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Collection Overview
Title: Jeannie Pool Collection of Zenobia Powell Perry Materials, 1910-2003
ID: 6000/POOL_6012
Primary Creator: Pool, Jeannie G.
Extent: 2.0 Boxes. More info below.
Date Acquired: 00/00/2004
Abstract
Collection, 1910-2003, consisting primarily of photocopies of biographical materials, programs and some correspondence concerning Perry’s career as a composer. Also included is an oral history interview with Perry conducted by Jeannie Gayle Pool in Yellow Springs, Ohio, July 1993.
Scope and Contents of the Materials
Biographical information on Zenobia Perry was collected from Perry by her biographer, Jeannie Pool, with the help of Perry’s daughter, Janis-Rozena Peri. The collection consists mainly of copies of programs for concerts on which Perry’s compositions were performed, and of press coverage on Perry. Included are materials concerning a concert series and tour to celebrate Perry’s 95th birthday in 2003. A note on the oral history interview warns that Perry’s memory was not always accurate and that her assertions should be independently verified.
Jeannie Gayle Pool’s dissertation on Perry has been published as American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century (Langham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2009).
Collection Historical Note
Zenobia Powell Perry was an American composer and educator. She was born in Boley, Oklahoma, in 1908, of Creek Indian and African-American extraction. She studied education at Tuskegee, earned a master’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado, and held several teaching jobs. Her musical education included studies with R. Nathaniel Dett at Hampton University and Darius Milhaud at the University of Wyoming, where she earned an M.M. in composition in 1954. She taught music on the faculties of Arkansas A. M. &. N. College (1947-1955) and Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio (1955-1982). Her songs and spiritual arrangements were sung in concerts by her daughter, Janis-Rozena Peri, and by soprano Sebronette Barnes, and her compositions were also performed locally at Central State University. She also participated in national conferences on women composers and black composers. She died in Xenia, Ohio, in 2004.
Biographical Note
Jeannie Pool; b. 1951, Paris, Ill.; composer, music historian, and producer
Administrative Information
Repository:
Center for Black Music Research
Alternate Extent Statement:
2 boxes, 3 sound discs
Access Restrictions:
None
Use Restrictions:
None
Physical Access Note:
Includes CDs
Acquisition Source:
Pool, Jeannie G.
Related Materials:
Supplemental materials, including a number of Perry
Related Publications:
American Composer Zenobia Powell Perry: Race and Gender in the 20th Century
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[Series 1: Biographical materials, programs, and correspondence],
[
Series 2: Other materials],
[
All]
- Series 1: Biographical materials, programs, and correspondence
- Box 1
- Folder 1: Inventory compiled by Jeannie Pool
- Folder 2: Early biographical documents, 1910-1915
- Folder 3: 1934-1939
- Folder 4: 1943-1947
- Folder 5: Arkansas State AM&N brochure [195-?]
- Folder 6: 1952-1955
- Folder 7: 1956-1957
- Folder 8: 1961-1963
- Folder 9: 1965-1968
- Folder 10: 1969
- Folder 11: 1970-1972
- Folder 12-20: 1973-1981
- Folder 21: 1982-1983
- Folder 22-28: 1984-1990
- Folder 29: 1990 Letter of 4 August signed "Velma D." with a program for the Boley (Oklahoma Rodeo, 1982).
- Folder 30-33: 1991-1994
- Box 2
- Folder 1: 1995-1996
- Folder 2-9: 1997-2000
- Folder 6: 2001-2002
- Folder 7: 2003: 95th birthday concert and tour
- Folder 8: 2003: Article on Perry in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "A Woman of Note" by Donald Rosenberg, 30 September 2003.
- Folder 9: Undated: Press materials for Janis-Rozena Perry
Browse by Series:
[Series 1: Biographical materials, programs, and correspondence],
[
Series 2: Other materials],
[
All]
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