Special Collections and University Archives: Popular Culture

Records including constitutions, minutes of the board, treasurer's reports, newsletters, financial tally sheets for the organization's Minstrel Coffeehouse, staff lists for the Minstrel Coffeehouse, and documentation relating to the Folk Project's semi-annual festivals.

Correspondence, accounts, printed matter, scrapbooks, and other records.

The New Brunswick Music Scene Archive materials date from 1981 to present. The collection is made up of paper format, audiovisual, and ephemeral materials. The collection is arranged into nine record series: Flyers and Posters, Set Lists, Publications, Fritch Cark and The Last Bastions of Rock, Press Clippings, Ephemera, New Brunswick Music Scene Archive, Photographs, and Sound Recordings.

The New Jersey Folk Festival is an annual event run as a class by the Rutgers University American Studies Department under the supervision of Professor Angus Gillespie. Although some sound recordings are included, the folk festival’s records primarily consist of correspondence, reports, background documents, photographs, and notes created by the festival’s staff; consequently, the documents in the collection pertain to the folk festival as an event and as a class. The final/area reports in particular document the organization and activities related to the festival.

The collection includes large-scale sheet music written about New Jersey, published in New Jersey, or written by a resident. Many examples attest to the virtues and splendor of the Garden State. Other examples consider political matters in New Jersey government. The sheet music dates from 1830 to 1989, but a significant number of undated items are also included.

Constitution, minutes, correspondence, newsletters, notes, performance schedules, publicity materials, and other records.

The Song Sheet Collection is comprised of lyrical song sheets, mainly from New York and Philadelphia based printers. Most of the song sheets are undated. Please note that this collection does not include musical notation.

The sheet music collection within the papers was singer and actress Tamara Drasin’s personal collection of sheet music from her Broadway and radio performances.