Philadelphia-born contralto Marian Anderson made musical history with her compelling interpretations of art songs, arias, and spirituals. She also made civil rights history with her April 1939 concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and her January 1955 debut at the Metropolitan Opera Company.
The Penn Library's celebration of Miss Anderson's gift of her personal archives blends traditional and digital library projects, and allows a world-wide audience of scholars and the music loving public to appreciate her rare gifts. Projects have inc luded a Marian Anderson Center for Music Study, an exhibition in the library's galleries which has been expanded with songs, interview excerpts, and motion pictures and placed online, a rich online archive of more than 1,000 photographs, and an online reg ister of her personal papers.
The Library also celebrates the publication of Prof. Allan Keiler's new book, Marian Anderson: A Singer's Journey, by making it the featured selection for the Alumni Book Club in February/March 2000.