Music Library Association records
Collection
0028-SCPA
The Music Library Association (MLA) was established for music librarians and scholars alike to promote the establishment, growth and use of music libraries; to encourage the collection of music and musical literature; and to search for ways to improve music libraries. The MLA archives consist of administrative and financial records, oral histories, publications, some regional chapter records and newsletters, committee reports, publications, conference documents and programs, photographs, and regalia.
The collection is open for research use. Materials from this collection must be used in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library's Irving and Margery Morgan Lowens Special Collections Room during SCPA’s operating hours. Please contact the curator for an appointment or if you have questions related to digital access of the materials.
Copyright was not transferred to the University of Maryland with the donation of the materials. All rights remain with the creators and rights holders. The University of Maryland Libraries is granted permission for the use in scholarly research by the Libraries’ patrons under fair use in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.
To inquire about duplication of materials for research or for publication, please contact SCPA’s curator.
300.00 Linear Feet
The Music Library Association records (MLA) cover the period from 1931 to the present. The records consist of administrative and financial records, oral histories, publications, some regional chapter records and newsletters, committee reports, publications, conference documents and programs, photographs, and regalia related to the MLA's mission to promote the establishment, growth, improvement and use of music libraries and to encourage the collection of music and musical literature.
The first meeting of the Music Library Association took place at Yale University in New Haven, CT, from 22–24 June 1931. Carleton Sprague Smith of the New York Public Library initiated this meeting by contacting music librarian colleagues across the country. These like-minded professionals joined together to form their own organization in order to assert their specialized needs as music librarians, such as music cataloging, that were met neither academically nor professionally in existing organizations like the American Library Association (ALA), the Special Libraries Association (SLA), or the American Musicological Society (AMS). The 19 charter members at this 1931 meeting were leading music librarians at public and academic libraries. The first elected officers were: President, Otto Kinkeldey of Cornell University; Vice-President, Eva Judd O’Meara of Yale University; Secretary, Barbara Duncan of the Eastman School of Music; Treasurer, Carleton Sprague Smith of the New York Public Library; and Officer-at-Large, W. Oliver Strunk of the Library of Congress. MLA has collaborated with other organizations on scholarly and cultural initiatives since 1931, including: AMS; ALA; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Music Educators’ National Convention (MENC); the National Music Council; and the International Association for Music Libraries (IAML). MLA became the official United States branch of IAML on 1 July 2011.
The MLA records are organized into eight record groups:
The first repository of the Music Library Association (MLA) records was the Lincoln Center Library of the Juilliard School in New York, NY from 1967–1974. Upon the recommendation of Edward N. Waters in 1973, the Library of Congress Music Division became the repository for the MLA records in 1974. MLA’s agreement with the Library of Congress was limited to collection storage. In 1982 Bruce Wilson, Curator of Special Collections in Music (SCIM) at the University of Maryland, offered his repository to the MLA Board for the archives. The Library of Congress transferred the MLA Archives to SCIM in 1982; the name of this repository changed to Special Collections in Performing Arts (SCPA) in 1996.
Transfers of MLA chapter records to local repositories took place from 2015–2017 to the California, Midwest, New York State-Ontario, Pacific Northwest, Southeast, and Texas chapters. SCPA is the regional repository for records of the Atlantic Chapter and chapters that have merged to form the Atlantic Chapter. SCPA will house records of the Greater New York, Mountain-Plains, and New England chapters until local repositories are established.
Jane P. Franck served as the first Archivist of MLA from 1967–1977. Initial records accrual efforts were led by Franck and MLA Recording Secretary Melva Peterson. After the collection transfer from the Library of Congress to the University of Maryland, the Curators of SCIM/SCPA from 1982–2006 (Bruce Wilson, 1982–1995 and Bonnie Jo Dopp, 1996–2006) were the chairs of the Joint Committee on the MLA Archives and stewards of the MLA records; the committee consisted of four representatives from the university and four representatives from MLA. A revised 2010 gift agreement between the University of Maryland and MLA removed the stipulation that such a Joint Committee was required. Subsequently, at the recommendation to the MLA Archives Committee by SCPA Curator, Vincent Novara, MLA appointed in 2012 an official Archivist for the association. This Special Officer is charged to liaise with SCPA, collaborate with the curator on policy and practice, advise on collection maintenance, encourage and stimulate record transfers to the Archives, and collaborate on grant applications. Sandy Rodriguez served as MLA Archivist from 2013 – 2017 followed by Melissa E. Wertheimer in February 2017 and Christina Taylor Gibson in 2021.
Records accessioned from MLA members since 1982 are minimally processed. Records transferred from the Library of Congress have been minimally processed with original enclosures maintained except when degraded. Multiple rounds of appraisal were performed from 2012–2016. From 2015–2017, Melissa E. Wertheimer continued re-appraisal, recommended records for transfer and deaccession, began initial processing and rehousing, revised the collection arrangement, and authored the collection finding aid. Electronic records were incorporated beginning in 2017-2018.
Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library