Guide to the Ernst Bacon Papers,
1933-1986
Processed by Special Collections staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Steven Mandeville-Gamble
Department of Special Collections
Green Library
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford, CA 94305-6004
Phone: (650) 725-1022
Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc
© 1998
The Board of Trustees of Stanford University. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Ernst Bacon Papers,
1933-1986
Collection number: M0906
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford, California
Contact Information
- Department of Special Collections
- Green Library
- Stanford University Libraries
- Stanford, CA 94305-6004
- Phone: (650) 725-1022
- Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
- URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc
- Processed by:
- Special Collections staff
- Date Completed:
- 1997
- Encoded by:
- Steven Mandeville-Gamble
© 1998 The Board of Trustees of Stanford University. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Ernst Bacon Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1933-1986
Collection number: Special Collections M0906
Creator:
Bacon, Ernst, 1898-
Extent:
1.25 linear ft.
Repository:
Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
None.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
Provenance
Purchased, 1986 and 1987.
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of item] Ernst Bacon Papers, M0906, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford,
Calif.
Biography
Ernst Bacon was born in 1898 in Chicago, but moved to the San Francisco area in the 1920s and soon occupied a prominent role
in the musical life of Northern California. Under his directorship, the San Francisco Federal Music Project achieved widespread
popular acclaim, as the papers in the collection attest. Many Bay Area citizens and reporters supported Bacon in his conflict
with the State and National Directors of the Federal Music Project. Bacon left San Francisco in 1938, the year following his
dismissal, and proceeded to teach, compose, and direct in the East, receiving much critical acclaim. He returned to San Francisco
in the 1960s and lived in the Bay Area for the remainder of his life.
Scope and Content
The majority of the collection relates to Bacon's tenure as the first San Francisco Director of the Federal Music Project,
Works Progress Administration, 1935-1937. Included are correspondence (personal and professional), official project documents,
concert programs, articles concerning the SFFMP, internal memoranda, and a variety of ancilliary material. Much of the correspondence
and many documents record the conflict between Bacon and the State Director at the time, Harlè Jervis, and Bacon's subsequent
dismissal as director. (87-039) Included in the collection is some of Bacon's personal correspondence from another source.
This portion includes letters received by Bacon from the writers Janet Lewis and Henry Cowell, as well as Cowell's wife, Sidney,
1938-1986. (87-007 and 87-019) Additionally, the collection includes several scripts and musical scores from the musical comedy
"Take Your Choice," written by Bacon, Phil Mathias, and Raisch Stoll. The musical debuted on December 2, 1936, and was originally
performed by the San Francisco Federal Music Project, with Bacon directing the musical aspects of the show. (87-071)
Access Terms
Allen, Elizabeth.
Bacon, Ernst, 1898-
Berckman, Evelyn.
Bier, Allan.
Bietry-Salinger, Jehanne.
Boulton, Laura.
Clement, Ada.
Cowell, Henry, 1897-1965.
Cowell, Sidney.
Davis, George H.
Elson, Elizabeth.
Erskine, Morse.
Ferrier, Andre.
Fisher, Marjorie M.
Foote, Ralph M.
Frankenstein, Alfred.
Galkovitch, M.G.
Gunn, Glenn Dillard.
Hall, Jessie B.
Hayden, J. Emmet.
Hewes, Harry L.
Hopkins, Harry
Horgan, Paul.
Howell, Ruth.
Jervis, Harle.
Johnson, Mark E.
Jervis, Harle.
Jones, Isabel Morse.
Kasloff, Mischa.
Knight, Lucian W.
Lengyel, Cornel.
Lewis, Janet, 1899-
Liebling, George.
Luening, Ethel.
McAdoo, William Gibbs.
MacDowell, Edward, Mrs.
Mason, Daniel Gregory.
Mathias, Phil.
Moe, Henry Allen.
Morris, Lawrence.
Mullett, George.
Pattison, Lee.
Pazmor, Radiana.
Pettis, Ashley.
Pilling, Roy.
Potter, M.L.
Rodgers, Bernard.
Roosevelt, Franklin D., Mrs.
St. John, Edmunds.
Search, Frederick Preston.
Silva, Giulio.
Sinclair, Upton.
Skonhoft, Steen.
Sokoloff, Nikolai.
Stoll, Raisch.
Sullivan, Noel.
Ussher, Bruno David.
Wadsworth, Ralph G.
Weston, Brett.
Whatmire, W.B.
Williams, H. Glyn.
Wood, Charles Erskine Scott.
Woodward, Ellen S.
Wright, Cedric.
Zam, Maurice.
San Francisco Federal Music Project.
Works Progress Administration.
American literature--20th century.
Music--United States.
Prisoners as artists.
Composers--United States.
Series I: San Francisco Federal Music Project Correspondence (specific sources,
1934-1939)
87-039
Box 1, Folder 16
McAdoo, Senator William Gibbs
Box 1, Folder 20
Search, Frederick Preston
Box 1, Folder 26
Wood, Charles Erskine Scott
Series II: Ernst Bacon's Correspondence (general,
1933-1939 & n.d.)
Box 1, Folder 30
Procuring Cottage at Inverness
Box 1, Folder 34
Drafts of letters, by Bacon
Series III: San Francisco Federal Music Project Documents
Box 1, Folder 35
"Project for Employment...," by Bacon & Gaston Usigli
(3/34)
Box 1, Folder 36
WPA Request for Approval of Project Unit
(9/36)
Box 1, Folder 37
Confidential Salary Lists
(10/36)
Box 1, Folder 38
Typical Attendance Record
(5/37)
Box 1, Folder 39
Semi-Annual Report on Departmental Activities
(6/37)
Box 1, Folder 40
Composers Forum-Laboratory
Articles About the SFFMP by Bacon and Others
Box 1, Folder 44
"The Federal Music Project," Cornel Lengyel
(1937)
Box 1, Folder 45
"Resume of San Francisco Music Project," Bacon
(1937)
Box 1, Folder 46
"A Few Facts About the Federal Music Project," Bacon
Box 1, Folder 47
"An Open Letter to the Federal Music Project of California," Bacon
(1937)
Box 1, Folder 48
"How is the Music Project Run?," Bacon
(1938)
Box 1, Folder 49
"Whispering Wires Need Psychic Powers," Marjorie Fisher
(1937)
Box 1, Folder 50
"In General . . . "
(n.d.)
Box 1, Folder 51
Drafts of Articles by Bacon
Box 1, Folder 52
Drafts, Completed Articles, etc. by others
Series V: Bacon's Scrapbook of the SFFMP
Box 2, Folder 14
State Symphony Orchestra of South Carolina
Box 2, Folder 16
University of California at Berkeley
Series VII: Correspondence from Other Sources
(1938-1986)
Series VIII: "Take Your Choice" Musical Comedy by Bacon, Mathias, & Stoll, originally performed by SFFMP - 87-071
Box 3, Folder 4
Score, "music left out of show"
Box 3, Folder 5
Complete Orchestra Score, Act 1
Box 3, Folder 6
Complete Orchestra Score, Act 2
