by John K. Blanchard (MM ’89) MSM Institutional Historian & Director of Archives
The world will experience visually the School’s rich history through our discovery of previously unknown artifacts and the acquisition of troves of film negatives from freelance photographers.
Susan Graham appearing in the MSM Opera Theatre production of Massenet's "Chérubin" in 1987 while a graduate student
Many materials and photos that have been buried in crumbling boxes and scrapbooks for decades, are just now seeing the light of day. John K. Blanchard Institutional Historian
Many materials and photos that have been buried in crumbling boxes and scrapbooks for decades, are just now seeing the light of day.
John K. Blanchard
Institutional Historian
In the History section of the School’s newly redesigned website, we have recently added photos, scanned documents, and other material, greatly expanding our documentation of the breadth of the School’s legacy of music in New York and music education throughout the world.
Our first Virtual Yearbooks were launched on the School’s website in 2008, with a new page for each decade. We have done a major overhaul of these, adding new and higher resolution photos that chronicle each year since the School was founded.
One of the oldest surviving items from the School’s history, showing ledger entries for receipts and disbursements from 1918, when Manhattan School of Music was still known as the Union Settlement Music School
While alumni relive their time at MSM through entries about important performances and beloved faculty members, others will learn of seminal events, well-known guest artists, and concurrent NYC musical highlights.
Graduating students visit with American contralto Marian Anderson, who gave the commencement address at their 1965 ceremony, and MSM President John Brownlee (far right)
Aaron Copland with MSM students after a 1968 coaching of his Sextet
Not many people alive today had the fortune to meet Janet Daniels Schenck (she died in 1976) or to experience firsthand her leadership and her immense concern for the welfare of each and every student who attended the School. Even among those who met her, few knew the full scope of her accomplishments or the details of the early days of the School.
This is why we have devoted a section of the website to an in-depth appreciation of this great and inspirational woman. The Meet Our Founder section has many materials and photos that have been buried in crumbling boxes and scrapbooks for decades and are just now seeing the light of day.
An early class on “Rhythms” ca. 1922 from Janet Schenck’s personal scrapbook
An early photo of “two of the School’s first graduates” that includes a young Dora Zaslavsky, standing, who would join the faculty and teach for over 60 years
While we have presented excerpts before from Adventure in Music — the memoir Dr. Schenck wrote, published in 1961 — a complete reproduction of the book has now been included in the Founder’s section for the first time.
A 1970 portrait of Janet D. Schenck by American realist painter John Koch
The buildings of Manhattan School of Music’s current campus — some inherited from the Institute of Musical Art (1910) and Juilliard (1931), some built by MSM itself (1969 and 2001) — are excellent examples of the rich architectural history of New York City.
Our Architectural History page extols the School’s physical attributes from an outsider’s perspective, with an insider’s devotion. Illustrated with archival photos, it culls from expert sources and published commentary.
The Student’s Room, ca. 1910, also known at the Heckscher Children’s Library, next to a photo of the same room from the 1980s
Please find time to explore MSM’s storied past in ways never before available. And if you find some MSM treasures on your own archaeological digs be sure and contact me (John Blanchard) at 917-493-4496 or jblanchard@msmnyc.edu.
Meet Our Founder Timeline Overview Architectural History Virtual Yearbooks Pre-1940s Virtual Yearbooks 1940s Virtual Yearbooks 1950s Virtual Yearbooks 1960s Virtual Yearbooks 1970s Virtual Yearbooks 1980s Virtual Yearbooks 1990s Virtual Yearbooks 2000s Virtual Yearbooks 2010s
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