Interest in collegiate music-making has been piqued through movies such as "Pitch Perfect" (2012), but lack of documentation has stalled further research into the broader historical and social context of music in American colleges. As the appended letters of support emphasize, digitizing this collection will preserve this historic body of information, allowing new knowledge to be created. Items in this collection document the academic musical world inhabited by students from the 1930s to the 2000s. The class parties (musicals), class songs, intercollegiate choral music, and numerous a cappella groups represented here document shifting trends and influences in music tastes. Institution-venerating songs such as "Fling the banner wide" and "Vassar in beauty dwelling", preserved in the 1940s, give way to "The product of a liberal education" and "The feminine mistake" in recordings of the 1960s, and are completely replaced with the social consciousness of folksongs like "Great Mandella" and popular songs like "California Dreamin’" and "Leaving on a Jet Plane" in the 1970s and 1980s. Recordings of art music made by both faculty and students, many collaboratively, also demonstrate repertoire shifts, exposure to different types of music and the social experiences fostered through music during this time.
Following the move to co-education in 1969, intercollegiate choral productions completely disappeared. Class parties no longer existed. Students were exposed to the music of new composers such as Netty Simons and Louise Talma, as private recordings of their new compositions were sought after to broaden student knowledge. Recent oral histories with music faculty emeriti help place this musical environment in historical context. The digitization of the collection will finally enable a complete picture of this world to be examined.
The changing social aspect of musical traditions, changes in musical styles, and the impact of co education on the music of the women’s college that became co-educational in 1969 make this a rich collection for scholarly exploration. This project will expand the resources available to researchers exploring the role of music on college campuses.