Satellite Collections
General Information
List of satellite collections
Since its inception, the former Arnold Schoenberg Institute (University
of Southern California, Los Angeles) attempted to locate and collect materials
relating to Arnold Schönberg from every possible source. Hundreds
of individuals and institutions cooperated in this endeavor by contributing
material directly, offering material for sale, making facsimiles available,
and bequething materials to the Institute. Many materials acquired in
such a manner are known as satellite collections in that they relate to
the principal archival collection, namely Schönberg's legacy.
What distinguishes a satellite collection from other non-legacy material
in the Archive?
Several factors in combination or, in some cases, individually determine
when material is acquired as part of the satellite collections.
Provenence: The importance of an item or a group of items may stem,
in part, from the agency which collected and/or provided the material.
That is, the value of the group of material is greater than the sum of
the individual parts. Another important aspect of provenence is that of
verification. It often helps to establish the authenticity of an item
if the history of ownership of the physical item is known.
Rarity: The fact that an item may be unique or exist in very few
copies contributes to its importance and value thus making it valuable
to deal with the item on its own terms rather than attempting to mainstream
it into other more common materials.
Strangeness: The uncommon nature of an item often means it is more
easily dealt with on its own terms rather than trying to integrate it
amongst dissimilar materials.
Monetary Value: Often a significant part of an item's importance
is in its monetary value. Extremely valuable materials are more protected
against loss or damage in satellite collections because access is more
controlled.
Preservation: Occasionally the inherant instability of a physical
item demands that it be treated in special ways, such as being in a satellite
collection, in order to slow or halt the process of deterioration.
In order to provide access to materials in the Institute’s satellite collections,
general descriptions and lists have been made of each distinct collection.
A list, descriptions, and an index thereof has been published in the Journal
of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute (15/1). A more up-to-date and dynamic
version of that list was available in printed form in the Reading Room
of the Institute. A variant form of the latter is available here.
Each description consists of most of the following elements:
– Name of the collection. Personal names include birth and death
dates where available.
– The years during which the material in the collection was created.
– The physical quantity of the material in the collection. E.g.,
“1 box (4 folders (32 leaves, 8 periodical issues), 2 books), 1 poster”
means the collection consists of 1 box of material plus one poster; the
box contains 4 folders plus 2 books; the 4 folders contain 32 leaves plus
8 periodical issues.
– A brief description of the donor, lender, or seller of the collection
as well as his connection to Schoenberg. Most of these are based on descriptions
in standard music reference sources or material found in the the collections
themselves. The reader should be wary of drawing conclusions based upon
these descriptions particularly in regard to early Schoenberg students,
as many accounts have not yet been verified.
– The general contents of the collection with enumeration of specific
items of Schoenberg interest, plus an alphabetical list of persons to
whom correspondence was addressed unless listed in section 6 below. N.B.
discrepancies between number counts cited under this section as opposed
to section 3 are due to the fact that section 3 counts all physical items
whereas this section counts unique intellectual items. For instance, four
copies of one letter will appear as one (intellectual) item in section
5, but as four (physical) items in section 3.
– An alphabetical list of the correspondents (writers, not necessarily
recipients) including an item count and the years covered. Individuals
writing on behalf of a corporate entity (corporate in the sense of consisting
of more than one person) are listed alphabetically (within parentheses)
immediately following the corporate entry.
– A list of any Schoenberg music referred to in any context (clippings,
programs, recordings, manuscript, printed score, etc.) within the collection.
An index to the collections can be found only in the printed form of
this finding aid at the Institute. The index reference numbers (in square
brackets) are collection designations for this finding aid only, and have
no other meaning.
As the provenance of any primary source material is critical, correspondence
(and associated material) relating to the acquisition of a collection
is kept and described with the individual collection.
Proper names are listed in the form in which they are found in the material
(with and without first names and initials, etc.). Personal names lacking
given or surnames are listed as found in the collections, with [s.n.],
i.e. sine nomine, in the place of missing name parts. N.B. More complete
forms of names (when available) can be found in the index.
All references to Arnold Schönberg the individual are spelled without
the umlaut (Schoenberg dropped the umlaut in 1933 when he emigrated to
the United States). All other references, whether to Schoenberg in a corporate
name or to his relatives, are spelled as established in that context.
The Arnold Schoenberg Institute is abbreviated to ASI in the lists of
correspondents throughout the article. For the purposes of alphabeticization,
ä = ae, ö = oe, ü = ue. Bracketed dates are those provided by the compiler.
“No date” is specified as [n.d.].
Access to all of these collections is open, although users should remember
that restrictions, including those pertaining to copyright, usually apply
as regards the production of photocopies or other facsimilies of materials
in these collections.
