Charles Hamm South African popular music and radio collection, 1956-1994 | Center for Black Music Research

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Collection Overview

Title: Charles Hamm South African popular music and radio collection, 1956-1994

Predominant Dates:1980-1989

ID: 6000/HAMM_6009

Primary Creator: Hamm, Charles (1925-2011)

Extent: 2.0 Linear Feet. More info below.

Date Acquired: 00/00/1999

Abstract

Charles E. Hamm (1925-2011) was a musicologist, composer, author, and educator. He authored numerous books and articles on popular and art music, most notably the landmark books Music in the New World (New York: Norton, 1983) and Yesterdays: Popular Song in America (New York: Norton, 1979). This collection is the result of Professor Hamm’s research trips to South Africa in the early 1980s and includes notes, clippings, articles, periodicals and other research materials on South African popular music and South African radio, including a manuscript of a book on township jive.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

This collection is the result of Professor Hamm’s research trips to South Africa in the early 1980s. The papers center around an unfinished book on the history of jive, and contain the majority of Hamm’s working sources including the following: South African newspaper clippings; South African political journals and magazines; articles and offprints by other authors; a range of information on South African radio; South African popular music magazines, including full issues of Drum; a number of notes and papers concerning music publishing and popular music appreciation in South Africa; and detailed notes on several dozen pieces of music. Of particular note are Hamm’s notebooks, drafts, articles and offprints that include the monograph Afro-American Music, South Africa, and Apartheid (Brooklyn, NY: Institute for Studies in American Music, Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, 1988) and his article “Rock n’ Roll in a Very Strange Society” (Popular Music 5 1985), as well as a series of lectures delivered at Brooklyn College of Music in the fall of 1986.

Collection Historical Note

Charles E. Hamm (born in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1925) was a musicologist, composer, author, and educator. He authored numerous books and articles on popular and art music, most notably the landmark books Music in the New World (New York: Norton, 1983) and Yesterdays: Popular Song in America (New York: Norton, 1979), which helped to pioneer the academic study of popular music. Professor Hamm was one of the founding organizers of The International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM). He was president of the American Musicological Society, and contributed major entries on John Cage, “Manuscript Sources of Renaissance Music,” and “Popular Music” to the New Grove Dictionary of Music. In 2002, he was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the Society for American Music and served as Professor Emeritus of Music at Dartmouth College.

d. Oct. 16, 2011, Hanover, NH

Biographical Note

Charles E. Hamm (born in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1925) was a musicologist, composer, author, and educator. He authored numerous books and articles on popular and art music, most notably the landmark books Music in the New World (New York: Norton, 1983) and Yesterdays: Popular Song in America (New York: Norton, 1979), which helped to pioneer the academic study of popular music. Professor Hamm was one of the founding organizers of The International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM). He was president of the American Musicological Society, and contributed major entries on John Cage, “Manuscript Sources of Renaissance Music,” and “Popular Music” to the New Grove Dictionary of Music. In 2002, he was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the Society for American Music and served as Professor Emeritus of Music at Dartmouth College.

d. Oct. 16, 2011, Hanover, NH

Subject/Index Terms

Administrative Information

Repository: Center for Black Music Research

Alternate Extent Statement: 2 linear feet (5 boxes)

Access Restrictions: None

Use Restrictions: None

Physical Access Note: Includes LPs and 45 rpm recordings

Acquisition Source: Lorenzo Chambers

Finding Aid Revision History: Finding aid edits by Adam Melville, March 6, 2018.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Papers and records],
[Series 2: Sound Recordings],
[All]

Series 1: Papers and records

Box 1

Folder 1: Papers and Notebooks
Folder 2: Drafts, papers and lectures
Folder 3: Biographical materials and Correspondence
Folder 4: Bibliography, analytic notes

Box 2

Folder 5: Radio programs, notes on music

Box 3

Folder 6: Articles by other authors and journals

Box 4

Folder 7: Newspapers, magazines, and flyers (oversize)
Folder 8: Miscellaneous newspapers, magazines, leaflets and flyers
Folder 9: Newspaper articles and clippings