Eugene List Photos

Sub-Series

Staff Only

Scope and Contents note

From the Fonds:

Photography has always been important to the National Music Camp, and photos exist from the earliest years of the Camp. Beginning in circa 1944, a concerted effort was made each year to fully document camp life. A professional photographer was on site throughout the season, taking high quality, usually staged, photographs. These consisted of group shots of each of the camper cabins, and numerous individual shots of campers and instructors. These photos were developed on-site in the campus darkroom.

The campers at NMC were divided into age groups called Junior, Intermediate and High School. There was also a University contingent from the University of Michigan for many years. The sequence of negatives reflects these divisions. Two other typical divisions are General camp photos and Post-camp photos. General photos are often simply of the High Schoolers who constituted the majority of the campers at NMC, but also include more generic and candid shots of camp life. Post-camp indicates that camp had concluded, and these photos document the routines associated with closing down the camp for the summer.

When the Arts Academy began in the 1962-63 school year, the tradition of photography was continued, and similar high-quality shots were taken of the students. Theses are generally all numbered sequentially, and not divided into the four classes of Freshman, Sophomore, etc. It was around this time that the 4 x 5 large format was supplemented, and then supplanted, by the 120 film medium format, approximately 2.25" x 2.25".

Dates

2018-07-27

Biographical / Historical

Eugene List (July 6, 1918 – March 1, 1985) was an American concert pianist and teacher. At the age of sixteen, Eugene List's official concert career began in December 1934 at Philadelphia's Academy of Music. Although under great stress, he delivered a dazzling performance and received rave reviews. He was declared the wunderkind and a mature artist almost immediately. List's performance as the young American who met Stokowski's challenge established him as a star, a status that would stay with him the rest of his fifty-year career. As the only pianist in America who knew Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 concerto, he received many more invitations to appear with major orchestras in the US, including the New York Philharmonic under conductor Otto Klemperer. His celebrity status spanned four continents, including Europe, South America and Asia. In the US, he performed with most all the nation's major orchestras, conductors and leading chamber ensembles. In 1943, he married the well-known violinist, Carroll Glenn, in New York, whom he had met at Juilliard.

Extent

3 Photographic Prints : 1 - 8" x 10" - b&w headshot print of List 1 - 8" x 10" - b&w print of List with hands folded on top of piano 1 - 8" x 10" - b&w print of List playing piano in front of large windows with lake view