Scope and arrangement
The Ira Hirschmann papers deal chiefly with The New Friends of Music.
The Ira Arthur Hirschmann papers are arranged in five series:
The Ira Hirschmann Papers, JPB 86-10, Music Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.
The Ira Hischmann Papers provide information on the founding and activities of The New Friends of Music. Hirschmann's personal correspondence with famous musicians is included as well.
Ira Arthur Hirschmann was born in 1901. An American patron of the arts and department store executive, Ira Hirschmann founded the concert series New Friends of Music in 1936. Having been instrumental in the first symphonic radio broadcast in 1924, he later founded the short-lived FM station WABF.
In 1944 as Special Attaché of the State Department stationed in Ankara, Turkey, he helped to rescue Jewish refugees from Romania. During the 1930s and 1940s he also helped establish many musicians fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. His friends included Arturo Toscanini, Artur Schnabel, and Fiorello LaGuardia to whom he suggested founding the Hgh School of Music and Art.
Ira Hirschmann's autobiography was published in 1994 as Obligato: untold tales from a life with music.
The Ira Hirschmann papers deal chiefly with The New Friends of Music.
The Ira Arthur Hirschmann papers are arranged in five series:
Gift of Ira Hirschmann, 1980.
The papers were a gift of Ira Hirschmann in 1980.
Processed by Martha Grutchfield; machine-readable finding aid created by Robert Kosovsky.
Ira Hirschmann's memoirs (typescript and published versions) are cataloged separately. See CATNYP for more information, and items not related to music.
For permission to copy or publish please contact the Music Division.