Rosa Ponselle Museum records
Scope and Contents
The Rosa Ponselle Museum records contain primarily administrative files created or collected by the museum's director, Lester Dequaine. These include files related to the administration of the Rosa Ponselle Fund, files on the annual Ponselle vocal scholarship, files about the museum's collecting and exhibit activities, and biographical research on Ponselle. The collection also contains scrapbooks about the Rosa Ponselle Fund and Museum, video recordings about the museum, and materials related to the Ponselle centennial year of 1997.
Dates
- Creation: 1930-2009
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1983-2009
Creator
- Rosa Ponselle Museum (Meriden, Connecticut) (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for use at the Peabody Archives.
Conditions Governing Use
Single copies may be made for research purposes. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions. It is not necessary to seek our permission as the owner of the physical work to publish or otherwise use public domain materials that we have made available for use, unless Johns Hopkins University holds the copyright. All requests for permission to publish or perform materials in this collection must be submitted in writing to the archivist of the Arthur Friedheim Library.
Biographical / Historical
The Rosa Ponselle Fund was established in 1983 with a $10,000 bequest from Rosa Ponselle's estate for a musically oriented project for the education and benefit of the community of Meriden, Connecticut, Ponselle's hometown. From about 1998 to 2002, the Fund sponsored and conducted a competition for the Rosa Ponselle Vocal Scholarship and an annual concert by the winner of that competition. In 1999, the Fund signed an agreement with the Dequaine Foundation, established by Lester Dequaine, to form the Rosa Ponselle Museum, located in Meriden. The museum acquired, preserved, and displayed artifacts relating to Ponselle and also to the world of opera from her perspective. Its collection included items loaned from the Rosa Ponselle Fund, items from Ponselle's estate transferred by the Rosa Ponselle Foundation in Baltimore County, Maryland, and items acquired directly by Dequaine. The museum closed in 2007 and its contents were donated to the Arthur Friedheim Library in 2015.
Extent
3.72 Cubic Feet (7 letter-sized document boxes, 1 half-size letter document box, 1 oversize flat box [13 x 16 x 3], 1 oversize flat box [19 x 15 x 1], 1 shoe box [9 x 6 x 12])
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
A large collection of artifacts related to the twentieth-century soprano Rosa Ponselle was maintained at the Rosa Ponselle Museum in her hometown of Meriden, Connecticut, from 1999 to 2007. The Rosa Ponselle Museum records contain primarily administrative files created or collected by the museum's director, Lester Dequaine. These include files related to the administration of the Rosa Ponselle Fund, files on the annual Ponselle vocal scholarship, files about the museum's collecting and exhibit activities, and biographical research on Ponselle. The collection also contains scrapbooks about the Rosa Ponselle Fund and Museum, video recordings about the museum, and materials related to the Ponselle centennial year of 1997.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Lester Dequaine in 2015.
Processing Information
Processed by Claire Weber in 2016-2017.
Subject
- Ponselle, Rosa, 1897-1981 (Person)
Genre / Form
Topical
- Title
- Guide to the Rosa Ponselle Museum records
- Author
- Matt Testa
- Date
- 2017
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
- Sponsor
- This collection was processed with support from the Lester Dequaine/Frank Chiarenza Foundation.
Repository Details
Part of the Peabody Archives Repository
Peabody Institute
1 E. Mount Vernon Place
Baltimore MD 21202 USA
peabodyarchives@lists.jhu.edu