Administrative Records and Papers

AT&T Presents Carnegie Hall Tonight Collection

AT&T Presents Carnegie Hall Tonight was a radio and television music program produced at Carnegie Hall from 1978 to 1988. The collection includes correspondence and financial materials that document the program’s production.

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Julius Bloom Collection

Julius Bloom was executive director of Carnegie Hall from 1960 to 1977, director of Corporate Planning from 1977 to 1979, and a member of the Carnegie Hall Board of Trustees from 1960 to 1979. This collection covers the years 1960 to 1982 and includes administrative and programming records, correspondence, minutes, and reports of the Board of Trustees reflecting the various activities associated with both artistic programming and the daily management of Carnegie Hall.

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Music Hall Company of New York Collection

The Music Hall Company of New York functioned as the administrative body of Carnegie Hall from its opening in 1891 until Robert Simon Sr. purchased it from Louise Carnegie in 1925. The collection consists primarily of correspondence between Howard Russell Butler, the first President of Carnegie Hall, and Andrew Carnegie, and other documents related to the running of the Hall between 1891 and 1919. Additional items include original Music Hall Company stock certificates signed by Carnegie, Butler, and other officers of the company.
 

Collection of Carnegie Hall, Incorporated, 1925–1960

Leonora Shier Collection

Leonora Shier was a rental agent and secretary of Carnegie Hall Incorporated from 1925 to 1956. The collection contains business records of Carnegie Hall Incorporated, and personal correspondence and photographs that Miss Shier collected.

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Robert E. Simon Jr. Collection

Robert E. Simon Sr. purchased Carnegie Hall from Louise Carnegie in 1925 and formed Carnegie Hall Incorporated to act as the Hall’s administrative body. Upon his death in 1935, his son Robert Simon Jr. became owner and then president of Carnegie Hall Inc. until the sale of the Hall to the City of New York in 1960. The collection consists principally of correspondence, scrapbooks, and board minutes related to Simon’s ownership of Carnegie Hall.

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John Totten Collection

John Totten (1886–1969) began his career at Carnegie Hall in 1903 as an usher, frequently escorting Andrew Carnegie to his box in the Main Hall. He worked his way up through the ranks to become house manager in 1927, a position he held until his retirement in 1968. The bulk of this collection is from Totten’s tenure as House Manager, 1927–1960. The collection consists of two series, Photographs and Business Records, and also includes Totten’s autograph book.

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M. Murray Weisman Collection

The scrapbook of Maurice Murray Weisman, general manager and vice president of Carnegie Hall Inc. from 1933 to 1935 and president of Carnegie Hall Inc. from 1935 to 1939, contains letters, telegrams, newspaper clippings, transcripts of speeches, and photographs chronicling Weisman’s professional achievements, from his acceptance into Harvard to previews of Carnegie Hall’s 1938–1939 season.

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