Notes for NOTES

The Detroit Public Library (DPL; Jeanne Salathiel, Reference Librarian, Music and Performing Arts Department) has mounted a series of exhibits in celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of its E. Azalia Hackley Collection. The Hackley Collection, the first of its kind, was created in 1943 to document the contributions of black Americans to the performing arts. An exhibit in the series, entitled "The Hackley Collection: The Kurtz Myers Years (1954-69)," pays tribute to Kurtz Myers, a DPL librarian for thirty-three years (1936-69). From 1954 until 1969, Myers headed the library's Music and Performing Arts (previously, Music and Drama) Department where the Hackley Collection is housed.

Kurtz Myers's strong interest in acquiring material for the Hackley Collection is legendary and evidenced by the ephemeral material displayed in this exhibit. Consisting of photographs, correspondence to and from notable performing artists, and original manuscripts and artifacts, the exhibit captures Myers's zeal and tenacity in collecting for Hackley. Much of the collection's rarest material was acquired by Myers. The exhibit is as much a testament to the dedication and professionalism of Kurtz Myers and other librarians of the DPL as it is a celebration of Hackley's sixtieth anniversary.

The Myers exhibit ran from 24 June through 30 August 2003. A reception on 25 June featured the reflections of Myers's friends, former colleagues, and staff. Myers lives in the Boston area and recently celebrated his ninetieth birthday. His health not quite as pristine as his insatiable intellect, he remains as active as possible. The Hackley Collection continues to benefit from Kurtz Myers's professional referrals and regular shipment of materials.

Dr. David Hunter (Music Librarian, Fine Arts Library, University of Texas at Austin) is one of forty scholars worldwide to be awarded a Visiting Fellowship by the British Academy in 2003. The program's goal is to provide up to a month of research time at British libraries, archives, museums, or other institutions for scholars resident outside the U.K. Hunter will be continuing his examination of materials relevant to his study of George Frideric Handel and the audiences that heard his music during his lifetime. Dr. Christina Bashford of the Music Department at Oxford Brookes University sponsored the application, and Hunter will deliver a lecture there as well as spend as many hours as possible in the archives of Oxford, Stafford, and Northampton. Previously, Hunter received support for his research from the University of Texas at Austin and the Music & Letters Trust, and held a fellowship at the Huntington Library. To date, the results of his research have been published in ten articles.

In June 2003, the Music Library at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Philip Vandermeer, Music Librarian), moved to its new location on the ground floor of Wilson Library, the campus's special- collections library. The collection has been housed with the Music Department in Hill Hall for the past seventy years; for some time, the facilities have been inadequate for the Music Library's size and for the safety of its materials. New materials could be added only by moving other materials to storage, and floods during inclement weather regularly put the collection at risk. The new Wilson Library facility has twenty thousand square feet, compared to the original Hill Hall facility's eighty-five hundred. There are approximately eight years of growth space. This move is phase one of a plan that will see the construction of a new music library within the next decade. No donor has yet been named.

Notes staff news. This issue brings another change in the Notes editorial staff. Charles "Pete" Turner, one of our two indefatigable assistant editors, leaves us to continue research on composer Jerome Moross as well as Renaissance music studies. For two years, Pete has done very fine work as copy editor of the "Book Reviews" column, and of assorted other columns we have called to his attention. We are very pleased that he will continue to select the tailpieces that have adorned issues for the past three years...