Finding Aid for the Phillips Family Diaries ARCHIVES PHILLIPS 1
Manuel Erviti
Hargrove Music Library
September 20, 2017
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
music_reference@berkeley.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Hargrove Music Library
Title: Phillips Family Diaries
creator:
Phillips, Burrill, 1907-1988
creator:
Phillips, Alberta, 1907-1979
creator:
Basart, Ann Phillips
creator:
Basart, Robert, 1926-1993
Identifier/Call Number: ARCHIVES PHILLIPS 1
Physical Description:
2.5 Linear Feet
(2 cartons)
Date (inclusive): 1955-2000
Language of Material: Primarily English with some Spanish and French.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Arrangement
Volumes are arranged by principal author in three series (I. Alberta Phillips, II. Burrill Phillips, III. Ann Phillips Basart)
and chronologically under each author.
Biographical / Historical
Burrill Leroy Phillips, composer and pianist, was born in Omaha, NE, on November 9, 1907 and died in Berkeley, CA on June
22, 1988. His theory and composition teachers were Edwin Stringham at the Denver College of Music (1928–1931) and Howard Hanson
and Bernard Rogers at the Eastman School of Music, where he earned a BM in 1932 and an MM in 1933. He was a faculty member
at the Eastman School of Music (1933–1949, 1965–1966), the University of Illinois (1949–1964), the Juilliard School (1968–1969),
and Cornell University (1972–1973), as well as served as visiting composer at other universities and as Fulbright Lecturer
at the University of Barcelona (1960–1961). His early compositions were considered to have been written in a distinctly American
idiom.
Burrill Phillips married Alberta Mayfield (born in Denver, CO, on August 23, 1907 and died in Branchport, NY on March 17,
1979) in Denver, CO on November 17, 1928. She later served as librettist and lyricist for several of his vocal compositions.
Their daughter, Ann Phillips Basart, was born in Denver, CO, on August 26, 1931, and became known for a distinguished career
as music librarian at UC Berkeley (1960-1961, 1970-1990), and as editor and publisher. She was raised in Los Angeles by her
maternal grandparents who named her Ann Todd Mayfield. As Ann E. Todd, she was a child actress featured in more than twenty
films. In 1954 she graduated from University of California, Los Angeles in Music History and continued her studies at UC Berkeley,
earning an MLS in 1958 and MA in 1960.
Ann Mayfield married Robert David Basart on January 29, 1955 in Alameda County, California. Robert Basart was born in Watertown,
SD, November 17, 1926 and died in Berkeley, CA, February 7, 1993. He studied at the University of Colorado, Stanford University,
and at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned an MA in composition in 1958 and a PhD in 1970.
Sources:
Ann Basart. "Basart, Robert." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed September 6, 2017,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2087199.
Mimi Tashiro. "Basart, Ann." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed September 6, 2017,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2083817.
Ann P. Basart. "Phillips, Burrill." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed September 6,
2017, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/21575.
Custodial History
Collection purchased by John Shepard in September 2016 from Hackenberg Booksellers, El Cerrito, CA, who had acquired the collection
earlier that same year from Andrew Langer, Bookseller, in Berkeley. Langer had picked up the diaries the previous year during
an estate sale of contents from the Basart family home in Berkeley.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Phillips Family Diaries, ARCHIVES PHILLIPS 1, Music Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Related Materials
Music manuscripts, recordings, notes, press clippings, and programs documenting the career of composer and Eastman School
alumnus Burrill Phillipps are found in Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections of the Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of
Music, University of Rochester.
Scope and Contents
The collection of 40 volumes features 25 dated diaries, logs, and notebooks written by composer Burrill Phillips, documenting
a large portion of the last 20 years of his life. Addressing day to day activities and concerns of life in western New York
and in Berkeley, California, as well as travel, entries are only intermittently concerned with musical activities and composition,
except for volumes described as such. Six volumes of diaries and writings by his wife, lyricist Alberta Phillips, and nine
volumes by their daughter Ann Phillips Basart, both overlap and supplement the period covered by those of Burrill Phillips.
One volume begins with entries by the husband of Ann Phillips Basart, composer Robert Basart. The collection does not contain
manuscript or printed musical notation.
Conditions Governing Use
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted to the Curator of
Music Collections, Hargrove Music Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Composers -- United States
Musicians -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area.
University of California, Berkeley -- Alumni and alumnae.
Phillips, Burrill, 1907-1988
Phillips, Alberta, 1907-1979
Basart, Ann Phillips
Basart, Robert, 1926-1993
Series I. Alberta Phillips
Box 1, Folder 2
September 30, 1956 to December 27, 1958, “Cuaderno”
Box 1, Folder 3
September 12, 1960 to April 8, 1961 (Alberta, back to front) & September 11, 1960 to October 20, 1960 (Burrill, front to back),
“Travel Diary”
Box 1, Folder 4
June 14, 1962 to December 26, 1965
Box 1, Folder 5
June 4, 1971 to July 20, 1976
Box 1, Folder 6
July 21, 1976 to December 12, 1977
Series II. Burrill Phillips
Box 1, Folder 8
September 2, 1955 to February 5, 1956
Box 1, Folder 9
June 4, 1958 to December 22, 1959
Box 1, Folder 10
October 12, 1967 to August 24, 1969
Box 1, Folder 11
August 30, 1969 to March 6, 1970
Box 1, Folder 12
July 18, 1970 to April 1985
Box 1, Folder 13
August 23, 1970 to May 31, 1971
Box 1, Folder 14
June 1, 1971 to April 2, 1972
Box 1, Folder 15
April 3, 1972 to March 27, 1973
Box 1, Folder 16
March 28, 1973 to November 19, 1974
Box 1, Folder 17
April 23 to December 11 & April 22 to November 14, To-Do Lists, New York, undated
Box 1, Folder 18
February 3, 1976 to December 12, 1979 & December 5, 1980, “Opera Notebook”
Box 1, Folder 19
March 3, 1976 to June 12, 1978
Box 1, Folder 20
June 13, 1978 to June 30 1981
Box 1, Folder 21
January 11, 1980 to April 30, 1980
Box 1, Folder 22
June 30, 1981 to September 26, 1983
Box 2, Folder 1
November 13, 1982 to May 7, 1983
Box 2, Folder 2
September 26, 1983 to June 5, 1984
Box 2, Folder 3
June 5, 1984 to November 3, 1984
Box 2, Folder 4
November 3, 1984 to April 10, 1985
Box 2, Folder 5
April 13, 1985 to November 23, 1985 & April 11, 1986 to July 11, 1986
Box 2, Folder 6
July 20, 1983 to July 10, 1986, “Music Journal”
Box 2, Folder 7
July 11, 1986 to November 11, 1986
Box 2, Folder 8
January 9, 1986 to April 11, 1986
Box 2, Folder 9
September 23, 1986 to May 27, 1988
Box 2, Folder 10
May 18, 1987 to March 21, 1988
Series III. Ann Phillips Basart
Box 2, Folder 11
June 30, 1957 to August 18, 1957, “Log”
Box 2, Folder 12
June 24, 1962 to July 17, 1962, “Travel Diary”
Box 2, Folder 13
June 1970 to August 1986, “Menus and Party Suggestions”
Box 2, Folder 14
January 3, 1975 to January 1, 1976
Box 2, Folder 15
May 13, 1992 to June 30, 1992 (Robert) & May 28, 1993 to September 25, 1993 (Ann)
Box 2, Folder 16
October 9, 1993 to June 25, 1994
Box 2, Folder 17
December 23, 1995 to December 29, 1997
Box 2, Folder 18
January 3, 1998 to May 15, 1999
Box 2, Folder 19
August 29, 1999 to December 23, 2000
Box 2, Folder 20
Loose pages, Biographical, 1950s
