Scope and arrangement
The Éva Gauthier papers, dating from 1899 to 1960, document the singer's life and career through correspondence; photographs; scrapbooks; writings; programs and publicity material; business and legal records; and clippings.
Correspondence dates from 1900 to 1959, and comprises about half of the collection. It is in three divisions: family and friends, individuals, and organizations. The latter two hold letters regarding Gauthier's career and business. Notable individual correspondents include Dame Emma Albani, Ernst Bacon, David Bispham, Arthur Bliss, Jacques Bouhy, Paul Bowles, Benjamin Britten, Alexander Calder, John Alden Carpenter, Pablo Casals, Aaron Copland, Noël Coward, Frank and Walter Damrosch, Claude Debussy, David Diamond, Celius Dougherty, Olin Downes, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Percy Grainger, Ernest Gye, W.L. Mackenzie King, Serge Koussevitzky, Walter A. Kramer, Otto Luening, H.T. Parker, Maurice Ravel, Claire Reis, Marcella Sembrich, Albert Stoessel, Leopold Stokowski, Virgil Thomson, Carl Van Vechten, Alec Wilder, and Thornton Wilder. Organizational correspondents include the Bohemians, the Canadian Government and Embassy, the Institute of International Education, the Juilliard School, the Music League of America, Musical America, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Philharmonic Society of New York, and Simon and Schuster (regarding Gauthier's proposed memoir).
Photographs consist of two family photo albums dating from 1900 to 1916, and over 350 loose photographs dating from the 1890s to the 1950s. These include over 250 formal and informal portraits of Gauthier dating from the 1910s to the 1920s, some by Carl Van Vechten. About 100 photographs of other musicians or family members are also present. The portraits range in size up to 10 inches by 14 inches. The two albums of family photographs were microfilmed and cataloged under classmark *ZB-3190.
Gauthier's writings date from 1899 to 1948. They contain notes regarding her proposed memoir; historical essays on composers such as Gabriel Fauré, Erik Satie, Aaron Copland, Ernst Bacon, Samuel Barber, Virgil Thomson, and Howard Swanson; radio scripts; program notes; lectures; repertoire lists; address books; datebooks; and her diaries, which date from 1899 to 1912.
The programs and publicity materials date from the 1914 to 1937, and feature Gauthier's Aeolian Hall recitals, along with many other performances in North America and Europe. The clippings date from the 1920s to the 1950s.
Business and legal records date from 1902 to 1960. They hold performance and recording contracts, financial records, records of the Éva Gauthier Foundation, passports, and Gauthier's divorce papers. They also include meeting minutes of the Éva Gauthier Society for Contemporary Song, which was founded after Gauthier's death.
Gauthier's collection of published and manuscript scores were cataloged separately and are searchable under her name as an added author.
Arrangement
The papers are arranged alphabetically by document type.