Category Archives: music

From the Archives to the Airwaves: Taylor Swift’s ‘Clara Bow’ and the AHC’s Scrapbook

Sometimes you find remarkably topical surprises in the archives, like the recent discovery of a scrapbook devoted to Clara Bow in the Samuel Anthony Peeples papers at the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. This treasure trove of newspaper clippings, … Continue reading

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What Could Be Better Than to Be Remembered?: The Achievements and Character of Nancy Van de Vate

It is understandable for people to want to be remembered during their lives and beyond their deaths. For musical composers, their art can transcend their mortality, that is if their music continues to be performed and heard, or in other … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, activism, Art and Legacy, Composers, Discrimination, Empowerment, Feminism, Gender Equality, Lawsuits, Legal Battles, music, Uncategorized, Women in Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hands in Harmony: Archiving the Language of Love and Communication

For more than three decades, Hands in Harmony captivated audiences with their unique blend of music, sign language, and dance. This non-profit organization, based in Cheyenne, Wyoming, utilized the art of “sign-singing” to communicate with the hearing impaired and spread … Continue reading

Posted in Arts & Culture, Community Impact, music, Performance Groups, Uncategorized, Wyoming history | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

From Talking Movies to Looney Tunes – Celebrating 100 Years of Warner Brothers

April 4, 2023, marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of Warner Brothers Pictures. Here at the American Heritage Center, we have the papers of some of the creative personalities behind the films for which Warner Brothers is revered. The … Continue reading

Posted in Animation, cartoons, Film History, Hollywood history, motion picture history, music, popular culture, television history, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“The aroma of hypocrisy”: The Development of “Molasses to Rum” in 1776.

As a musical theatre scholar, it isn’t often that my search for archival materials takes me outside of New York City. As a result, it was a pleasure to be able to visit the American Heritage Center in Laramie, Wyoming. … Continue reading

Posted in African American history, Composers, music, Musicals, Political history, Slavery, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Friendship Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick and Gerald Fried

Gerald Fried, a Julliard trained composer for television and film, began performing music in his Bronx neighborhood during the 1940s. There he met Stanley Kubrick, who would go on to become a celebrated film director, screenwriter, and producer. Kubrick and … Continue reading

Posted in Composers, found in the archive, motion picture history, music, Pop Culture, popular culture, science fiction, Stanley Kubrick, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Carl Stalling, Music Animator

A chance meeting in the early 1920s at a Missouri movie theater led to some of the most beloved cartoons ever created. Carl Stalling was improvising on the organ while accompanying a silent film. A young Walt Disney was in … Continue reading

Posted in cartoons, Composers, Film Music, motion picture history, music, Pop Culture, popular culture, television history, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Post and Carpenter – The Television Sound

The history of television in the 1980s cannot be told without discussing the music of Mike Post and Pete Carpenter. The team of Post and Carpenter first rose to fame in the 1970s with the music for The Rockford Files, … Continue reading

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Irwin Kostal: Mastermind of Many 20th Century Musicals

The AHC has recently processed the papers of Irwin Kostal, an American composer, orchestrator and arranger in the 20th century. Kostal’s most well-known projects include work on The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Sail Away  and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. … Continue reading

Posted in Broadway, Composers, Film Music, music, Musicals, newly processed collections, popular culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Skeletons, Silly Symphonies, and Stalling: A Musical Journey

A stormy night in fall with a full moon… and the skeletons in the cemetery come to life! Do you remember the black and white Disney Cartoon Classic, “The Skeleton Dance”?  This 1929 short, part of Disney’s Silly Symphony series … Continue reading

Posted in Animation, Animation history, cartoons, Disney, Film Music, found in the archive, music | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment