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University of Chicago Library

Guide to the Leonard B. Meyer Papers 1941-1978

© 2008 University of Chicago Library

Descriptive Summary

Title:

Meyer, Leonard B. Papers

Dates:

1941-1978

Size:

12.5 linear feet (21 boxes)

Repository:

Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.

Abstract:

Leonard B. Meyer (1918-2007), composer, author and professor of music at the University of Chicago (1946-1974). Papers include correspondence, notes and drafts for published and unpublished works, notebooks, photographs, and recordings.

Information on Use

Access

The collection is open for research.

Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Meyer, Leonard B. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Biographical Note

Leonard B. Meyer was a prolific composer, author, and philosopher. Meyer studied at Columbia University, graduating with a B.A. in Philosophy and an M.A. in Music in 1948. He continued at the University of Chicago, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in the History of Culture in 1954, and served as a professor from 1946 until 1975. A composer, he studied under Stefan Wolpe, Otto Luening, and Aaron Copland. In 1975 was appointed professor of music and the humanities at the University of Pennsylvania and became professor emeritus at Pennsylvania in 1988.

His published works include Emotion and Meaning in Music (1957), which paved the way for cognitive psychological research into music and was influential for theorists in music as well as other fields. Other major written works include The Rhythmic Structure of Music (with Grosvenor Cooper, 1960), "Some Remarks on Value and Greatness in Music" (1959), Music, the Arts, and Ideas (1967), and Explaining Music (1973).

Scope Note

The Leonard B. Meyer collection contains correspondence between Meyer and his colleagues, students, and publishers from the 1950s to 1970s, drafts and notes for book publications as well as shorter essays, and materials from Meyer’s participation in professional conferences and organizations. The collection also contains awards, some personal items, and a set of recordings of Meyer’s original compositions. Series I consists of personal and biographical materials, including datebooks, notebooks, and photographs. Series II contains correspondence. Series III contains academic writings and a wide range of notes related to these subjects. Series IV includes materials from conferences, lectures, and other professional activities. Series V contains artifacts, audio visual materials, and oversized items.

Related Resources

Browse finding aids by topic.

Subject Headings

INVENTORY

Series I: Personal and Biographical Materials

Box 1   Folder 1

"Leonard B. Meyer: A Bibliography" and biographical sketches

Box 1   Folder 2

Datebooks, 1966-75

Box 1   Folder 3

Notebooks, undated

Box 1   Folder 4

50th birthday celebration, 1968

Box 1   Folder 5

Photographs of Leonard Meyer, undated

Box 1   Folder 6

Miscellaneous photographs, undated

Series II: Correspondence

Box 1   Folder 7

Academic correspondence, 1956-1967

Box 1   Folder 8

Academic correspondence, 1968

Box 2   Folder 1

Academic correspondence, 1969

Box 2   Folder 2

Academic correspondence, 1970

Box 2   Folder 3

Academic correspondence, 1971

Box 2   Folder 4

Academic correspondence, 1972

Box 2   Folder 5

Academic correspondence, 1975

Box 2   Folder 6

Academic correspondence, 1975

Box 3   Folder 1

Academic correspondence, 1976-1977

Box 3   Folder 2

Correspondence with students, 1970-1973

Box 3   Folder 3

Correspondence with students, 1974

Box 3   Folder 4

Correspondence with students, 1975

Box 3   Folder 5

Correspondence with students, 1976

Box 3   Folder 6

Miscellaneous and personal correspondence, 1974

Box 4   Folder 1

Business correspondence, 1950-1967

Box 4   Folder 2

Business correspondence, 1972-1978

Box 4   Folder 3

Correspondence about The Rhythmic Structure of Music, 1958-1963

Box 4   Folder 4

Correspondence about Explaining Music, 1972-1973

Box 4   Folder 5

Correspondence about book translations, 1968-1974

Box 4   Folder 6

Correspondence with Frank Kirby, 1970

Box 4   Folder 7

Correspondence with Ralph Shapey, 1968-74

Box 4   Folder 8

Correspondence with Eastman School of Music, 1972

Box 4   Folder 9

Correspondence about Improvisation in Music, 1970-1973

Box 5   Folder 1

Correspondence with Social Science Research Council, 1970

Box 5   Folder 2

Correspondence about Ernest Bloch Professorship, 1969-70

Box 5   Folder 3

Correspondence about Bradbury Memorial and Funds, 1959-1964

Box 5   Folder 4

Correspondence with Daedalus, 1973

Series III: Writings

Box 5   Folder 5

Review of In Search Of Cultural History, undated

Box 5   Folder 6

"Critical Analysis" (Ernest Bloch Lectures), 1971

Box 5   Folder 7

Miscellaneous talks and commentaries, 1948-67

Box 5   Folder 8

Miscellaneous magazine articles, 1968-74

Box 5

Emotion and Meaning in Music, 1954

Box 6   Folder 1

"Forgery and the Anthropology of Art," 1961-1962

Box 6   Folder 2

"On Rehearsing Music," 1961

Box 6   Folder 3

"Meaning in Music and Information Theory," 1957

Box 6   Folder 4

"Some Remarks on Value and Greatness in Music," 1959

Box 6   Folder 5

Review of In Search of Cultural History, History and Theory: Studies in the Philosophy of History, 1970

Box 6   Folder 6

"Universalism and Relativism in the Study of Ethnic Music," Journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology, 1960

Box 6   Folder 7

Review of Music as Metaphor, 1963

Box 6   Folder 8

"Formal Ambiguity in the First Movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Minor," 1962

Box 6   Folder 9

Miscellaneous notes, undated

Box 6   Folder 10

Notes for Beethoven essay, undated

Box 6   Folder 11

"The Arts Today and Tomorrow," undated

Box 6   Folder 12

"The Arts Today and Tomorrow," lecturers, 1967, 1969

Box 7   Folder 1

"Art and Accident," drafts, research, notes, 1958

Box 7   Folder 2

"The End of the Renaissance?" drafts and notes, undated

Box 7   Folder 3

"The End of the Renaissance?" reprint, 1963

Box 7   Folder 4

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, research materials,1964-1966

Box 7   Folder 5

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, correspondence and reviews, 1967-1970

Box 7   Folder 6

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, Part II, draft, undated

Box 7   Folder 7

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, Part II, drafts, undated

Box 7   Folder 8

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, Part III, draft, undated

Box 8   Folder 1

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, Part III, drafts, undated

Box 8   Folder 2

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, early drafts and notes ("The Future is Now"), undated

Box 8   Folder 3

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, draft of "The Aesthetics of Stability," undated

Box 8   Folder 4

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, draft of "Total Serialism and the Musical Experience," undated

Box 9   Folder 1

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, Part I, manuscript for production, 1968

Box 9   Folder 2

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, Party II, manuscript for production, 1968

Box 10   Folder 1

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, Part II, draft, undated

Box 10   Folder 2

Music, the Arts, and Ideas, edited draft, undated

Box 11   Folder 1

"Concerning the Sciences, Arts, and Humanities," draft, undated

Box 11   Folder 2

"Sciences, the Arts, and Humanities," manuscript by Joseph Margolis, undated

Box 11   Folder 3

Notes for "Concerning the Sciences, Arts, and Humanities," undated

Box 11   Folder 4

Correspondence about "Concerning the Sciences, Arts, and Humanities," 1973

Box 11   Folder 5

"Concerning the Sciences, Arts, and Humanities," reprints from Critical Inquiry, 1974

Box 11   Folder 6

Grammatical Simplicity, drafts, notes, correspondence, 1976

Box 12   Folder 1

"Problems in Style Analysis and Style History," drafts, 1976

Box 12   Folder 2

Explaining Music, undated

Box 12   Folder 3

The Future Is Now, microfilm, undated

Box 12   Folder 4

"Music, Connotation and Cultural History," undated

Box 13   Folder 1

"The Arts Today and Tomorrow?" Coe College lecture, drafts, undated

Box 13   Folder 2

Explaining Music, drafts, undated

Box 13   Folder 3

Lectures and notes on style, undated

Box 13   Folder 4

"Commentary on William Webster’s ‘The Changing Role of the Musical Performer’," undated

Box 13   Folder 5

"A Pride of Prejudices," undated

Box 13   Folder 6

"Thoughts about Unity in Music," undated

Box 13   Folder 7

"Response to Professor Arnheim’s Paper," undated

Box 13   Folder 8

"A Theory for the Structure of Music," with Henry L. Cady, Richard H. Hoppin, Janet M. McGaughey, and William Thomson, 1969

Box 13   Folder 9

Article on McLuhan, drafts and notes, undated

Box 14   Folder 1

Notes on octave displacement, undated

Box 14   Folder 2

Miscellaneous notes and drafts, 1960-1978

Box 14   Folder 3

Course outline and notes, "Analysis," undated

Box 14   Folder 4

Untitled manuscript on ballet music, undated (from Box X, vinyl records)

Series IV: Professional Materials

Box 14   Folder 5

Loyola Symposium on Values, 1970

Box 14   Folder 6

University of Rochester, Joseph C. Wilson Day, 1971

Box 14   Folder 7

University of Toronto Colloquium, 1971

Box 14   Folder 8

Social Science Research Council, 1973-1974

Box 14   Folder 9

Correspondence re miscellaneous conferences and lectures, 1973-1975

Box 14   Folder 10

Aesthetics Institute, Boulder, 1975-1978

Box 14   Folder 11

Kent State Conference on Medicine and the Humanities, 1975

Box 14   Folder 12

Duke University lecture, 1976

Box 15   Folder 1

University of Michigan Distinguished Professorship, 1971-1972

Box 15   Folder 2

National Humanities Faculty and Green Mountain Union High School, 1970-1971

Box 15   Folder 3

School of Criticism and Theory, 1974-1978

Box 15   Folder 4

Publicity materials for miscellaneous lectures

Box 15   Folder 5

Bard College Honorary Degree, 1976

Box 15   Folder 6

Wesleyan, 1960-1961

Box 15   Folder 7

Award from American Association for the Advancement of Science

Box 15   Folder 8

University of Chicago Press, royalty documents

Box 15   Folder 9

University of Chicago, faculty appointments and status changes, 1955-1976

Box 15   Folder 10

University of Chicago, faculty committees and departmental memos, 1974

Box 15   Folder 11

University of Chicago, music department events, 1969-1970

Box 15   Folder 12

Rockefeller Foundation grant, 1965

Box 15   Folder 13

International Chronosophical Society, 1966

Box 15   Folder 14

Honeywell Oscillograph manuals, 1959

Box 15   Folder 15

Miscellaneous notes, articles, receipts, 1953-1973, undated

Series V: Artifacts, Audio-Visual, and Oversize

Box 16

Photographic negatives addressed to Leonore F. Malakoff, July 11, 1941

Box 16

Photographic negatives, "To Mom," processed July 2, 1948

Box 16

Photographic negatives processed June 21, 1949

Box 16

Photographic negatives processed March 25, 1950

Box 16

Photographic negatives processed August 11, 1955

Box 16

Photographic negatives, August 12, 1955

Box 16

Photographic negatives, summer 1956

Box 16

Photographic negatives processed February 5, 1958

Box 16

Photographic negatives processed August 4, 1958

Box 16

Photographic negatives processed September 2, 1958

Box 16

Photographic negatives, Florida, 1958

Box 16

Photographic negatives of house, Hartsdale, NY, undated

Box 16

Miscellaneous photographic negatives, undated

Box 16

Miscellaneous photographic negatives, undated

Box 16

Loyola University Medal, 1970

Box 17

Grinnell College Honorary Doctorate Diploma, 1967

Box 17

Photo album, January 1968

Box 17

Loyola University Honorary Doctorate Diploma, 1970

Box 17

Gordon J. Laing Prize (for Music, the Arts, and Ideas), 1969

Box 18   Folder 1

Articles about Meyer, 1957, 1971, 1974

Box 18   Folder 2

Articles about Meyer, 1968-1973

Box 19-20

Notes for "Music, the Arts, and Ideas: Patterns and Predictions in Twentieth-Century Culture"

Box 21

Untitled, LP

Box 21

"Sonata for Violin and Piano," LP

Box 21

"Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano," LP

Box 21

"Heat," "Oread," "Pear Tree," LPs

Box 21

"Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano," LP

Box 21

"Heat," "Pear Tree," "Oread," LPs

Box 21

"Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano," LP

Box 21

"Sonata for Violin and Piano," LP

Box 21

"Heat," "Pear Tree," "Oread," LP