26/20/95 Guide to the Roslyn Rensch Papers Roslyn Rensch Papers

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236 Harding Band Building 1103 South 6th Street Champaign, IL, 61820-6223 URL: https://archives.library.illinois.edu/sousa/ Email: schwrtzs@illinois.edu Phone: 217-244-93093 Fax: 217-244-8695
This finding aid was encoding in EAD by Archon 3.21 from an SQL database source on March 5th, 2024. The collection description/finding aid is written in English
Guide to the Roslyn Rensch Papers 1900/1993 The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music Overview of the Collection Roslyn Rensch Papers 1900- 1993 26/20/95 Rensch, Roslyn, 1923-2021 10.70 English The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
236 Harding Band Building 1103 South 6th Street Champaign, IL, 61820-6223 URL: https://archives.library.illinois.edu/sousa/ Email: schwrtzs@illinois.edu Phone: 217-244-93093 Fax: 217-244-8695

Other Information:

Additional information may be found at https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/uasfa/2620095.pdf

Biographical Information:

Rosyln Maria Rensch (June 12, 1923-November 6, 2021) was born in Detroit, Michigan. After the Rensch family moved to Evanston, Illinois in 1929, her mother Maria Damm Rensch encouraged her two daughters, Roslyn and Gloria, to learn a musical instrument. Her mother, who had been born into a musical family, was taught to play piano, harp, and cello in her family's band during their concert performances in England in the late 1890s. Maria took her family to musical events in Chicago and after hearing a solo recital by Alberto Salvi, encouranged Rosyln to play harp. Rosyln began studying harp with Salvi soon after. While a high school student, Rosyln performed in weddings, played for local society dinners, and gave solo recitals on the harp at such venues as Chicago's Wurlitzer Building and the Lyon and Healy Building. She graduated from Evanston Township High School in June 1941.

She completed her bachelors degree in harp performance, where she continued her studies with Alberto Salvi, at Northwestern University in 1945. While a student at Northwestern she was an active member of the international music sorority, Sigma Alpha Iota. For six weeks following her graduation, she studied at the Juliard School of Music with Marcel Grandjany. Soon after she began a masters degree in harp performance at Northwestern. While completing her degree, she became the principal harpist for the Chicago Civic Orchestra, a position she would hold for six years. After graduating in 1948, she returned to Juliard to perform in a summer orchestra conducted by Walter Hendl. She published her first book, The Harp, in 1950.

In 1953 she enrolled in Northwestern University's musicology program in order to write a more detailed history of the harp. During her first year as a musicologist, she met Dr. Paul Nettl, Dr. Bruno Nettl's father, who encoraged her to complete her degree at Indiana University. She began her studies in musicology with Dr. Nettl and Dr. Willi Apel in 1954. In 1955, she was invited by Fritz Reiner to perform in the CSO's production of Wagner's Gotterdamerung. In the spring of 1954, she took a faculty position teaching harp at the University of Illinois and transferred to the musicology program at the University of Illinois. Since her research data primarilly consisted of iconographic depictions of the harp, she decided to complete a masters degree in art history at Illinois in 1957. Since the University of Illinois did not offer a PhD program in art history at the time, she transferred once again to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to enroll as a PhD student in art history in 1958. Her dissertation, completed in 1964, entitled "Symbolism and Form of the Harp in Western European Manuscript Illuminations of the Ninth to the Sixteenth Century," was an iconographic and organological account of the history of the harp.

In 1965, she became a faculty member of Idiana State University in Terre Haute. In 1969, she published her second book,The Harp, Its History, Technique, and Repertoire. She was granted tenure in 1970 and served as a professor of harp and art history at Indiana State until 1988. Between 1967 and 1988 she was the principal harpist in the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra. In 1970, she married Philip H. Erbs, the vice-president of the Wrigley Gum Corporation. Between 1977 and 1980, she served as the vice-president of the American Harp Society and from 1983-1987 she helped establish the World Harp Congress. After retiring in 1988, she moved to St. Simons Island Georgia to live with her sister Gloria. She passed away in Brooklyn, New York on November 6, 2021.

Access Terms

This Collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

Genre/Form of Material: Papers Topical Term: American Harp Society Harps Indiana State University Music Competitions Musical Repertoires Recitals Sigma Alpha Iota World Harp Congress
Administrative Information Acquisition Information:

gift

Custodial History:

Materials were initially acquired by the Music and Performing Arts Library in 1989, but were processed by University Archives in 1993. At that time, Rensch's harps were transfered to Sousa Archives for Band Research. The harps were processed by the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music in 2004.

Accruals:

July 27, 1989 and March 30, 1990.

Related Materials:

See also Brigham Young University's Roslyn Rensch Papers: https://findingaid.lib.byu.edu/viewItem/MSS%207843

Arrangement of Materials:

By type of material and alphabetical thereunder.

Scope and Contents

Consists of personal papers, student files, teaching notes, research files, book drafts, correspondence, concert programs, harps, string boxes, and scrapbooks (both physical and microfilmed). In addition, the papers contain sheet music libraries compiled by the harpists Margaret Sweeney and Emma Weast Bichl, both harpists from the Chicago area during the late 19th century.

See also record series number 35/3/68, box 3, folders 47-48 (contains MPAL correspondence with Rensch and processing notes)

Detailed List of Contents id101472 Royal Portable Harp - Charles Egan ca. 1821-1835 Scope and Contents

Made by Charles Egan, 30 Dawson Street, Dublin, Ireland; Egan "Royal Portable" Harp. Accession # 2004.2620095.001

id101474 Frame Harp - 2004.262095.02 ca. 1450 Scope and Contents

Italian harp, 15th century according to label accompanying the instrument.

id230121 1 Artwork, Posters, and Photographs 1951-1991 Scope and Contents

Poster of Clarence Day quote. Poster of artwork entitled "Lady with a Harp: Eliza Ridgley." Black and white artwork of women playing a harp. Black and white art work on a blue background. Signed poster of "Lloyd Lindroth and His Golden Harp" to Roslyn from Variety Newspaper. Poster entitled, "I Concurso De Investigatcion Aripista Ludovico." Poster for "Harp and Dulcimer Music" at Lincoln Quad. Black and white artwork entitled, "The Evles' and Fauns' Grand Autumn Festival." Signed poster of Jessica Suchy to Roslyn. Black and white photograph of a women with a harp.