148 · Representative Documents: Finding Aids and Guides
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
American Musicological Society records
http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/ead/ead.html?q=american%20musicological%20society&id=EAD_
upenn_rbml_MsColl221&%23ref8
American Musicological Society records, 1934-1992
http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/ead/ead.html?q=american%20musicological%20society&id=EAD_upenn_rbml_MsColl221&%23ref8[6/23/15, 2:33:45 PM]
AMS-50: In honor of the Society’s fiftieth anniversary the AMS resolved to establish
a dissertation fellowship for doctoral students in musicology. This began a long-term
fund raising efforts, in which the campaign committee, with the help of an NEH
matching grant raised over $500,000 For most of this period D. Kern Holoman was
the energetic chair of the committee, generating a great volume of correspondence
with prospective donors as well as organizing fund raising events and publicity
mailings. By 1986 the AMS-50 Fellowship Committee was able to consider their first
batch of applicants. This correspondence primarily includes correspondence between
committee members and between officers and committee members, as well as
correspondence with recipients. In addition, submissions from candidates for the
1990 year are also included, giving an idea of the committees work of evaluating
and eliminating perspective dissertations. Controversy over gender bias in the
appointment of committee members and in the awarding of fellowships troubled this
committee for several years. A Scrapbook of clippings and photos related to the
AMS-50 benefit at the Annual Meeting in Cleveland in 1986 has been removed to the
Memorabilia Series.
Awards: Over the years several generous gifts and bequests allowed the AMS to
establish annual awards. The Einstein Award, established in 1967, was made
possible by Eva Einstein in honor of her father Alfred Einstein, to be awarded
annually to the best article published by a young scholar. This award suffered much
criticism over the vague terms of its requirements (this criticism included allegations
of sexism), and underwent several revisions. The Noah Greenberg Award was
established anonymously in 1976 in honor of Noah Greenberg, to be awarded
annually to a performance group. The Kinkeldey Award was endowed with a bequest
from Otto Kinkeldey to be awarded annually to a book published on a musicological
topic. The Paul A. Pisk Prize was first awarded in 1991, for the best scholarly paper
by a graduate student. Though the committees in charge of awarding these awards
were sometimes appointed a year or two in advance, this material is all filed
chronologically by the year in which the award was granted. Correspondence
includes the establishment and revision of guidelines for the awards, discussion of
the candidates by the committees, complaints directed to the committees,
correspondence with donors and recipients. Also included are copies of award
citations, blank samples of awards certificates, and historical lists of awards
recipients. Recordings by two winners of the Greenberg award can be found in Box
119 with Memorabilia.
Nominating: The nominating committee was appointed to nominate candidates for
officers of the society and for council members. The list of nominees was submitted
to the Board for approval, and then voted on by the membership as a whole. This
committee influenced the direction the society headed from year to year in its choice
of candidates. In compiling a list of nominees, the committee hoped to find the most
distinguished scholars in their field, while also presenting slates balanced between
men and women, with a representation of diverse specializations, institutional
affiliations, and regional distribution. The relative success or failure of the committee
to achieve this goal was constantly under debate. The records of the nominating
committee include discussion of candidates, sample ballots, candidate biographies,
election counts, and miscellaneous election material.
Special Committees: In addition to permanent committees with long-standing
functions, presidents occasionally appointed ad hoc or supervisory committees.
While some of these committees served only a brief period, others significantly
influenced the policies of the Society. As a scholarly organization the AMS was of
course concerned to monitor the development of the field of music education,
especially to ensure that graduate programs instituted and maintained high
standards for their training. Committees related to music education include:
Curriculum and Accreditation, GRE Committee, Graduate Studies, Graduate
Standards, Interdisciplinary Studies, Music Education in Secondary Schools, and
Musicology.
The various committees relating to careers reflect the job shortage beginning in the
late 1970s and demonstrate the growing awareness on the part of the AMS of their
Previous Page Next Page