Carnegie Hall

AT&T Presents Carnegie Hall Tonight Collection

Finding Aid | AT&T Presents Carnegie Hall Tonight was a radio and television music program produced at Carnegie Hall from 1978 to 1988. The collection includes correspondence and financial materials that document the program’s production.

Blaine Littell Collection

Material collected by Walter Damrosch, who played a significant role in the building of Carnegie Hall, including autographed cabinet cards of Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, a letter from Franz Liszt, and other items

Geiger Collection of Modern Composers

Inventory | Questionnaires from 60 composers for a 1934 edition of Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, including Alban Berg, Jean Sibelius, Anton Webern, and Edgard Varèse

Hermann Hans Wetzler Collection

Finding Aid | Correspondence, programs, a flyer, and a subscription proposal for Wetzler Symphony Concerts at Carnegie Hall, 1902‒1904

Isaac A. Hopper Collection

Collection Guide | Isaac A. Hopper was the owner of the construction company that built Carnegie Hall in 1891,and the collection includes a scrapbook with clippings about his life and career, some photographs of Hopper and his family, an essay by Walter F. Hopper Jr., and with a genealogic tree drawn by Patricia Hopper Strasberg.

John Totten Collection

Finding Aid | John Totten began his career at Carnegie Hall in 1903 as an usher, frequently escorting Andrew Carnegie to his box in the Main Hall. He worked his way up through the ranks to become house manager in 1927, a position he held until his retirement in 1968. This collection consists of autographed photos, Totten’s autograph book, and business records.

Julius Bloom Collection

Finding Aid | Julius Bloom was executive director of Carnegie Hall from 1960 to 1977. This collection includes administrative and programming records, correspondence, minutes, and reports from the Board of Trustees.

Leonora Shier Collection

Finding Aid | Leonora Shier was a rental agent and secretary of Carnegie Hall Incorporated from 1925 to 1956. This collection contains business records of Carnegie Hall Incorporated, personal correspondence, and photographs.

Louis Salter Collection

Louis Salter was an employee of Carnegie Hall from 1893 to 1925 in roles that range from assistant electrician to superintendent. This collection includes his autograph book and a series of autographed artist photos, principally covering the years 1912‒1925.

Manheim Fox Collection

Finding Aid | The scrapbook of Manheim Fox, who presented the first New York Folk Festival at Carnegie Hall in June 1965, contains press clippings, scripts for festival segments, correspondence, and a festival program and flyer.

M. Murray Weisman Collection

Finding Aid | The scrapbook of Maurice Murray Weisman, general manager and vice president of Carnegie Hall Inc. from 1933 to 1935 and president of Carnegie Hall Inc. from 1935 to 1939, contains letters, telegrams, newspaper clippings, transcripts of speeches, and photographs that chronicle Weisman’s professional achievements, from his acceptance into Harvard to previews of Carnegie Hall’s 1938–1939 season.

Music Hall Company of New York Collection

The Music Hall Company of New York was the administrative body of Carnegie Hall from 1891 to 1925. This collection includes correspondence between Howard Russell Butler (the first president of Carnegie Hall) and Andrew Carnegie, documents on Hall administration from 1891 to 1919, and original Music Hall Company stock certificates signed by Carnegie, Butler, and other officers of the company.

Robert E. Simon Jr. Collection

Finding Aid | Robert E. Simon Sr. purchased Carnegie Hall from Louise Carnegie in 1925 and formed Carnegie Hall Inc. to act as the Hall’s administrative body. Upon his death in 1935, his son Robert Simon Jr. became owner and then president of Carnegie Hall Inc. until the sale of the Hall to the City of New York in 1960. This collection contains correspondence, scrapbooks, and board minutes related to Simon’s ownership of Carnegie Hall.

William Burnet Tuthill

Collection Guide | William Burnet Tuthill was the architect of Carnegie Hall and the collection includes the questionnaires he sent to European theaters to inquire about how other theaters and hall were built, a scrapbook with clippings of articles and lithographs of his works, and a series of architectural drawings for the Hall and its renovations.

Architectural Drawings Collection

Drawings from the architects and firms associated with Carnegie Hall, including William Burnet Tuthill, Kahn & Jacobs (Ely Jacques Kahn & Robert Allan Jacobs), John J. McNamara, and James Stewart Polshek

Artwork Collection

Sculpture, paintings, and sketches on a wide range of subjects by tenants and other artists

Batons Collection

More than 20 batons from conductors such as Arturo Toscanini, Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, and Leonard Bernstein

Booking Ledgers Collection

Fifty-two ledgers used to schedule performances in all three halls from 1955 to 2007

Bottles Collection

Beer, medicine, and toiletry bottles associated with the businesses in or near Carnegie Hall 

Correspondence and Autographs Collection

More than 200 items from Marian Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Noël Coward, Franz Liszt, Leopold Stokowski, and others

Ephemera and Objects Collection

More than 300 items, ranging from a scarf worn by Isadora Duncan, Carnegie Hall Tavern matchbooks, and original Edison light bulbs from the Hall, to Carnegie Hall–themed sheet music, commemorative postage stamps, and more

Manuscripts Collection

Scores, musical quotations, letters, autographs, and calling cards from composers whose music has been performed at Carnegie Hall

Periodicals

More than 200 newspapers, clippings, and magazines that contain reviews of events, advertisements, images, and stories about Carnegie Hall, including complete newspapers for the opening of the Hall in 1891

Photographs Collection

Images documenting the visual history of Carnegie Hall, including building and event photos from 1891 to the present

Posters Collection

Promotional flyers, window cards, and large posters from a variety of Carnegie Hall events dating from the 1890s

Programs Collection

Printed concert programs from 1891 to the present, documenting performances from all of Carnegie Hall’s stages

Recordings Collection

Recordings of one-time performances by many of the world’s greatest musicians, including commercial releases, archival study recordings, and radio broadcasts in formats that range from acetate and vinyl discs to analog and digital audio tape to compact discs

Tenants and Studios Collection

A variety of material relating to the tenants and studios of Carnegie Hall, including sketches by artist Hilla von Rebay and correspondence and sketches of illustrator Frederick Stuart Church

Tickets Collection

More than 800 tickets from Carnegie Hall events from 1891 to the present, including a ticket from Opening Night on May 5, 1891

Video Collections

Television broadcasts, commercial releases, documentaries, B-roll footage, newsreel clips, and archival study videos that document many of Carnegie Hall’s historic events