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Guide to the Catgut Acoustical Society Newsletter and Journal MUS.1000
MUS.1000  
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Description
The Catgut Acoustical Society grew out of the research collaboration of Carleen Hutchins, Frederick Saunders, John Schelleng, and Robert Fryxell, all amateur string players who were also interested in the acoustics of the violin and string instruments in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their intense correspondence concerning the acoustics of the violin and other musical instruments led to the founding of the Society in Carleen Hutchins’s garden on 16 May 1963 sitting around a ping-pong table where they referred to themselves as the “Catgut Acoustical Society.” The name started out as a joke, but it was never changed. (Catgut, made from animal intestines, is the material traditionally used to make violin strings, as opposed to metal strings which are commonly used today.) In May 1964, the Society published its first Newsletter, an informal, typewritten periodical printed by a stencil duplicator. It soon matured into a scholarly research publication and was edited by Fryxell until his death in 1986. The Newsletter was published twice a year in May and November from 1964-1984 for a total of 41 issues. The title changed to the Journal of the Catgut Acoustical Society with no. 42 (November 1984), and the issue numbering continued through no. 48 (November 1987). With the May 1988 issue, an editorial board was established and a policy of peer review was instituted. The numbering changed to vol. 1, no. 1 (Series 2) and continued through vol. 1, no. 4 (November 1989). The final title change to the CAS Journal began with vol. 1, no. 5 (May 1990), ending with the final issue of vol. 5, no. 1 (May 2004), its eightieth issue. In 2004 the Society merged with the Violin Society of America as the CAS Forum. The purpose of the Violin Society of America is to promote “the art and science of making, repairing and preserving stringed musical instruments and their bows.” The VSA publishes the Journal of the Violin Society of America and the VSA Papers.
Extent
50 journals
Availability
Access to articles where copyright permission has not been granted may be consulted in the Stanford University Libraries under call number ML1 .C359.