Colin McPhee Collection, bulk 1930-1964

Summary

Creators:
McPhee, Colin 1900-1964
Abstract:
This collection consists of sound recordings, field notes, photographs, papers and correspondence.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Colin McPhee Collection, 1975.06, Ethnomusicology Archive, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

Material collected by Colin McPhee in Bali, 1930s-1964. Collection includes photographs, field notes, papers and correspondence, and recordings of Balinese music.

The collection is organized into the following series:

  • Series 1. Paper materials
  • Series 2. Moving Images
  • Series 2. Music Transcriptions and Manuscripts
  • Series 3. Sound Recordings
  • Series 3. Still images
  • Series 4. Still Images
  • Series 5. "Music in Bali" materials. Boxes 7-13, folders 100-160

Biographical / historical:

In the 1930s, Colin McPhee lived in Bali where he studied the sacred gamelan tradition and other musical genres. When he worked in New York during the 1940s, he was among the talented, young generation of composers that included Aaron Copeland and Henry Cowell. In California, where he died in 1964, he contributed greatly to the study of world music. McPhee was a faculty member of the Music Department at UCLA from 1960-1964. Besides his musical talents, he was an excellent photographer (as seen in the Archive's collection). His publications include A Club of Small Men (1948), A House in Bali (1947), and Music of Bali (1956). A review of a biography written by Carol Oja, Colin McPhee: Composer in Two Worlds, is available here. More information about the Archive's Colin McPhee Collection is available here.

Access and use

Terms of access:

Anyone can use this collection within the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Colin McPhee Collection, 1975.06, Ethnomusicology Archive, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
1630 Schoenberg Music Building
Box 951657
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1657, US
Contact:
(310) 825-1695
archive@schoolofmusic.ucla.edu
Website