American Musicological Society (AMS), Committee on the History of the Society, 1993-1998
Container:
Box 12 of 20
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 07-142, National Museum of American History, Division of Music, Sports, and Entertainment, Curatorial Records
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, 1904-1978, bulk 1913-1974. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of the collection was funded by the Getty Grant Program; digitization of the collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
The Smithsonian Institution Archives began its Oral History Program in 1973. The purpose of the program is to supplement the written documentation of the Archives'
record and manuscript collections with an Oral History Collection, focusing on the history of the Institution, research by its scholars, and contributions of its staff. Program
staff conduct interviews with current and retired Smithsonian staff and others who have made significant contributions to the Institution. There are also interviews conducted
by researchers or students on topics related to the history of the Smithsonian or the holdings of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Cynthia Adams Hoover, Curator of Musical Instruments at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History from 1961 to 2004, was interviewed in 1986 by Richard Binfield,
a student in an oral history seminar at the University of Maryland, to document her long and distinguished career as a scholar of American music and her role in engaging the
scholarly community at the Smithsonian.
Descriptive Entry:
Cynthia Adams Hoover was interviewed in 1986 by Richard Binfield, a student at the University of Maryland, as part of a seminar project that focused on interviews of
Smithsonian staff members, taught by Smithsonian Institution Archives Historian Pamela M. Henson. This interview of Hoover covers her youth, education, and career at the Smithsonian,
including the development of a musical instruments division, her special interest in the keyboard collection, her work on various publications, programs, and exhibits, and
reminiscences of colleagues and administrators. The collection consists of 1.5 hours of audio recordings and 28 pages of transcript
Historical Note:
Cynthia Adams Hoover (1934- ) received her B.A. from Wellesley College in 1957, the M.A.T. from Radcliffe College in 1958, and the M.F.A. from Brandeis University in
1961. She was appointed an Assistant Curator of Musical Instruments in the Division of Cultural History, National Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum
of American History) in 1961. In 1964, she advanced to Associate Curator and in 1975 she advanced to Curator of Musical Instruments. Upon her retirement in 2004, she was named
Curator Emeritus. Hoover was instrumental in creating the Yale-Smithsonian Seminar Series which focused on material culture research, was the founder of the Material Culture
Forum at the Smithsonian Institution, and was involved in several professional societies, including the American Musicological Society. Her research specialties include the
cultural, social, and technological history of musical instruments, especially the piano, made and used in America; music in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American life;
and interpretation of American material culture. Her work has resulted in exhibitions and publications on such subjects as Music in Early Massachusetts, Nineteenth-Century
American Ballroom Music, 1840-1860; Music Machines-American Style, and PIANO 300: Celebrating Three Hundred Years of People and Pianos. Hoover received a
Guggenheim Fellowship to research the changing intersections of technology, culture, and commerce of the piano, work that resulted in the PIANO 300 exhibition and related
programs in 2000 2001.
Rights:
Restricted. Contact SIHistory@si.edu to request permission.
