Guide to the Herbert Nanney Papers
Aimee L. Morgan
Stanford University. Libraries.
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
2008
Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Note
This encoded finding aid is compliant with Stanford EAD Best Practice Guidelines, Version 1.0.
Overview
Call Number: SC0920
Creator:
Nanney, Herbert, 1918-1996
Title: Herbert Nanney papers
Dates: 1924-2005
Physical Description:
4 Linear feet
Summary: Programs, news clippings, correspondence, photographs, audio recordings, music scores, and other materials which document
Herbert Nanney's tenure as Stanford University professor of music and university organist.
Language(s): The materials are in English.
Repository:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc
Administrative Information
Information about Access
Collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least 24 hours in advance of intended use.
Ownership & Copyright
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.
Cite As
[Identification of item], Herbert Nanney papers, SC 920, Stanford University Archives, Stanford, Calif.
Biography / Administrative History
Herbert Boswell Nanney, university organist and professor of music at Stanford University, was born in Whittier, California
in 1918. He began piano lessons at the age of five, and studied organ under UCLA's Alexander Schreiner while a high school
student. Nanney received his A.B. in Music from Whittier College in 1940, an Artist's Diploma from the Curtis Institute of
Music in Philadelphia in 1947, and his M.A. from Stanford in 1951.
Nanney first came to Stanford shortly after receiving his A.B., serving as assistant to university organist William D. Allen.
He left Stanford to attend the Curtis Institute of Music in 1941. In August 1942 he was inducted into the Army. While stationed
in Paris from 1944-1945, Nanney studied organ with Marcel Dupre at the Paris Conservatory of Music and was organist at the
American Cathedral.
After his return from Europe, Nanney served as organist and choir director for churches in southern California and Philadelphia
before returning to Stanford in 1947 as university organist and a member of the music faculty. In the years that followed
he traveled regularly to lecture and perform, and was instrumental in the planning and construction of the Fisk-Nanney organ
in Memorial Church, which was dedicated in 1984.
Nanney's 1985 retirement was celebrated with a series of concerts on campus, at which 30 of his former students played the
works of Bach. He remained in the Bay Area until his death in 1996.
Scope and Content of Collection
Programs and news clippings related to performances by Nanney comprise the bulk of these papers. For preservation reasons,
clippings on newsprint have been placed at the end of each folder and are segregated from other documents with acid-free paper.
Also included are several folders of clippings, programs, and other documents related to the construction of the Fisk-Nanney
organ at Stanford University's Memorial Church. There are also several tributes to Nanney, including congratulatory letters
compiled and presented to him at the time of his retirement; a memorial service address by James Welch; and a program and
an original composition from an honorary concert presented by the San Jose Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
Many of the programs, news clippings, and congratulatory letters were originally located in scrapbooks. Due to preservation
concerns these items were detached from their scrapbook pages and placed in acid-free folders. Folder titles indicate items
that were originally found in scrapbooks.
Other correspondence is sparse and consists largely of letters to Nanney from his parents. Two items of particular interest
are a 1945 letter of reference from prominent French organist Marcel Dupre and a 1953 letter from Vice President Richard Nixon
in response to Nanney's inquiry about the position of Organist and Choirmaster at West Point's Cadet Chapel.
There are two recordings of works by Nanney: a CD-R copy of a 1956 baroque music performance in Memorial Church and an LP
of Nanney s performance at the 1963 Far West Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists. The papers also include
several original compositions by Nanney, including his Sonata in E Minor for pipe organ and The Creation: A Sacred Cantata
for Chorus, Soprano and Baritone Soloists, Full Orchestra, and Organ.
Most of the photographs in box 1 are posed portraits of Nanney, but there are a few images of the Memorial Church organ as
well as several individual and group photographs of others.
The papers were donated to the Stanford University Archives by James Welch, a former Nanney student. Welch's notes on the
papers are included in box 5, folder 12. There is also a transcript of Welch's 1991 interview with Nanney, a recording of
the interview on audiocassette, and a copy of Welch's piece on Nanney for Stanford magazine's January/February 2003 "The Teacher
Who Changed My Life" feature.
Access Terms
Stanford University. Department of Music.
Stanford University. Memorial Church
Organists--California.
Box 1, Folder 1
American Guild of Organists San Jose chapter recital in honor of Nanney,
1992
Box 1, Folder 2
Biographical information,
1954, 1992, undated
Box 1, Folder 3
Correspondence,
1943-1947, 1953
Box 1, Folder 4
Correspondence,
1963-1964, 1976-1979, undated
Box 1, Folder 9
Music, Fantasie in C Minor,
undated
Box 1, Folder 10
Music, Holy Holy Holy,
undated
Box 1, Folder 11
Music, Jehovah Is My Keeper,
undated
Box 1, Folder 12
Music, Musical Setting for Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I,
undated
Box 1, Folder 13
Music, Variations Written in Paris,
undated
Box 1, Folder 14
Music, We Limit Not the Truth of God,
undated
Box 1, Folder 16
Photographs, portraits of Nanney [16 items; several are duplicates],
circa 1930s-1980s
Box 1, Folder 17
Photographs, portraits of Nanney in Army uniform [5 items; 2 are duplicates],
circa 1942-1945
Box 1, Folder 18
Photographs, Nanney posed at organ [18 items; several duplicates],
circa 1940s-1980s
Box 1, Folder 18
Proof sheets, photographs of Nanney posed at organ [3 items],
undated
Box 1, Folder 18
Photographs, (Memorial Church?) organ [3 items],
undated
Box 1, Folder 18
Proof sheet, photographs of organ,
undated
Box 1, Folder 19
Photograh, Nanney with parents and sister?,
circa 1920s
Box 1, Folder 19
Photograph, Nanney as child with band,
circa late 1920s-early 1930s
Box 1, Folder 19
Photograph, Nanney at piano with chorus,
circa 1940s-1950s
Box 1, Folder 19
Photograph, Nanney at organ console with five singers,
circa 1950s
Box 1, Folder 19
Photograph, Nanney at piano with man playing guitar,
circa 1950s-1960s
Box 1, Folder 19
Photograph, Nanney at organ console with two men,
circa 1960s-1970s
Box 1, Folder 19
Photographs, Nanney with two men in Memorial Church, establishment of Herbert Nanney Scholarship in Organ [4 items],
1987
Box 1, Folder 19
Photograph, Nanney and wife with one other couple outside Memorial Church,
circa 1980s
Box 1, Folder 19
Photographs, Nanney with former students who performed in Bach tribute [2 identical items],
1985
Box 1, Folder 19
Photograph, Alexander Schreiner posed at organ, signed to Nanney,
1937
Box 1, Folder 19
Group photograph of men and women in army uniforms,
circa 1940s
Box 1, Folder 19
Group photograph of San Francisco Bank Junior Choral Group,
1947
Box 1, Folder 19
Photograph, Sandor Salgo (professor of music at Stanford),
undated
Box 1, Folder 19
Photograph, unidentified man at organ with radio microphone,
undated
Box 2, Folder 1
Programs and clippings,
1935-1936
Box 2, Folder 2
Programs and clippings,
1937
Box 2, Folder 3
Programs and clippings,
1938
Box 2, Folder 4
Programs and clippings,
1939
Box 2, Folder 5
Programs and clippings,
1940
Box 2, Folder 6
Programs and clippings,
1941
Box 2, Folder 7
Programs and clippings,
1942-1943
Box 2, Folder 8
Programs and clippings,
1944-1945
Box 2, Folder 9
Programs and clippings,
1946
Box 2, Folder 10
Programs and clippings,
1947-1948
Box 2, Folder 11
Programs and clippings,
1949
Box 2, Folder 12
Programs and clippings,
1950
Box 2, Folder 13
Programs and clippings,
1952
Box 2, Folder 14
Programs and clippings,
1953
Box 2, Folder 15
Programs and clippings,
1954-1955
Box 2, Folder 16
Programs and clippings,
1956-1957
Box 2, Folder 17
Programs and clippings,
1958-1959
Box 2, Folder 18
Programs and clippings,
1960-1962
Box 2, Folder 19
Programs and clippings,
1963
Box 2, Folder 20
Programs and clippings,
1964
Box 2, Folder 21
Programs and clippings,
1965
Box 2, Folder 22
Programs and clippings,
1966
Box 3, Folder 1
Programs and clippings,
1967
Box 3, Folder 2
Programs and clippings,
1968
Box 3, Folder 3
Programs and clippings,
1969
Box 3, Folder 4
Programs and clippings,
1970
Box 3, Folder 5
Programs and clippings,
1971
Box 3, Folder 6
Programs and clippings,
1972
Box 3, Folder 7
Programs and clippings,
1973
Box 3, Folder 8
Programs and clippings,
1974
Box 3, Folder 9
Programs and clippings,
1975
Box 3, Folder 10
Programs and clippings,
1976
Box 3, Folder 11
Programs and clippings,
1977
Box 3, Folder 12
Programs and clippings,
1978
Box 3, Folder 13
Programs and clippings,
1979
Box 3, Folder 14
Programs and clippings,
1980
Box 3, Folder 15
Programs and clippings,
1981
Box 4, Folder 1
Programs and clippings,
1982
Box 4, Folder 2
Programs and clippings,
1983-1988
Box 4, Folder 3
Programs and clippings,
undated
Box 4, Folder 4
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1924-1930
Box 4, Folder 5
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1931-1932
Box 4, Folder 6
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1933-1934
Box 4, Folder 7
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1935
Box 4, Folder 8
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1936
Box 4, Folder 9
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1936
Box 4, Folder 10
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1937
Box 4, Folder 11
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1937
Box 4, Folder 12
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1938
Box 4, Folder 13
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1938
Box 5, Folder 1
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1939-1940
Box 5, Folder 2
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1947-1948
Box 5, Folder 3
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1947-1948
Box 5, Folder 4
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1949
Box 5, Folder 5
Programs and clippings [from scrapbook],
1950-1953
Box 5, Folder 6
Programs, postcards, and ephemera from France,
1944-1945
Box 5, Folder 7
Programs, postcards, and ephemera from France,
1944-1945
Box 5, Folder 9
Retirement, letters from and photographs of students [from scrapbook],
1985
Box 5, Folder 10
Retirement, letters from colleagues and photographs from party [from scrapbook],
1985
Box 5, Folder 11
Welch, James, interview of Nanney. Approximate running time: 1 hour, 23 minutes]
1991
Welch, James, interview of Nanney. Approximate running time: 1 hour, 23 minutes], 1991
Physical Description:
1 optical disc(s) (CD-R)
Box 5, Folder 12
Welch, James, writings on Nanney,
1996, 2003, 2005
Box 5
Recording of baroque music concert, Memorial Hall [includes insert with complete program listed],
1956 Nov 18
Physical Description:
1 optical disc(s) (CD-R)
Oversize retirement card with watercolor sketch of Nanney at organ,
1985
The Creation: A Sacred Cantata for Chorus, Soprano and Baritone Soloists, Full Orchestra, and Organ, oversize score,
undated
Nanney's performance at the Far West Regional Convention of the American Guild of Organists,
1963
Physical Description:
1 phonograph record(s)
Folder 1
Sonata in E Minor,
1939-1940
Folder 1
Adagio from Sonata in E Minor, Morningstar Music Publishers, 1993
Folder 2
Sonata in E Minor, carbons,
1939-1940
Folder 3
Oversize photograph of Nanney,
circa late 1920s-early 1930s
Folder 3
Poster, Recital on the Handel Organ of Holy Trinity Gosport by Herbert Nanney,
1981
Folder 3
Retirement card with calligraphy on parchment,
1985