Center for Black Music Research
Audio-visual collections (b... Wendell G. Wright collectio... Finding Aid, or Guide to the CollectionTitle: Wendell G. Wright collection of concert recordings, 1957-1997
Predominant Dates:1977-1994
ID: 4000/WRIG_4004
Primary Creator: Wright, Wendell G. (1921-2000)
Other Creators: Lois J. Wright Memorial Concert Series
Extent: 18.0 Boxes. More info below.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in five series
Series 1: Lois J. Wright Memorial Concert Series audio tapes, contains 17 sub-series arranged chronologically.
Series 2: Audiovisual materials, contains 2 sub-series arranged alphabetically my artist
Series 3: Papers
Series 4: Scores
Series 5: Gerald Burks Wilson Materials
Date Acquired: 00/00/2000
The Wendell G. Wright Collection consists primarily of materials relating to the Lois J. Wright Memorial Concert Series. The collection includes nearly 300 reel-to-reel audio tapes of musical performances, most of which are recordings of Concert Series performances. Also relating to the Concert Series are a number of audio cassettes and video cassettes of musical performances. Papers relating to the Concert Series, which include concert programs and correspondence, have been arranged chronologically by concert season. While the Concert Series appears to have continued from 1977 until at least 1997, the collection contains no papers relating to the years 1980 through 1984. The collection also lacks audio and video recordings of the Concert Series beyond the 1993-94 concert season.
The Wendell G. Wright Collection also includes several published musical scores by black composers, and these consist largely of spiritual arrangements. An interesting component of the collection is a group of twenty scores (both manuscripts and copies of manuscripts) by the African-American composer Gerald Burks Wilson. A few fragments and unidentified pieces by Wilson are also included. Other materials relating to Wilson, including copyright registration certificates for his compositions, follow in the series.
Wendell G. Wright, born August 18, 1921, was an East Baltimore native who attended Douglass High School. He had desired to attend the Peabody Conservatory after graduation but was denied admission because he was an African American. He instead took private singing lessons in Baltimore and sang with choirs along the East Coast. He became the first African American to join Baltimore's Handel Choir and performed at the White House at one of President Richard M. Nixon's prayer breakfasts.
Wright devoted his life and resources to helping young singers and musicians. He started the Young Artists Series at St. Katherine's Episcopal Church in the spring of 1977. This soon evolved into the Lois J. Wright Memorial Concert Series, named for Wright's first wife, who passed away that year. The Concert Series encouraged and supported performances by minority classical musicians. Wright’s efforts also resulted in the creation of the Community Outreach Committee at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, where he was appointed chairman of the Inclusion Committee, which brought more African Americans into the orchestra. Additionally, he created "Live, Gifted and Black," an annual concert where African-American artists performed the work of African-American composers with the BSO. Wright died on May 24, 2000, at the age of 78. His second wife Dorothy, to whom he was married in 1978, donated the collection after his death.
Repository: Center for Black Music Research
Alternate Extent Statement: 18 boxes
Access Restrictions: None
Use Restrictions: None
Physical Access Note: Includes reel-to-reel (5 in. and 7 in.) and cassette tapes, video cassettes and scores
Acquisition Source: Wright, Dorothy
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