The Music Library is Vassar's largest departmental library. Its services include reference, bibliographic instruction, reference consultations, audio-visual facilities, circulation and reserves operations, cataloging, acquisitions, and an in-house workroom bindery and processing area. The library supports the spectrum of music topics covered in the curriculum of the Department of Music, as well as music topics covered in a wide variety of departments and programs on campus.
Several electronic resources may be accessed on or off campus by current Vassar affiliates. Resources include streaming audio, video, full-text periodical literature, books, theses, encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and indexes.
These collections may be accessed and used in the Music Library.
Music-related materials in the Archives and Special Collections Department, ground floor, Ingram Library, include some fifty autograph letters of famous musical figures such as Mozart, Haydn, and Rossini. The letter pictured above was written by Mozart in 1782.
The Vassar Libraries Archives and Special Collections Department now houses a modest collection of autograph music manuscripts, formerly housed in the Treasure Room. The Edward MacDowell manuscript of Humoureske, Op. 24, is dedicated to Madame Teresa Carreño-Tagliapietra, and is dated "Leipzig, 1886." Other MacDowell autograph manuscripts in the collection include the Fantasiestücke Op. 18, Stücke für das Pianoforte Op. 19, and Concert-Etude für das Pianoforte Op. 36. Also included in the collection are autograph manuscripts of a Serenade, the only known chamber work by Teresa Carreño, Horatio Porter's Quartet for 2 violins, viola, and cello, Quincy Porter's The Silent Voices for voice and piano, Virgil Thomson's Hymn and Variations for organ, and sketches from parts of The Black Maskers Suite for voice and piano, by Roger Sessions. The music manuscripts and papers of Frédéric Louis Ritter, Vassar's first professor of Music, and Teresa Carreño may be found there as well.
Also housed in the Vassar Libraries Archives and Special Collections Department are George Sherman Dickinson's early sketches for the Belle Skinner Hall of Music and his correspondence tracing the building of the Belle Skinner Hall of Music.
These collections may be accessed and used in the Archives and Special Collections Library. Spanning the middle 19th through early 21st century, the scores, sketches, programs, and correspondence relate to composers, performers, and music historians affiliated with Vassar College.
This year, we said farewell to two of our beloved colleagues and wished them well on their retirement. Sarah Canino, Music Librarian, retired after almost 40 years of service to Vassar. She was the longest-serving Music Librarian since the Music Library's namesake, George Sherman Dickinson! Ann Churukian, Assistant Music Librarian, retired after over 35 years. Ann was not just an expert music cataloger; she was also a cataloging resource par excellence for her Vassar Library colleagues. Thank you, Sarah and Ann, for transforming the Music Library and for all that you have done for the Vassar community and the field of music librarianship!
General inquiries
Music Library, Circulation Desk
musiclib@vassar.edu
(845) 437-7492
Research consultations
Text and chat
Marissa Coté, Library Specialist (after February 2026)
Emerson Morgan, PhD, MSLIS, Music Librarian
Andrea Serra, Library Assistant (until February 2026)
Joanna Wissinger, MSIS, Library Assistant
Ten positions for eligible work-study students are available in the Music Library.
