Department of Music (Rec. Gr. 37)

Series 1. General Files
The General Files series consists of records of the University of Rhode Island Music Department dating from 1922-98. The series also contains some documents related to and collected by mezzo-soprano singer and URI Professor of Voice Mary Langdon, dating from 1889-1998. Subjects covered in the files include, but are not limited to, music education, curriculum proposals and changes, program proposals, workshops and seminars, concert series and music festivals, faculty meetings, songs of Rhode Island State College, scholarships, and the URI Ram Band.

Folders in the series are arranged alphabetically by topic.

Series 2. Summer Music Programs
The Summer Music Programs series consists of records relating to the operation of the Summer Music Camp and All-State Music Camp programs. The Summer Music Camp, which was held at Rhode Island State College and the University of Rhode Island every summer from 1945-60, was a three to six week program open to high school students from any state. The Camp included scheduled music instruction classes, band performances, and recreational camp activities. The Camp was directed by Lee McCauley, from 1945-48, then by his successor, Arnold Clair, from 1949 until the program’s cancellation in 1960.

Following the discontinuation of the Summer Music Camp, the Music Department ran the All-State Music Camp for high school students in the Rhode Island All-State Band. The All-State Music Camp ran for two weeks each summer, and included music instruction and recreational activities. Arnold Clair continued as Director of the All-State Camp until 1964.

The series consists of correspondence, promotional material, photographs and negatives, news clippings, notes, student lists, applications, receipts, concert programs, and press releases. The records mainly cover the period from 1945-64, with a few folders from 1973 and 1974.

Series 3. Sheet Music Collection
The Sheet Music Collection series consists of printed sheet music and several music magazines donated to the URI Music Department in 2002 by Lucia Caito (wife of the late Maury Caito, a piano teacher based in
Cranston, R.I.), Al Conte (from the estate of Joseph Conte), and others. The Music Department kept much of the collection in the Music Resource Center for student use, and donated the remaining scores, over nine hundred, to the University Library’s Special Collections Department in 2003. The scores, many of which have decorative cover art, date from the 1870s to the 1970s.

The sheet music is arranged alphabetically, with each folder containing several scores.

Series 4. Joseph Conte Arrangements
Joseph Conte was a band leader, music teacher, and long-time President of the Providence Federation of Musicians. He held degrees from Boston University and the Longy School of Music, and received an honorary Doctorate of Music from Salve Regina University. Conte was the Director of the 320th U.S. Army Band during World War II, and was the Concertmaster for several local symphony orchestras, including the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, the Fall River Orchestra, and the Eastern Connecticut Symphony. He conducted the Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, the Civic Opera Association, and the Fine Arts Opera Theater, as well as founding and conducting the Young People’s Symphony of Rhode Island. He was also the band director at St. Francis Xavier Academy in
Providence, R.I.

The Joseph Conte Arrangements series consists of musical arrangements donated to the URI Music Department in 2003 by Al Conte, from the estate of Joseph Conte. Most of the arrangements were written by Conte for use in performances and in music education, with a few dating from his time studying at the Longy School. Very few of the scores have credited arrangers; however, variations in handwriting between several of the scores suggest that some of the arrangements may have been written by people other than Conte, possibly including some of Conte’s students, Conte’s son (Joseph R. Conte), or Conte’s brother (Al Conte, who performed in bands with Joseph). There are also very few indications of when the arrangements were written. Some notes and accompanying materials show a range of dates from 1946-93. The series also contains some scrapbook material and other documents relating to Conte's career and education.

The series contains written arrangements, printed arrangements (many of which are annotated), some correspondence, news clippings, performance programs, photographs, posters, memoranda, songbooks, and 78 rpm phonograph records.

The folders in the series are arranged alphabetically by the title of the composition.

Series 5. Non-Departmental Files
The Non-Departmental Files series contains documents donated to the URI Music Department. Many of the documents in the series were donated by URI Professor Joseph Parillo from material he received from the estate of Russian-born American composer Vladimir Ussachevsky (1911-90), who pioneered the use of electronic music and helped to found the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center.

Subjects covered in the series include Russian music and composers, music of Rhode Island, and concert programs from the 1870s.

The series is arranged alphabetically by topic.