The American Music Research Center is three things:
First--a diverse collection of rare books, music, manuscripts and recordings;
Second--an office that plans regular public programs to share our treasures;
Third--an information center, where anyone with questions about the fascinating history of music in the United States can call or e-mail at any time.
The AMRC’s non-circulating collections are mostly kept on the 3rd floor of the Norlin [Main] Library. A few frequently used collections are housed in the Howard Waltz Music Library in the College of Music [Imig Building].
The AMRC’s public programs take place across the CU campus, in Boulder, in Denver, and in many other locations along the Front Range. For information about regular programs and events, contact the office assistant 303-735-3645 or eric.a.hansen@colorado.edu.
You can begin by inspecting the detailed lists, called “Collections Descriptions” found on line under the left hand menu at our website here. To see the collections in person, contact librarian Eric Harbeson at 303-735-1367 or eric.harbeson@colorado.edu, or director Susan Thomas at 303-492-7540.
Our materials consist of many types--old, new, popular, classical, familiar, and unusual. We have preserved well over 200,000 song sheets from the 1890s to the 1950s; Broadway show tunes; swing band recordings and radio programs; music to accompany silent films; piano, chamber, and orchestra music by American concert composers; hymnals and tunebooks dating back to the American Revolutionary era.
Technically speaking, the AMRC materials form an archive, that is, a set of rare or unique items that probably do not exist elsewhere or in exactly the setting from which they have come to us. Archives consist of personal letters, diaries, business records, rough drafts of musical compositions, and one-of-a-kind recordings, as well as published books or music sheets.
To build collections, librarians who are archivists look for rare (or unique) items in good condition (not tattered, frayed or illegible) whose historical significance may already be obvious—let’s say a score that belonged to a famous conductor—or an item whose historical significance is likely to increase over time.
CU’s own Alan Cass began collecting memorabilia and recordings related to this famous 1940s swing band leader long before the AMRC came to Colorado in 1990. (Miller had been a student at CU briefly and his wife hailed from Boulder.) Since 1996, however, the AMRC and the Glenn Miller Archive have worked closely together. CU Libraries has continued to collect Miller material and a wide variety of Big Band/Swing style music in various formats. Most of the Glenn Miller Archive is housed in the AMRC space in the Norlin Library. A section of CU Heritage Center in Old Main is also devoted to Miller’s legacy.