The Digital Collections of the ODU Libraries include rare and unique images, documents, oral histories, and video from our Special Collections and University Archives.
View the finding aids for all of our special collections and archives, and contact us if you would like see other collections digitized.
The Virginia Symphony Orchestra, now recognized as one of the nation's leading regional symphony orchestras, has enriched the Hampton Roads region and enhanced the quality of life for its citizens for more than 85 years. In August 2000, the symphony was accepted into the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, signaling its entrance into the “major league” of symphony orchestras. The path to reach this level of artistic achievement and professional recognition has been arduous for the symphony's community leadership, as well as for the musicians who led and played in the orchestra. Now, when the symphony has reached this milestone, the records documenting its development are being secured for historical purposes. The Virginia Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony League, in cooperation with the Old Dominion University Libraries, have established a process to preserve archival resources for scholarship about the symphony, its history, and its rise to national recognition.
Through the joint efforts of the university library, the symphony's leadership, and members of the symphony league, organizational and musical records have been collected and organized and are being preserved for research in the ODU Library's Special Collections. Archives from the VSO and its historical antecedents are consolidated with records of the symphony league.
U.S.S. Iowa Band: World War I Photograph Album, 1917-1919
The U.S.S. Iowa was recommissioned in 1917 when the United States entered World War I and initially berthed in Philadelphia as a receiving ship. By November 1917, the ship relocated to Norfolk, Virginia and patrolled the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay and served as a training ship for the Atlantic Fleet.
This digital collection represents a photograph album of approximately 120 photographs kept by a Navy band member aboard the battleship U.S.S. Iowa in France during World War I. Some of the photographs in the album include John Philip Sousa as a Navy officer, daily life on board the ship, recreation activities of the officers, the Navy band, and the Navy's NC-4 seaplane that was the first aircraft to fly nonstop across the Atlantic in the spring of 1919. The captions in the album were supplied by the creator. In addition to the album, three loose items (two poems about life on board the ship and a church program) which were found at the end of the album are included.
National Band Association William D. Revelli Memorial Band Competition Winners
This collection is made up of 30 recordings from winners of the William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest from 1977-2008. The collection was compiled by Matthew McCutchen who used them as research for his doctoral dissertation. The NBA Composition Contest has awarded prizes since 1977. It is the desire of the National Band Association that winning compositions reflect its mission in helping further the cause of quality literature for bands in America. Additionally, works chosen as winners should be those not only of significant structural, analytical, and technical quality, but also of such nature that will allow bands to program them as part of their standard repertoire. As a result, a glance through our list of past winners will reveal some very familiar names.
Each year the contest receives approximately 50-70 entries from all over the world. Entries range in scope and quality from middle school level marches to lengthy and sophisticated symphonies. The full list is evaluated by a committee of graduate students and band directors and narrowed down to a list of 6-10 finalists that are brought to Chicago each December during the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. There, a panel of leading public school, university, and military band directors meets to determine a winner. It is the policy of this committee to announce the winner only. No runners up are announced.
Represented in this digital collection are some of the photographs from the Russell Stanger Papers. More will be added.
The full collection of Papers is available in the Diehn Composers Room at Old Dominion University. It represents a period of more than fifty years and includes albums of photographs and newspaper clippings of information about music performances he conducted and the performers with whom he worked. The collection also includes texts of pre- and mid-concert speeches, music books, pamphlets related to music and musicians, music periodicals, concert posters, certificates, and musical sketches. It also contains scores and some parts for works composed by Maestro Stanger. More than sixty sound recordings of works written by other composers are also available in this collection.
Also see an oral history interview with Russell Stanger (Part 1 and Part 2) for the Virginia Symphony Orchestra Oral History project.
COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS: Downloading, copying, or distributing any of the files in these collections is expressly prohibited. For more information contact Music Special Collections, Diehn Composers Room, Old Dominion University Libraries, Norfolk, VA 23529.