Conditions Governing Access
Availability of Digital Reproductions
Arrangement
Biographical Note
Preferred Citation
Related Materials
Sacred Music Collection
Scope and Contents
Separated Materials
Conditions Governing Use
Contributing Institution:
University Archives
Title: Hansonia Caldwell Collection
Creator:
Caldwell, Hansonia L. (Hansonia LaVerne), 1944-
Identifier/Call Number: DH.2016.001
Physical Description:
64 boxes
(NEEDS TO BE UPDATED)
Physical Description:
41.54 Linear Feet
(NEEDS TO BE UPDATED)
Date (inclusive): 1880-2016
Abstract: Dr. Hansonia Caldwell is professor emeritus of music at California State University Dominguez Hills, with academic specialties
in music, African-American music history, piano, choral conducting and humanities. She was a faculty member at CSUDH for
more than 40 years and founded the CSUDH Jubilee Choir and the African Diaspora Sacred Music and Musicians program.
Language of Material:
English
.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
Availability of Digital Reproductions
If you would like to view some of the archival materials from this collection that have been digitized already, please visit
the Sacred Music Digital Collections Database site:
Hansonia Caldwell Collection .
Please keep in mind that some of the materials in our archival collections are still in the process of being digitized and
are therefore not yet available to the public.
Arrangement
Hansonia Caldwell Collection Series Titles
- California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), 1966-2011
- Teaching Career and Professional Activities, 1961-2013
- Jubilee Choir, 1978-2003
- African Diaspora Sacred Music and Musicians, 1999-2011
- Community Involvement, 1968-2017
- People and Organizations, 1952-2016
- Personal Papers, 1965-2010
- Media, 1935-2010
Biographical Note
Dr. Hansonia Caldwell is professor emeritus of music at California State University Dominguez Hills, with academic specialties
in music, African-American music history, piano, choral conducting and humanities. She was a faculty member at CSUDH for
more than 40 years and founded the CSUDH Jubilee Choir and the African Diaspora Sacred Music and Musicians program.
Dr. Caldwell was born in 1944 in Washington D.C. and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father was a carpenter and her mother
was an elementary school teacher, and principal. Caldwell began piano lessons at the age of four with one of only two African
American piano teachers in Baltimore. She attended Eastern High School, a racially integrated, all girls high school. Upon
graduation, she enrolled at Boston University, where she received a Bachelor of Music degree. While at Boston University,
she joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and has remained active in that organization throughout her life. After graduation,
Caldwell briefly worked in the check claims office at the United States Department of Treasury, before applying to the Master's
program at the University of Southern California.
She went on to receive her Masters and Doctoral degrees in Musicology from the University of Southern California. She has
taught at USC, at CSU Long Beach, and Santa Monica City College. She joined the faculty of CSUDH in 1972, teaching courses
in African American music, Music History, and the humanities. Also in 1972, she married Charles L. Harriford. The two were
married for over 40 years until Harriford's passing in 2018.
Caldwell was an Assistant Professor of Music from 1972 to 1976, when she became the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies
and Research. She served in that position for four years before becoming the Dean of the School of Humanities and Fine Arts,
a position she held until 1992. She then taught as a Professor of Music until her retirement in 2011.
Dr. Caldwell, an accomplished piano accompanist and church organist, is the founding conductor of the Dominguez Hills Jubilee
Choir, university ensemble that specializes in the performance of music from African-American culture. She also created the
Jubilee Creative Arts Summer Camp.
An active researcher and scholar, Caldwell has published two books – African American Music, a Chronology, and African American
Music: Spirituals. Her studies of the work of African American composers have been published in American Society of University
Composers Proceedings and in The Black Perspective in Music. Her biographical profiles of composers Jester Hairston and Gertrude
Rivers Robinson are featured in the International Dictionary of Black Composers (2000), a project of the Center for Black
Music Research.
Dr. Caldwell is the Founding Director of the Program for the Study of African Diaspora Sacred Music and Musicians, an organization
that has as its primary mission the study of the life and work of African Diaspora musicians in the field of sacred music
and the preservation and performance of their music. From 2003 to 2011, she coordinated the ADSMM Living Legends Festival
Concert, celebrating the musical masters of African Diaspora sacred music with performances that brought distinguished conductors
and composers to the university.
Dr. Caldwell has also been very active in community and philanthropic groups. She served two terms as Eligibility Adviser/International
Fifth Vice President of Mu Phi Epsilon, an international professional music fraternity, and served as president of the Beverly
Hills Alumni chapter for two years. She served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Corporation for the Arts,
the Long Beach Regional Arts Council for 6 years. She has been a curtain raiser preview speaker for The Albert McNeil Jubilee
Singers, the Afro American Chamber Music Society, the Southeast Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Caldwell is an
advisor to the Southeast Symphony Association, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and a member of the National Association
of Negro Musicians (Georgia Laster Branch). She also served for 12 years as a member of the board of directors of the Los
Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and is on the board of the Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers, and the Inner City Youth Orchestra
of Los Angeles.
Preferred Citation
For information about citing archival material, please consult the appropriate style manual or see the Citations for Archival
Material guide: (https://libguides.csudh.edu/archives-citation)
Sacred Music Collection
This collection is part the Sacred Music Collection, also known as the Georgia and Nolan Payton Archive of Sacred Music, and
is associated with the
African Diaspora of Sacred Music and Musicians (ADSMM) Program . The Sacred Music Collection is made up of smaller collections that contain various primary source materials, such as sheet
music, books, periodicals, photographs, audio visual materials, manuscripts, and more. ADSMM's mission is to facilitate research,
preserve, and make accessible collections documenting the lives of important figures within the sacred music community as
well as its influence primarily within the Los Angeles Black community.
Interested in accessing other Sacred Music collections? If you would like to view these materials in-person, please make an
appointment through the
Gerth Archives and Special Collections website . If you would like to view these materials online, please visit the the
Sacred Music Digital Collections Database website . Please keep in mind that some of the materials in our archival collections are still in the process of being digitized and
are therefore not yet available to the public.
Scope and Contents
IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT THIS COLLECTION: Boxes 45, 47, and 62 are currently NOT AVAILABLE for viewing. The entire box or a
majority of the materials in these boxes have been sent out to be digitized and should be returning to the Archives shortly.
Apologies for the inconvenience and feel free to reach out to us with any questions. Thank you.
The materials in the Hansonia Caldwell Collection consist of documents, photographs, programs, clippings, press releases,
publications, sheet music, and audio and video recordings that document Caldwell's teaching career and professional work,
largely at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH. The collection also contains materials pertaining to her work
as the director of the CSUDH Jubilee Choir, the African Diaspora Sacred Music and Musicians program, and her philanthropical
and community work.
Separated Materials
Books from the Hansonia Caldwell Collection were separated and added to either the Gerth Archives and Special Collections
Rare Book Collection or the Cain Library collections.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from the collection must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archivesand
Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physicalmaterials
and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
African Americans -- Music
African American choirs
African American choral conductors
African American musicians
Jubilee singers
Gospel Music
Sacred music
California State University, Dominguez Hills -- History
Music -- Instruction and study
Teachers
California State University, Dominguez Hills. Department of Music
California State University Dominguez Hills Jubilee Choir
Hairston, Jester, 1901-2000
McNeil, Albert