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Finding Aid for the Phillips Family Diaries ARCHIVES PHILLIPS 1
ARCHIVES PHILLIPS 1
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Table of contents
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.
Collection is open for research.
Volumes are arranged by principal author in three series (I. Alberta Phillips, II. Burrill Phillips, III. Ann Phillips Basart)
and chronologically under each author.
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.
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.
[Identification of item], Phillips Family Diaries, ARCHIVES PHILLIPS 1, Music Library, University of California, Berkeley.
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.
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.
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