About The Digital Archives

• Digital Archives International Era
• Printed Music Collections
• A Word About Our Sponsor: The Leon Levy Foundation
• Our Partners
• Rights and Permissions

The International Era, 1943-1970

The Archives collections contain material that dates back to the Philharmonic's first concert in 1842, but the first phase of our digitization begins in the middle of this long history. In deciding where to begin with our digitization project, we held a roundtable discussion that included librarians, historians, musicians, conductors, journalists, and students to evaluate the different time periods in the Philharmonic's history and to determine what might provide the most unique source material.

The International Era was selected for several reasons. It is the time when the United States becomes a world power and New York City its cultural capital; when the New York Philharmonic emerges as a worldwide symbol of this new cultural position. In the broader social and civic realm, it is when Government begins funding the arts, when women join the Orchestra, when the Philharmonic opens Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, when the Orchestra musicians win 52-week contracts, when television becomes main stream and the Long Playing record is invented, and it is the time of Leonard Bernstein's leadership.

It is the time period with the greatest variety of formats for the Digital Archives to test our assumptions about cross-searching; scores, programs, press clippings, business documents, images, film, audio and video. Although the audio and video items are now only a sample, we are developing a long-term strategy for this material to be available in the not-so-distant future.

By 2012 all of the archival material from 1943 through 1970, from the letters of Presidents to the smallest scrap of paper, will be available in the Digital Archives - 1.3 million pages.

Printed Music Collections

The New York Philharmonic Digital Archives houses multiple score and part collections, including those of Leonard Bernstein and Andre Kostelanetz as well as the oldest items of the Philharmonic's own music library which dates back to the founding of the Orchestra in 1842. The Bernstein and Kostelanetz collections are the complete libraries of those conductors donated to the New York Philharmonic after their deaths. They include not only orchestral scores and parts, but also chamber music, vocal, piano, and miniature study scores. All items from these collections that are significantly marked by the conductor are available online; unmarked parts are not included in the digitization project. Materials available from the Philharmonic's own music library include some of the earliest acquisitions to the library — a collection that has remained intact since its founding in 1842. It includes many rare and first edition scores acquired during the 19th century, most used by many different conductors and musicians, reflecting a performance history that spans multiple decades.

A Word About Our Sponsor: The Leon Levy Foundation

The Leon Levy Foundation, through its archives and catalogues program, helps arts and humanities institutions preserve, use and make available important records, manuscripts, letters, photographs and other historical materials in their archives and store rooms, with the ultimate goal of promoting advanced scholarship and expanding knowledge. Since its start in 2007, the Leon Levy Archives Grant program has awarded more than $12 million to 25 institutions.

Our Partners

The Philharmonic did not work alone in its effort to digitize its holdings. We had help from individuals and organizations, among whom are:

• Photography and Digitization by

  Ardon Bar-Hama

• Content Management Solution provided by

  Alfresco Software

• Systems Architecture and Administration by

  William Lavary

• Software Development and Support by

  Todd Pierzina and Gautam Amin, Technology Services Group

We are incredibly indebted to those who have worked on this project:
Mitchell Brodsky (Project Manager), Barbara Haws (Archivist and Historian), Richard Wandel (Associate Archivist), Adrian Cosentini (Audio Preservation Specialist), Elizabeth Lee, Elizabeth Cahill, Steve Parkey, Gabryel Smith, Jacqueline Waters, Patricia Taitt, Douglas Gibson, Nan Wakefield, Daniel Batchelder, Livingston Ordway, Grayson Sanders, Stephanie Allison, Rebecca Vendemo, Erika Lang, Minnie Muzquiz, E.J. Markland, Amanda Schuster, David Schuster, Claire Bridley, Chan Cheung, Eric Seligman, John Bence, Britney Boras, Emily Balsamo, Josseline Charas, Lin Barton, Damon Sfetsios, Elise Duryee-Browner, Lily Benson

Rights and Permissions

The documents in the Digital Archives are for study and research only. They cannot be downloaded or copied. To the extent that any items remain in copyright, that copyright is still protected. If you would like to use any of the material for any other purpose please contact the New York Philharmonic Archives about permissions or the publisher of a particular score. The list of publishers and their contact information is below. For rights to reproduce the conductors marking contact the Philharmonic.