In late February the Sousa Archives acquired the Norman Eisenstein Photographs and Papers. Norman W. Eisenstein was born January 19, 1917, and attended the University of Illinois between 1935 and 1938. He majored in chemistry and played B-flat clarinet in the University’s concert and regimental bands. He was also a member of the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi, and after graduating in 1938 he worked in dairy science field for the Drexel Ice Cream Company. Norman remained married to Shirley Sidransky for 71 years, and passed away on March 13, 2012 at the age of 95.
During his tenure as a student at the University, he took many candid photographs of his band colleagues both on tour and during concerts. He also captured numerous images of both A. Austin Harding and Mark Hindsley. In addition he took many candid photographs of his band friends while on tour with with the Red Maxwell Orchestra that traveled across the Midwest during the late 1930s, and his chemistry instructors and fraternity brothers. Unlike the other photographs of the University of Illinois of band that are preserved at the Sousa Archives, these carefully annotated photographs that were taken by Norman Eisenstein provide a delightfully vivid portrait of the student life of the Illinois band’s members. The images included on these two pages from Norman’s photo scrapbook as just a small sample of the many images that were captured by him during his time at the University of Illinois. For further information about this delightful new acquisition please visit the Norman Eisenstein collection finding aid.