Scope and arrangement
The Andrea Olmstead papers, dating from 1970 to 2013, mainly document the research and writing of Olmstead's books and articles on Roger Sessions, as well as her history of the Juilliard School. These include the books Roger Sessions and His Music, Conversations with Roger Sessions, Correspondence of Roger Sessions, Rogers Sessions: A Biography, and Juilliard: A History. Also present is a file of Olmstead's research on compositions by Roger Sessions arranged by title, and subject files of correspondence, notes, or research not related to publications.
The collection's primary strength is the light it sheds on Olmstead's research on Sessions. It includes Olmstead's correspondence with the composer and transcripts of her interviews with him; research notes; book drafts; papers, lectures, and presentations; and correspondence with other musicologists and writers. The papers also hold Olmstead's interviews with faculty and alumni of the Juilliard School. While the collection contains course materials and student papers, it does not offer a comprehensive view of Olmstead's academic career. Rather, her teaching activity is illuminated incidentally within her overall research on Sessions.
The files for each publication contain notes; chapter and article drafts; book proposals; reader reports; correspondence with publishers and scholars; published and unpublished articles; photographs; lectures; publicity materials; permission letters; reviews; course material; and student papers. The files for Conversations With Roger Sessions and Juilliard: A History also hold interview transcriptions, and for the latter book, interview audio recordings.
The book with the most files in the collection is The Correspondence of Roger Sessions. The files hold annotated copies and transcriptions of correspondence; correspondence not included in the book; notes; and Olmstead's correspondence with the writers, their relatives, and libraries and archives.
The files for Roger Sessions: A Biography include Olmstead's analysis and catalog of The Tin Box Collection, a set of Roger Sessions' correspondence with his family and friends that was discovered in 1988 at Phelps Farm in Hadley, Massachusetts. Also present is Olmstead's annotated copy of the published correspondence.
The Roger Sessions Composition File was begun by Olmstead while she was writing Roger Sessions and His Music, but she continued to add to it decades after that book's publication. The files hold notes, analyses, letters from scholars, clippings, programs, articles by Olmstead, and excerpts of Sessions interview transcripts. It is arranged chronologically by date of composition; those dates are part of the folder titles.
The files for Juilliard: A History contain copies of articles and clippings Olmstead used in her research, as well as copies of photographs and other documents from various archives and libraries, usually containing Olmstead's notes. They also hold a folder of correspondence with Juilliard president Joseph Polisi regarding the threat of legal action against Olmstead, and a recording of a WNYC radio program marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Juilliard School. In addition to the audio recordings of interviews carried out for the book, there are files containing Olmstead's pre- and post-interview notes, as well as correspondence with the interviewees.
The Subject Files document Olmstead's further work on Sessions. They include letters from Sessions to Olmstead; lectures and articles regarding Sessions and Aaron Copland; an essay on Sessions and David Diamond; liner notes for concert programs featuring Sessions' music; reviews of books or recordings about Sessions; notes on Roger Sessions' personality; papers such as "The Correspondence Between Arnold Schoenberg and Roger Sessions" and "The Secret Program of Roger Sessions' Third Symphony"; and an article on Sessions' connection to Hadley, Massachusetts. Other contents of the Subject Files include transcribed letters from Vincent Persichetti to Olmstead and Larry Bell; correspondence with Gilbert Chase and Sally Chapin (the niece of Roger Sessions); Olmstead's notes on two summer institutes sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities; a grant application to the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation; and notes, drafts, and correspondence pertaining to the entry for Sessions in The New Grove Dictionary of American Music.
Arrangement
The papers are in four divisions: Juilliard: A History, Publications About Roger Sessions, Roger Sessions Composition Files, and Subject Files.