Scope and Contents of Collection
The Edward N. Waters Music Library Association records covers the period from 1936–1952; the bulk of the materials date from 1942–1946. The collection consists of professional papers including unpublished correspondence, telegrams, notes, meeting minutes and reports, conference programs, pamphlet and catalogue drafts, membership lists, paper ballots, and bibliographies related to Waters’ position as president of the Music Library Association (MLA) and Assistant Chief of the Music Division at the Library of Congress. Notable subjects include the creation of the Subject Headings and Code for Music Cataloguing; MLA’s affiliations with the American Library Association (ALA), the National Music Council (NMC), the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA); and the Council of National Library Associations (CNLA); MLA membership campaigns; MLA committee meetings, business, and membership; arrangements for MLA national meetings; publication of the quarterly journal Notes and the joint publication Music and Libraries (MLA and ALA, 1943); and Waters’ work toward an American encyclopedia of music. Recipients of extensive correspondence include John T. Windle, Eva J. O’Meara, James T. Quarles, George Schneider, Amy Sinclair, Gretta Smith, Dr. Harold Spivacke, H. Dorothy Tilly, Richard S. Angell, Lowell P. Beveridge, Otto E. Albrecht, Gladys Caldwell, Gladys Chamberlain, George S. Dickinson, Everett O. Fontaine, Scott Goldthwaite, and Carl H. Milam.