Rich (Alan) Papers, 1923-2010, bulk 1960-2010

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Summary

Title:
Alan Rich papers
Dates:
1923-2010, bulk 1960-2010
Creators:
Rich, Alan
Abstract:
Alan Rich was an American music critic, based in New York and Los Angeles, who began his professional career in the 1950s and continued writing until his death in 2010. The collection includes research files, correspondence and memorial tributes, promotional scores and recordings sent to Rich from composers and music publications, an extensive collection of both drafts and periodical clippings of his writings, and recordings from the "Music Room" salons he co-hosted in Los Angeles with philanthropist Betty Freeman.
Extent:
12.2 Linear Feet (10 document boxes, 5 record cartons, 7 flat boxes, 2 index card boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Alan Rich papers (Collection 1975). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection includes research files, correspondence and memorial tributes, promotional scores and recordings sent to Rich from composers and music publications, an extensive collection of both drafts and periodical clippings of his writings, and recordings from the "Music Room" salons he co-hosted in Los Angeles with philanthropist Betty Freeman.

Biographical / historical:

Alan Rich was born in Boston on June 17, 1924. While attending Harvard in the 1940s, he began working as an assistant music critic for The Boston Herald. Upon graduating, he discarded his original plans to attend medical school and instead enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley. Under the mentorship of the musicologist Joseph Kerman, he earned a master's degree in Music in 1952. After graduating, he went to Europe on fellowship for a year, and then returned to Berkeley to become the music director of Pacifica Radio, station KPFA.

KPFA later sent Rich to New York to work at radio station WBAI; this move led to Rich becoming a music critic for The New York Times in 1961. He moved to The Herald Tribune in 1963, and later wrote for New York magazine from 1968 to 1981. Toward the end of his tenure there he contributed to New West magazine, a spin-off of New York that was soon renamed California. Rich moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and became music editor of Newsweek. He also wrote for The Los Angeles Herald Examiner and LA Weekly. Rich used these national and local publications as a platform for a campaign to put Los Angeles' musical culture in the spotlight. He became a crucial advocate for contemporary music as he continued to make the case for LA's significance as a musical hub throughout his career. Rich's music column was cut from LA Weekly in 2008 as a cost-cutting measure after a sixteen year run. This led Rich to begin a blog, "So I've Heard," named after the title of a 2006 compilation of his reviews, So I've Heard: Notes of a Migratory Music Critic. He also continued to contribute reviews to Bloomberg News, Variety, and others.

Rich was the author of several books, among them Careers and Opportunities in Music (1964), The Lincoln Center Story (1984), American Pioneers: Ives to Cage and Beyond (1995), and the "Play-by-Play" series of books and CDs, with volumes devoted to Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky (1995). He passed away in April 2010, at the age of 85.

Acquisition information:
The collection was donated to UCLA by Alan Rich through the Alan Rich Trust, executed by trustee Raymond Richards and transferred in 2010.
Processing information:

Processed by Andrea Moore and Mike D'Errico in 2012 in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Jillian Cuellar. The processing of this collection was generously supported by Arcadiafunds.

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

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Arrangement:

Arranged in six series:

  • 1. Writings, 1950-2010
  • 2. Subject, 1936-2004
  • 3. Personal, 1932-2010
  • 4. Books, 1923-2008
  • 5. Scores, 1961-2009
  • 6. Media, 1950-2009

All series are arranged alphabetically.

Physical / technical requirements:

CONTAINS DIGITAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed digital materials. For information about the access status of the material that you are looking for, refer to the Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note at the series and file levels. All requests to access processed digital materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Physical location:
Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Andrea Moore and Mike D'Errico
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection was generously supported by Arcadia.
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2022-08-26 16:00:05 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Alan Rich papers (Collection 1975). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Website