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Charles O. Moody papers

 Collection 0210-SCPA
Charles O. Moody (1927-1989) served as the Music Educators National Conference's (MENC) deputy executive secretary and director of development. His educational background concerns history, secondary education, and school administration. Prior to working with MENC, Moody was a staff consultant and project coordinator on curriculum projects with the California State Department of Education in Sacramento. This collection consists of correspondence, photographs, and other documents related to his work with various MENC projects, such as the National Building Fund Campaign and the Goals and Objectives Project.

Dates

  • 1958-1984 and undated
  • Majority of material found within 1969-1975

Use and Access to Collection

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.

Duplication and Copyright Information

Copyright was not transferred to the University of Maryland with the gift of any copyrighted 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.

Extent

77.50 Linear Feet

Additional Description

Scope and Contents of Collection

The Charles O. Moody papers contain materials that span the period of 1960 to 1984 with additional undated materials; the bulk of the material dates from 1969 to 1975. The collection consists of correspondence, research, articles, legislation, budget information, photographs, and other documents related to Moody's work with various MENC projects, such as the National Building Fund Campaign and the Goals and Objectives Project. Items have been left in their original order.

Biography

Charles O. Moody was born May 31, 1927, in Mountain View, California. Moody served as MENC's deputy executive secretary and director of development, helping the organization in a variety of ways, including fundraising, program development, and other administrative tasks. Moody attended San Mateo Junior College and the University of California, Berkeley, as an undergraduate and took graduate classes at Stanford University and University of California in history, secondary education, and school administration.

Moody was appointed as MENC's deputy executive secretary for program development in 1968. Circa 1976, he became the director of development. Before working with MENC, Moody was a staff consultant and project coordinator for the California State Department of Education in Sacramento. He helped originate the California Statewide Fine Arts and Humanities Project (also serving as its first executive secretary) and was involved with the Advanced Placement Program, K-12 statewide social sciences curricula, the reorganization of the State Department of Education, and the administration of federal aid to education programs. He served as a president of the Council of State Social Studies Specialists and was a member of the Curriculum Committee of the National Council for the Social Studies. Moody also authored social studies test materials and was an editorial reviewer and advisor for school texts.

As MENC's membership reached nearly 60,000 in the late 1960s, the organization saw the need to reshape itself. The Goals and Objectives Project (GO Project) was initiated in 1969 with the purpose of establishing more definite long-term goals and the steps to achieve them. The GO Project Steering Committee created eighteen National Committees each tasked with individual assignments that were largely drawn from the 1967 Tanglewood Symposium report on music education, with additional recommendations from MENC National Board members. As MENC's deputy executive secretary, Moody was responsible for several administrative tasks and communicated regularly with the Steering Committee and the National Committees.

In 1969, MENC changed from being a department within the National Education Association to being an affiliate organization. This development, along with MENC's booming membership and growth in activity, called for a new headquarters outside of the NEA offices. Moody played a pivotal administrative role in MENC's National Building Fund Campaign, a drive to create a new headquarters in Reston, Virginia. Other important MENC members involved in the campaign were Louis Wersen (national chairman), Paul Van Bodegraven (head, board of overseers), and Richard Davis (state campaign organizer). The consulting firm Marts and Lundy were hired to assist with the fundraising, and William F. Ludwig acquired contributions from his music industry contacts. The building was completed in 1975 and remains the location of MENC's (now NAfME) headquarters.

Moody departed MENC in October 1980 and in the following years retired to Mountain View. He died on September 25, 1989, in Santa Clara, California.

Arrangement

This collection is organized into two series:
  1. Correspondence
  2. Working files

Custodial History and Acquisition Information

The collections transferred to what was the MENC Historical Center in January 1983 as a routine transfer of official records by Marlynn Likens.

Related Material

Mark, Michael and Charles L. Gary. A History of American Music Education, 3rd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2007.

National Association for Music Educators (NAfME) Historical Center (finding aid) (LibGuide)

Charles L. Gary papers, Special Collections in Performing Arts, University of Maryland Libraries. (finding aid)

Robert Klotman papers, Special Collections in Performing Arts, University of Maryland Libraries. (finding aid)

Eugene Morlan papers, Special Collections in Performing Arts, University of Maryland Libraries. (finding aid)

Bibliography

Mark, Michael and Charles L. Gary. A History of American Music Education, 3rd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2007.

Topics

Administrative Information

Title
Charles O. Moody papers
Status
Completed
Author
Pedro Gonzalez-Fernandez
Date
May 2015
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English

Library Details

Library Details

Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library

http://www.lib.umd.edu/mspal
Contact:
University of Maryland Libraries
8270 Alumni Drive
College Park MD 20742 United States

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