American Harp Society
Dates
- Existence: 1962-
Administrative History
The American Harp Society is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1962. With over three thousand members and ninety chapters in the United States and Canada, it is the largest organization of harpists in the world. The current president of the society is Lucy Clark Scandrett.
The idea for a society of harpists first came from Pierre Jamet of France in 1959 while at the First International Harp Contest in Israel. Marcel Grandjany was intrigued and decided to look into the idea and eventually chaired a committee of leading harpists. Three years later, in 1962, he had the Founding Committee meet in his apartment and the American Harp Society was born. The main goal of the American Harp Society is "to promote and foster the appreciation of the harp as a musical instrument, to encourage the composition of music for the harp and to improve the quality of performance of harpists." Every two years, the society holds a conference with lectures, workshops, masterclasses, and performances. In the off-years between conferences, they hold a summer institute for student harpists. This allows the students to work with some of the world's most renowned harpists and teachers and compete in the competitions put on by the society for monetary prizes. In addition, the American Harp Society publishes the American Harp Journal on a bi-annual basis. The journal features articles about various harpists, bibliographies, educational content and all things relating to the harp.
Citation:
American harp journal, winter 1976, surrogate: masthead (American Harp Society)Wikipedia, May 2, 2011 (non-profit organization; founded 1962; 3000+ members; 90 chapters; Pierre Jamet had the idea in 1959; goal: "to promote and foster the appreciation of the harp as a musical instrument, to encourage the composition of music for the harp and to improve the quality of performance of harpists"; holds conference every 2 years; publishes the American Harp Journal)
Found in 17 Collections and/or Records:
American Harp Society chair records, 1995-2015
Contains correspondence, forms, reports, flyers, newsletters, surveys, and meeting minutes related to Barbara Lepke-Sims's position as a member and/or Chairman of the Board for the American Harp Society.
American Harp Society records, 1956-1996
The series contains records of the American Harp Society. Materials include concert programs, awards, notes, member directories, and certificates, 1956-1996.
American Harp Society records
Contains press clippings, photographs and negatives, VHS videos, concert programs, newsletters, cassette tapes, administrative records. Dates range approximately 1970s to 2010.
American Harp Society strategic planning reports, 1996-2014
Contains long-term planning reports for the American Harp Society from 1996-2014.
Barbara W. Lepke-Sims sound recordings and other material, 1980-2014
Contains audio recordings, scores, articles, and fliers from Barbara Lepke-Sims's personal career.
Grace Follet papers
contain vocal scores for women's voices, vocal scores for mixed choirs, course booklets pertaining to harp instruction, research notes on the history and structure of harp, American Harp Society (AHS) conference booklets, programs and brochures of Follet and other prominent harpists, correspondence, two indexes and two appendixes to the AHS sound recording repository. Collection spans the dates 1927-1985, with publication dates ranging 1889-1959.
Catherine Gotthoffer papers
Collection contains materials collected by Catherine Gotthoffer ranging from approximately 1964 to 1995. Materials include promotional photographs of Catherine as well as other prominent harpists, documents related to Marcel Grandjany, video recordings of the Grandjany video project, newsletters from Lyon and Healy in addition to the American Harp Society (AHS), and various handbooks and policy documents from AHS.
Barbara W. Lepke-Sims collection on the American Harp Society
Sylvia Meyer papers
The collection contains letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, books, articles, concert programs, correspondence, and World Harp Congress harp publications collected by Sylvia Meyer throughout her career as a harpist. Approximate dates range from 1930 to 2001. The items are associated with the American Harp Society. It also contains directories, notes, and certificates regarding members of the American Harp Society.
Mile-High Chapter records, 1982-2006
Contains photographs, correspondence, directories, meeting minutes, flyers, forms, articles, and copies of the by-laws of the Mile-High Chapter.
Additional filters:
- Type
- Archival Object 9
- Collection 8
- Subject
- Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences 15
- Music 15
- Harpists -- United States 11
- Letters 7
- Programs 5
- Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.) 3
- Membership lists 3
- Newsletters 3
- Photographs 3
- Publications 3
- Advertising fliers 2
- Directories 2
- Harpists 2
- Minutes (Records) 2
- Notes 2
- Order forms 2
- Reports 2
- Agendas 1
- Annual reports 1
- Articles 1
- Audiocassettes 1
- Awards 1
- By-laws 1
- Certificates 1
- Choirs (Music) 1
- Compact discs 1
- Documents 1
- Financial planners 1
- Financial records 1
- Financial statements 1
- Greeting cards 1
- Handbooks and manuals 1
- Harp music 1
- Long-playing records 1
- Pamphlets 1
- Records 1
- Research 1
- Sound recordings 1
- Surveys 1
- Videocassettes 1 ∧ less