opera stars in costume (11" x 15.5"), plus an additional unidentified portrait
of a woman. "As the Music Library has
no facilities for housing such things, we hope they may be taken care of in
Ricker Library...". (Memo, Music Librarian Jay Allen, December 17, 1956).
ACCESS/FINDING AIDS/BIBLIOGRAPHY : Refer to Shirk's scrapbooks and register, as
described above. No list exists at present within the Music Library of the
specific books which Shirk sent to the University, although his letter to School
of Music director Duane Branigan of January 4, 1957, refers
to such a list. The Collections File folder includes a number of notes and memos
prepared by Jay Allen relating to appraising, processing, and housing the
collection; as well as copies of numerous letters between Shirk and Branigan.
Non-music donations by Shirk are described briefly in Major (cited below).
Additional documentary information may be available in University Archives in
two record series for Duane Branigan, as well as one series for William Shirk
(class of 1912; entered under "William
Andrew Shirk").
INDEX TERMS : Opera
Recordings: 78 rpm
Shirk, William
SEE ALSO: Z881 U752 1974 Major, Jean A. Collections acquired by the
University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign, 1897-1974: a catalog.
(Champaign, University of Illinois, 1974), entry no.1571 p.47.
157. Shirk, William Allen collector. Shirk Collection. 1165 phonodiscs; ca. 100
volumes. Shirk's original contribution consisted chiefly of recordings of
operatic productions during the Golden Age of Opera; nearly every vocal artist
of that period was represented. Some recordings of non-singing celebrities were
included, too. To accompany the records were scrapbooks containing pictures and
articles about singers of the past. Subsequent gifts were pictures of railroad
locomotives, paintings and etchings, Indian objects, and books--a music
collection and general volumes.
Volume fifteen of Shirk's scrapbooks indexes the record collection.
Housed in the Music Library.
Gifts,1952-1957. Major
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