Cowell, Sidney Robertson, 1903-1995

Henry Cowell was an American composer; his wife, Sidney Cowell, was an ethnomusicoloist.

From the description of Anniversary pieces [list] : music by Henry Cowell for his wife, 1941-1965, 1979. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122431873

From the description of Cowell family music box [list], 1979. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122532987

Sidney Robertson Cowell (b. June 2,1903, in San Francisco, California; d. February 23, 1995, in Shady, New York) was a pioneering ethnomusicologist, folk song and ethnic music collector and recordist, ethnographer, teacher, and writer. She was the wife of modernist composer Henry Cowell.

From the description of Sidney Robertson Cowell collection, 1901-1992 (bulk 1936-1990). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 71128313

Epithet: née Hawkins American ethnographer and folk music collector

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000837.0x0003bc

Sidney Robertson Cowell (b. June 2,1903, in San Francisco, California; d. February 23, 1995, in Shady, New York) was a pioneering ethnomusicologist, folksong and ethnic music collector and recordist, ethnographer, teacher, and writer. She was married to modernist composer Henry Cowell.

From the description of Sidney Robertson Cowell correspondence, 1936-1973. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 608051933

Henry Cowell's wife.

From the description of Typewritten letter signed and autograph letter signed, dated : Shady, N.Y., 22 October 1965 and 5 January 1966, to T[homas B.] Brumbaugh, 1965 Oct. 22. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270564697

Biographical Note

• 1903 June 2: Born Sidney William Hawkins, San Francisco, California
• 1917: Met Henry Cowell for the first time
• 1922 - 1923 : French government exchange student at the Lycée de jeunes filles, Tours, France
• 1924: B.A., Romance Languages, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif. Married Kenneth Robertson (divorced 1933)
• 1925: Studied analytic psychology with Carl Jung, Zurich, Switzerland
• 1925 - 1926 : Studied piano with Alfred Cortot, Ecole normale de musique, Paris, France
• 1926 - circa 1932 : Music teacher, head of music department, Peninsula School, Palo Alto, Calif.
• 1927 - 1930 : Studied music theory with Ernest Bloch, San Francisco Conservatory of Music and with Charles Koechlin, Berkeley, Calif.
• 1932: Studied piano with Harold Bauer in California
• 1935 - 1936 : Studied music with Henry Cowell, New York City Head of social music, Henry Street Settlement, N.Y. Notated songs of elderly Jews, New York City
• 1936: Music assistant to Charles Seeger, KL Division, Music Unit, Special Skills Division, Resettlement Administration (RA), Washington, D.C. Accompanied John Lomax and Frank C. Brown on recording trip to western North Carolina where she assisted in recording melismatic singing and African-American singing in chain gang road camps for the RA Collected and recorded traditional singers and music in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia for the RA
• 1937: Regional representative, Special Skills Division, Resettlement Administration Recorded in Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin (including Warde Ford and his extended family) Relief community manager, Special Services Section, Region 2 (Wis., Minn., Mich.), Farm Security Administration Recorded Finnish, Serbian and Gaelic communities in Great Lakes states Recorded Swedish, Lithuanian, Norwegian and Finnish musicians at the Fourth National Folk Festival in Chicago, Ill. Recorded lumberjacks in Michigan Began to develop folksong collecting projects through New Deal arts organizations and private grants organizations Began folk music research in her native California
• 1938: WPA approved California Folk Music Project co-sponsored by Library of Congress and the University of California, Berkeley California Folk Music Project officially opened (brought to a close in 1940)
• 1939: Founder of Archive of California Folk Music, University of California, Berkeley
• 1940: Published with Eleanora Black The Gold Rush Song Book. San Francisco: Colt Press
• 1941: Consultant in folk music, Music Division, Pan American Union, Washington, D.C. Married Henry Cowell (died 1965) Recorded Carrie Grover of Gorham, Maine in Teaneck, N.J.
• 1942: Published with Alan Lomax American Folk Song and Folk Lore: A Regional Bibliography. New York: Progressive Education Association Moved to Shady, New York
• 1942 - circa 1950 : Music instructor, Mills College of Education, N.Y.
• 1950: American correspondent, International Folk Music Council Presented folk performers at the Ditson Festival of American Music at Columbia University, N.Y. Accompanied by Maud Karpeles, re-recorded singers in Appalachians who had performed for Cecil Sharp
• 1950 - 1951 : Visiting lecturer during the summers, University of Southern California
• 1952 - 1955 : Recorded Ford-Walker family in Crandon, Wisconsin; California; Wyoming; and Germany
• 1953: Recorded American Folk Music Concert at the Sixth Annual Festival of Contemporary American Music, Columbia University, N.Y. Recorded bagpipe tunes and Scottish Gaelic singing on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia Recorded Spanish and Persian singing in Alameda and Berkeley, California
• 1954: Published with Henry Cowell Charles Ives and His Music. New York: Oxford University Press
• 1954 - 1960 : Instructor, New School, New York, N.Y.
• 1955: Instructor, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Published with John P. Hughes Songs from Cape Breton Island. New York: Folkways Records
• 1955 - 1956 : Traveled with Henry Cowell to Europe and Asia on State Department assignments Recorded in the Aran Islands and Carna, Connemara, Ireland Recorded traditional music in Iran, Thailand, Pakistan, and Malaya
• 1956: Published Wolf River Songs. New York: Folkways Records
• 1956 - 1957 : Travelled to several Asian countries with Henry Cowell on Rockefeller Foundation grant to report on status of traditional and classical music in Asia Recorded music in Asia and Iran
• 1957: Published Songs of Aran. New York: Folkways Records
• 1995 Feb. 23: Died, Shady, New York

From the guide to the Sidney Robertson Cowell Collection, 1901-1992, (bulk 1936-1990), (Music Division Library of Congress)