- unitid
-
{"value"=>"20891", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 492", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b15918640", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1906-1972", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1906/1972"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Clarence Cameron White papers (Additions)"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"49 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"14.08 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Clarence Cameron White papers (Additions) reflect the musical career of this composer, violinist, and music teacher, covering the last twenty years of his life, from approximately 1940 to 1960."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"White, Clarence Cameron, 1880-1960", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Clarence Cameron White, Black violinist, composer, and teacher, was born on August 10, 1880, in Clarkesville, Tennessee, to James William and Jennie White (later, Jennie Conner). White grew up in Oberlin, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., where he attended Howard University. After graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory at Oberlin College in 1903, White went to Washington, D.C. to become director of the String Department of the newly formed Washington Conservatory of Music. He married Beatrice Louise Warrick, a pianist, on December 31, 1904; they had two sons, William and Clarence.</p> <p>For the next forty years, White continued to teach, study, perform, and compose. From 1908 to 1910, he lived in London, studying violin with the Russian violinist, Michael Zacharewitsch, and composition with the Black English composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. While living in England, he also served as first violinist in the String Player's Club of Croyden, conducted by Coleridge-Taylor. After returning from England in 1910, White moved to Boston where he opened a private violin studio. He remained there until 1922 when over-exhaustion caused him to spend a year recuperating in Oberlin.</p> <p>In 1924, White was named head of the Music Department of West Virginia State College. He held that post until 1930, when a grant from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation enabled him to spend two years in Paris. In Paris, he studied under the French composer, Raoul Laparra, and worked on his Haitian opera, <span class=\"title\">Ouanga!</span>, for which he won the 1932 David Bispham Medal, which was awarded annually by the American Opera Society of Chicago for the best operatic work by an American. <span class=\"title\">Ouanga!</span>, meaning \"voodoo charm\" or \"voodoo spell,\" is based on the violent life of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the slave who led his people in revolt and became Emperor of Haiti in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The libretto for <span class=\"title\">Ouanga!</span> was written by John Frederick Matheus, Professor of Romance Languages at West Virginia State College. White and Matheus had gone to Haiti during the summer of 1928 to study native music and folklore. Their collaboration also resulted in <span class=\"title\">Tambour</span> (1929), a two-act play with incidental music by White and \"Cocomacaque\", an early version of <span class=\"title\">Ouanga!</span>.</p> <p> In 1932, White became director of the School of Music at Hampton Institute in Virginia, a position he held until around 1934. From 1937 to 1942, he travelled around the country, organizing community music groups for the National Recreation Association.</p> <p>Beatrice White died in the early 1940s. In 1943, White married Pura Belpré, children's author and librarian with The New York Public Library. Until his death on July 2, 1960, White lived in New York City. For a short time, he continued to give concerts and teach violin. He later retired to devote his full time to composition.</p> <p>During his career, White composed a great variety of music. Many of his compositions, including \"Bandanna Sketches\", were based on Black spirituals. He also wrote a number of classical pieces, such as a violin concerto in E minor and a symphony in D minor for cello and piano. A nine and one-half minute musical selection entitled \"Elegy\", written in 1954, won the 1953-1954 Benjamin Award for Tranquil Music. A later composition, \"Heritage\", consisted of a cantata set to the poetry of Countee Cullen. White's work was published largely by the Carl Fischer Company and was played by many musicians of note, such as Fritz Kreisler and Albert Spaulding. White received several other awards and honorary degrees, including the Harmon Foundation Medal and Award for distinguished service to music (1927), an honorary Master of Arts degree from Atlanta University (1929), and an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Wilberforce University (1933).</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Clarence Cameron White papers (Additions) reflect the musical career of this composer, violinist, and music teacher, covering the last twenty years of his life, from approximately 1940 to 1960. Included are correspondence, manuscript and printed music, programs, press releases, writings, and scrapbooks. Personal papers consist of material related to his first and second wives, Beatrice Warrick White and Pura Belpré White, respectively; financial documents; and an interview. Correspondence consists of personal and professional correspondence and includes letters from Edward B. Benjamin, Emile Bouillet, Harold Byrns, Avril Gwendolen Coleridge-Taylor, Amanda Ira Aldridge, Henri Elkan, John Frederick Mattheus, Serge Oukrainsky, Arthur Ryder, Emil Soderstrom, and William Grant Still, 1939-1960. White correspondended with musical organizations isuch as the Dra-Mu Opera Company, Harry T. Burleigh Music Association, National Association of Negro Musicians, National Negro Opera Company, and National Recreation Association. Printed matter contains programs, news clippings, and articles about White and others. His teaching materials include lessons about the history of African American music, musical examples, and illustrations. Other writing contains speeches, notes, and grant propoals. The bulk of this collection consists of manuscript and printed music, with most of it composed by White. There are librettos, music for parts as well as for the entire composition, and related production material. The compositions included are \"The Bachelors Death\", \"A Night at San Souci\", \"Carnival Romance\", \"Elegy\", \"Symphony in D Minor\", \"Heritage\", \"Bandanna Sketches\", \"Dance Rhapsody\", \"Pantomime\", \"Poeme: For Orchestra\", \"Suite on Negro Folk Tunes\", and with John F. Matheus, both <span class=\"title\">Ouanga!</span> and <span class=\"title\">Tambour</span>. The collection also includes composers' notebooks, study scores and lesson books, posters, broadsides, certificates, and diplomas. Additionally, there are two scrapbooks containing programs and news clippings, research notes, and a grant proposal for a proposed book.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Clarence Cameron White papers (Additions) is arranged in seven series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20891#c1640953'>Personal</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1912-1972</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20891#c1640967'>Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1916-1963</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The chronological subseries appears to be a mix of personal and professional correspondence.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20891#c1641025'>Printed matter</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1906-1961</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20891#c1641036'>Teaching material</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20891#c1641042'>Writing</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1921-1953</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes writing by White and others; the opera librettos and screenplays, for which White wrote the music, were written by other authors, as noted.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20891#c1641068'>Scrapbooks</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20891#c1641069'>Music compositions</a></div>\n</li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Arranged into 7 series: I. Personal; II. Correspondence; III. Printed matter; IV. Teaching materials; V. Writing; VI. Scrapbooks; and VII.Music compositions.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Pura Belpré White and Reynaldo Maduro, 1979 and 1993.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Transferred to the Art and Artifacts Division: artwork.</p> <p>Transferred to the General Research and Reference Division: publications.</p> <p>Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: audio materials. For more information, please contact the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270.</p> <p>Transferred to the Music Division of the Library of Performing Arts: out of scope music.</p> <p>Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Accessioned by Mary Yearwood, October 1993.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Clarence Cameron White papers, Sc Micro R-2474, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture</p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Finding aid updated by Lauren Stark.", "date"=>"2021 June 10"}
- date_start
-
1906
- keydate
-
1906
- date_end
-
1972
- date_inclusive_start
-
1906
- date_inclusive_end
-
1972
- extent_statement
-
14.08 linear feet (49 boxes)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Clarence Cameron White papers (Additions), Sc MG 492, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}