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National Negro Opera Company Collection Guides to Special Collections in the Music Division of the Library of Congress Music Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 1993 Revised 2016 March Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/perform.contact Additional search options available at: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu013001 LC Online Catalog record: http://lccn.loc.gov/2006568166 Processed by the Music Division of the Library of Congress Collection Summary Title: National Negro Opera Company Collection Span Dates: 1879-1997 Bulk Dates: (bulk 1930-1962) Call No.: ML31.N39 Creator: National Negro Opera Company (U.S.) Extent: 11,250 items ; 68 containers ; 39 linear feet Language: Collection material in English Location: Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Summary: The National Negro Opera Company, the first African-American opera company in the United States, was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1941, by Mary Cardwell Dawson. The collection contains materials and records related to the company and to Dawson. It includes correspondence, administrative and financial records, photographs, programs, promotional and publicity materials, scrapbooks, clippings, address books, notebooks, music, and books. In addition, the collection contains materials related to opera singer La Julia Rhea, who performed with the company, and Walter M. Dawson, Mary Cardwell Dawson's husband, who worked for the company. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. People Anderson, Marian, 1897-1993--Correspondence. Bethune, Mary McLeod, 1875-1955--Correspondence. Brice, Carol, 1916-1985--Photographs. Campbell, Dick, 1903-1994--Correspondence. Cato, Minto, 1900-1979. Dawson, Mary Cardwell, 1894-1962--Archives. Dawson, Mary Cardwell, 1894-1962--Photographs. Dawson, Mary Cardwell, 1894-1962. Dawson, Mary Cardwell, 1894-1962. Dawson, Walter M. Dett, R. Nathaniel, 1882-1943. Ordering of Moses. Duncan, Todd--Correspondence. Evanti, Lillian, 1890-1967. McFerrin, Robert, 1921-2006--Correspondence. Nickerson, Camille. Prattis, Percival Leroy, 1895-1980--Correspondence. Rahn, Muriel--Correspondence. Rhea, La Julia. Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962--Correspondence. White, Clarence Cameron, 1880-1960--Correspondence. Organizations National Association of Negro Musicians (U.S.) National Negro Opera Company (U.S.) National Negro Opera Company (U.S.) National Negro Opera Company (U.S.)--Archives. National Negro Opera Company (U.S.)--Photographs. National Negro Opera Foundation (U.S.) National Negro Opera Foundation (U.S.)--Archives. Subjects African American musicians. National Negro Opera Company Collection 2 African American singers--Photographs. African American singers. African Americans in the performing arts. African Americans--Music--History and criticism. Music--Manuscripts. Opera companies--United States. Opera producers and directors--United States. Opera--Production and direction. Opera--United States--20th century. Form/Genre Address books. Appointment books. Clippings (Information artifacts) Contracts. Correspondence. Financial records. Minutes. Photographic prints. Posters. Printing blocks. Printing plates. Programs (Documents) Promotional materials. Scrapbooks. Administrative Information Provenance Gift, Barbara Edwards Lee (former corresponding secretary of the National Negro Opera Company (NNOC) and niece of the founder and director of the company, Mary Cardwell Dawson), 1971. Documents related to the career of singer La Julia Rhea, who performed the title role in the NNOC's first operatic production of Aida, were given to the collection by her sons, Robert Lee Rhea and Henry James Rhea, in 1989. Accruals No further accruals are expected. Processing History The National Negro Opera Company Collection was processed by Kate Rourke, Rodney Todd, Joel Sorensen, Greg Pierce and Robert Saladini, in August 1993. The collection was further processed and coded for EAD format by George Kipper in December 2012. Transfers The costumes have been transferred to the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Copyright Status Materials from the National Negro Opera Company Collection are governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.) and other applicable international copyright laws. Access and Restrictions The National Negro Opera Company Collection is open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Music Division prior to visiting in order to determine whether the desired materials will be available at that time. National Negro Opera Company Collection 3 Certain restrictions to use or copying of materials may apply. Preferred Citation Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [item, date, container number], National Negro Opera Company Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Agency Sketch The National Negro Opera Company, the first African-American opera company in the United States, was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1941, by Mary Cardwell Dawson (born February 14, 1894, in Madison, North Carolina; died March 19, 1962). Ms. Dawson graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in June 1925, then did post- graduate work at the Chicago Musical College, and in New York and Boston. She began her professional career giving private voice lessons at the Cardwell School of Music, in Homestead, Pennsylvania, which she founded in 1927. She staged and directed the opera Romeo and Juliet at Carnegie Music Hall, in Pittsburgh (1926-1927) followed by the operetta The Merry Milk Maids, which she staged at nearby Schenley High School, in 1930. Mary Cardwell Dawson appeared as a soloist at the Century of Progress (World's Fair), Chicago, in 1933. That same year she organized the Cardwell Dawson Choir, made up of students at her school. The ensemble began a series of annual concerts in 1934, gradually developing into a prize-winning ensemble in the late 1930s. They won the Sun-Telegraph (Harvey Gaul) Award for Musical Excellance in both 1937 and 1938. The Cardwell Dawson Choir accepted invitations to appear at the Chicago and New York World's Fairs in the late 1930s. Seven years later, on May 27, 1944, the Choir received a first place award in the Nationalist Class of the Western Pennsylvania Choral Festival. Ms. Dawson served as president of the National Association of Negro Musicians (hereafter referred to as the NANM) from 1939 to 1941, and was chairman of the association's opera committee. Ms. Dawson launched the National Negro Opera Company (hereafter referred to as the NNOC) at the NANM annual convention, in August 1941. The NNOC was incorporated in the state of Illinois in 1942 with the stated purpose of "affording for the Negro the opportunity for the fullest expression in cultural development." The first operatic production was a performance of Verdi's Aida, presented at Pittsburgh's Syria Masque, on August 29, 1941. The stars in the first production included La Julia Rhea (as Aida), Minto Cato, Carol Brice, Robert McFerrin, and Lillian Evanti. After two years of various struggles and disappointments, the NNOC began to experience more consistant success, beginning with the August 29, 1943 performance of Verdi's La Traviata, performed at the Watergate, in Washington, D.C. - the stage being an anchored floating barge. The next year, on March 29, 1944, after successful performances in Chicago and Pittsburgh, the company staged La Traviata at New York City's Madison Square Garden, to enthusiastic crowds. The NNOC presented several musical spectaculars and operatic performances at Carnegie Hall and at Town Hall in New York, including such programs as "A Music and Dance Festival" (October 5, 1947), "An Afternoon of Stars" (April 3, 1948), and a performance of R. Nathaniel Dett's The Ordering of Moses, presented on June 15, 1951. In addition to regular offerings of operatic productions and occasional large-scale New York concerts, there were many solo recitals that featured Mary Cardwell Dawson or prominant soloists of the NNOC--concerts that were often billed as benefit concerts for the NNOC. The NNOC also sponsored nine annual music festivals between July 19, 1947 and August 27, 1955 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. These annual events consisted of bands, drill teams, dance groups, choruses, instrumental and vocal soloists - with appearances by well-known celebrities such as Noble Sissle and W. C. Handy, both of whom appeared at the August 7, 1948 event. Clark Griffith, owner of the Washington Senators baseball team, donated use of Griffith Stadium for these annual events without charging any fees. The NNOC was active between 1941 and 1962 (the year of Dawson's death), producing operas in several cities, such as Washington, D.C., New York City and Chicago, in addition to productions staged in Pittsburgh. In the early 1940s, Ms. Dawson moved to Washington, D.C., which then became the center of the NNOC's activities. Active Opera Guilds (city chapters) were established in Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Pittsburgh, Red Bank, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. The National Negro Opera Foundation (hereafter NNOF) was incorporated in Washington, D.C. on March 31, 1950 to help raise funds to sustain the NNOC. Ms. Dawson served as director and general manager of the company from
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