Title: Sol B. Cohen Papers, 1870-1988
Collection identifier: 547
Primary Creator: Cohen, Sol B.
Extent: 30.0 cubic feet
Subjects: California--Los Angeles, Champaign County--Champaign (Ill.), Champaign County--Urbana (Ill.), Cohen, Sol B., 1891-1988, France, Luxembourg, Military, North Carolina, Orchestras, Peoria County--Peoria (Ill.), Travel, World War, 1914-1918
Forms of Material: Personal papers, Professional papers
The correspondence in the collection is extensive for all periods, and includes Katherine Bainbridge, Marion Bowen, Josephine Curtis, Josephine Dale, Gertrude Hoover and her daughters, Anne Marie Osberg, May Ulrich, and Laura Evangeline Lovett Murphy. International correspondents include Sisy Beringer and Erzsi Guthi. The correspondence from Charles Wakefield Cadman, Ruth St. Denis, Artie Mason Carter (of the Hollywood Bowl), and Marion MacDowell is particularly significant, as are letters from Max Frankel, Emma Goldman, Max Kaplan, William Maxwell, John Cowper Powys, Abram Leon Sachar, and Sara Teasdale Filsinger. Local correspondents include Garreta Busey, Jean Busey Yntema, and Boris and Lillian Katz. In addition, there is substantial undated correspondence between Cohen and his brother Julius, and several letters written from the Western Front during World War I, many of which were published in local newspapers.
Cohen's diaries are also extensive, especially for the period from 1950 to 1980, and the collection also contains essays, fiction, and the manuscript for his Years of Pilgrimage: Memoirs of an American Musician (1982). In addition, there are boxes of Cohen's manuscript music, from complete works to fragments; a few of Cohen's published musical works; and numerous published works by Cadman and other composers. The collection also includes a large number of photographs, documenting the Cohen family at nearly every age, with many friends appearing as well. Other materials include royalty statements, performance programs, clippings, a handful of recordings, a small collection of books, and a film featuring Cohen.
California--Los Angeles
Champaign County--Champaign (Ill.)
Champaign County--Urbana (Ill.)
Cohen, Sol B., 1891-1988
France
Luxembourg
Military
North Carolina
Orchestras
Peoria County--Peoria (Ill.)
Travel
World War, 1914-1918
Repository: Illinois History and Lincoln Collections
Acquisition Source: Sol B. Cohen donated the collection to the Library in 1980. In 2010, Carole Appel of Dover, N.H., who had facilitated the publication of Years of Pilgrimage, added to the collection, correspondence, announcements, promotions, and photographs relating to the preparation of Sol Cohen's manuscript for publication, along with typescript drafts of the memoir. Drawing on her experience as an editor of the University of Illinois Press from 1969 to 1993, she copy-edited the book, arranged for it to be printed, and prepared promotional material to accompany its publication.
Related Materials: Cohen Family Collection, 1908-1997, held by the Champaign County Historical Archives at the Urbana Free Library (Urbana, Illinois).
URL: http://www.library.illinois.edu/ihx/inventories/cohensol.pdf
PDF finding aid for Sol B. Cohen Papers
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