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Atlanta Music Festival Association records

 Collection
Collection number: ahc.MSS332

Scope and Content

This collection contains records from the Atlanta Music Festival Association and Metropolitan Opera performances in Atlanta. Included in the collection are correspondence, donor gift records, ticket office operations manuals and ticket sales data mostly from the mid-1980s until the end of the Metropolitan Opera tour in 1986. The collection also contains annual reports, scrapbooks, librettos, newspaper clippings, publications, repertoires, seating charts, and ticket order forms from the New York Metropolitan Opera that documents its performances in Atlanta. The bulk of the collection is Metropolitan Opera programs from performances in Atlanta and New York.

Dates

  • 1902-1986, undated

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. All requests to publish, quote, or reproduce must be submitted through the Kenan Research Center.

Administrative/Biographical History

Atlanta Music Festival Association (AMFA) originated as the Atlanta Orchestra Association in 1903 and changed its name to Atlanta Music Festival Association in 1905. The Metropolitan Opera of New York performed in Atlanta beginning in 1901, and AMFA sponsored the performances beginning in 1910. It remained the opera's sponsor until 1930 when the Metropolitan Opera national tour stopped during the Great Depression. The Atlanta Music Club brought the opera back to Atlanta in 1940 and sponsored the event between 1940-1942 until the tour halted again during World War II. In 1947 the Metropolitan Opera returned to Atlanta under the auspices of the Atlanta Music Festival Association with support from the Junior League of Atlanta. The final year of the Metropolitan Opera national tour to Atlanta was 1986.

With the end of the Metropolitan Opera national tour the AMFA provided financial support to the Atlanta Opera. The Atlanta Opera received increased financial and public support once it was no longer competing with the New York Metropolitan Opera tour. Grants from the Atlanta Music Festival Association supported the Atlanta Opera following the end of the Met tour. AMFA also supported the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Great Performers Series. In 1989 the trustees of AMFA publicly announced a plan to distribute the earned income on its assets of $1.2 million. The earned income of $70,000 was distributed between the Atlanta Opera Company, the Georgia State University Summer Opera Workshop, the Metropolitan Opera Association, regional auditions of the Metropolitan Opera, and a discretionary fund of the AMFA board. The AMFA's assets were turned over to the Metropolitan Atlanta Community Foundation to be accessible if the Metropolitan Opera were to resume a national tour in the future.

Extent

10.5 linear ft. (18 document cases and three oversize boxes)

Language

English

Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically according to titles supplied by staff.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, 1976, with subsequent additions

Related Materials

Visual materials have been separated from the collection. Please contact an archivist for access to these materials.

Bias in Description

As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information. We choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, and bias is reflected in our descriptions, which may not accurately convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materials. Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment. In working with this collection, we often re-use language used by the former owners of the material. This language provides context but often includes bias and prejudices reflective of the time in which it was created. The Kenan Research Center’s work is ongoing to implement reparative language where Library of Congress subject terms are inaccurate and obsolete.

Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or descriptions, please let us know by emailing reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.

Processing Information

This collection was processed in 2012 with subsequent additions in 2023. This collection was previously cataloged as Metropolitan Opera scrapbooks.

Title
Atlanta Music Festival Association records
Author
Ginny Van Winkle
Date
January 2023
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center Repository

Contact:
130 West Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta GA 30305
404-814-4040