Special Collections Finding Aids

Richard Lansing Collection - General

Accession: SC1998.28

Location: M2A 6,3

Size: .25 feet

Biography: Richard Lansing (exact dates unknown) was a local amateur and semi-professional musican in Rochester during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Lansing family has antecedents in Rochester reaching back into the early nineteenth century. Lansing was instrumental in forming many important musical organizations in Rochester, such as the early Rochester Philharmonic Society, the Opera Club, and the original Oratorio Society. He wrote the first history of music in Rochester, which was published in volume 2 of the publications of the Rochester Historical Society and remains the seminal work on the subject.

Provenance: The collection was donated to Sibley Music Library in 1981 by the family of Richard Lansing.

Scope and Content: The collection consists of two drafts of Lansing's article on Rochester music history and an autograph book containing inscriptions and letters from various individuals, including some musicians known locally and nationally.

Associations: Watanabe Special Collections holds a variey of materials relating to Rochester music history, particularly the scrapbooks of the Tuesday Musicale and D.G. Hastings. The period of Lansing's life is also covered by the Rochester Ephemera, many items in which were probably originally donated to the Library by Lansing himself.

Restrictions: none

Series: 1

Series Name: General

Series Description: This series consists of the entire collection as described in the scope and contents.