John J. Becker Papers
Scope and Contents
The John J. Becker collection includes correspondence and articles regarding Becker and his work. Correspondents include John Cage, Charles Ives, Pascal Covici, Henry Powell, Leonard Bernstein, and Ezra Pound.
Dates
- created: 1927 - 1976
- Other: Majority of material found in 1927- 1939
Creator
- Becker, John J. (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on the use of the collection for research purposes.
Conditions Governing Use
The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property and libel laws as they apply.
Biographical or Historical Information
John J. Becker was born in January 22, 1886 in Henderson, KY and raised in Evansville, Indiana. He was a graduate of the Kruger Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati (1905) and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Madison (1921, 1923).
Becker served as the director of the Music Department at the University of Notre Dame and at St. Mary's of the Springs College before coming to the College of St. Thomas in 1930 as the Chairman of the Division of Fine Arts. When the College's administration by Holy Cross Fathers ended in 1934, Becker's position at CST was eliminated.
Becker was named director of the Minnesota State WPA Music Project in 1935 and remained in this position until 1941. He then returned to academics, teaching at Barat College of the Sacred Heart in Illinois. In addition to being a music educator, Becker was a noted composer. A contemporary of Charles Ives, he was a pioneer in the field of musical modernism and was the first to conduct a performance of ultra-modern music in the Midwest. Becker died in Illinois January 19, 1961.
Extent
0.37 Cubic Feet
Language of Materials
English
Processing Information
The collection was processed in 1979.
Subject
- Becker, John J. (Person)
- College of St. Thomas (Saint Paul, Minn.) -- Faculty (Organization)
- Becker, John J. -- Correspondence (Person)
- Pound, Ezra, 1885-1972 -- Correspondence (Person)
- Ives, Charles, 1874-1954 -- Correspondence (Person)
- Cage, John -- Correspondence (Person)
- Cowell, Henry, 1897-1965 -- Correspondence (Person)
- Covici, Pascal, 1885-1964 -- Correspondence (Person)
- Bernstein, Leonard, 1918-1990 -- Correspondence (Person)
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- eng
Repository Details
Part of the University of St. Thomas Archives & Manuscript Collections Repository
Department of Special Collections, LL09 O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library
University of St. Thomas
St. Paul MN 55105-1096 US
651-962-5467
uarchives@stthomas.edu