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The Eva Jessye collection contains the personal papers and collected material of Eva Jessye, the first Black woman to be internationally recognized as a professional choral director. Jessye was also a composer, arranger, writer, poet, actress and African American Music historian. Born in Coffeyville, Kansas in 1895, Jessye gained prominence as the conductor for Original Dixie Jubilee Singers, and as choral director for Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson's opera Four Saints in Three Acts. Jessye was the choral director for the original production (and many subsequent productions) of Porgy and Bess. The collection includes both materials from Jessye's personal and professional life as well as collected material which documents prominent Black Americans.

The Eva Jessye Collection contains Jessye's personal papers as well as materials she collected. Materials include Jessye's personal notes and a travel diary, as well as her production writings, poetry, and speeches, personal and professional correspondence, collected articles, reviews and programs, as well as family photographs, production and publicity shots.

This collection contains sketches, manuscripts, printed music and writings by George Cacioppo, American composer, founder of the ONCE group, and faculty member at the University of Michigan.

The collection contains sketches, manuscripts, printed music and writings by George Cacioppo, as well as correspondence (business and family), press clippings, programs and ONCE Festival memorabilia. The materials were arranged in logical sequence rather than "original order" so that research and performance of the materials would be facilitated. Details of the series arrangement have been provided below. Books and music by others have been removed from the collection, but lists of these materials have been retained. Many of Cacioppo's manuscripts were reproduced in different ways. The term "reproductions" was used in the finding aid to refer to ozalid copies and photocopies. Duplicates of the reproductions were removed.