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David Ashley White Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 1992-001

The David Ashley White Papers consist of 59 boxes of materials dating from 1944 to 2018 with the bulk of the collection dating from 1980-2016. The first donation to this collection occurred in 1991, which was processed in 1993. Dr. White has made numerous additions since then and future material is expected. This collection consists of published and manuscript scores, programs, correspondence, audio-visual materials, and other items relating to his career as both a composer and music instructor. The collection has been divided into six series: Scores and Manuscripts, Programs, Correspondence, Professional Activities, Personal Materials and Audio/Visual Materials. Unprocessed electronic materials constitute an 7th series.

Dates

  • 1965-2014
  • Majority of material found within 1980-2008

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Special Collections owns the physical items in our collections, but copyright normally belongs to the creator of the materials or their heirs. The researcher has full responsibility for determining copyright status, obtaining permission to publish from copyright holders, and abiding by current copyright laws when publishing or displaying copies of Special Collections material in print or electronic form. For more information, consult the appropriate librarian. Reproduction decisions will be made by Special Collections staff on a case-by-case basis.

Extent

40.00 linear feet

Biographical Information

Dr. David Ashley White is currently the Director of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, where he is also professor of composition and theory. He was born on December 11, 1944, in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. White began his musical education at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas, earning an Associate of Arts in 1966. He then transferred to the University of Houston in 1966 to pursue an undergraduate degree in oboe performance, which he earned in 1970; he finished a Master's degree in Composition at the University of Houston in 1974. He went on to the University of Texas at Austin and received his Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition in 1978. Dr. White has taught at the University of Houston since 1975, first as lecturer and then as instructor. He became Assistant Professor in 1978 and Associate Professor in 1983; he has been a full Professor since 1990. Dr. White was appointed Director in 1999.

David Ashley White's secular and sacred compositions are widely performed and published. Sources for his frequent commissions include Piccolo Spoleto, the Texas Chamber Orchestra, the Mirecourt Trio, the Green Lake Festival, the Concert Chorale of Houston, Del Mar College, the University of Houston, the Houston Harpsichord Society, Houston Masterworks Chorus, the Houston Chamber Choir, and a number of churches and individuals. Since 1980 he has received the ASCAP Award for music composition.

White is currently resident composer for the Houston Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO). In 1991 and 1995 he was composer-in-residence at the Mississippi conference on Music and Liturgy, as he was in July 1998 at the Evergreen Church Music Conference in Colorado. White was winner of the 1993 composition contest sponsored by St. Paul United Church of Christ, Chicago (Cantata Domino for mixed voices, brass, and organ, published by Paraclete Press). He has also won first prizes from the Episcopal diocese of Alabama, the Virginia Bandmasters Association, and the Texas Federation of Music Clubs.

David Ashley White is a prolific composer whose secular publishers are E.C. Schirmer, Southern Music Company and Shawnee Press, and his sacred music publishers include Selah, Paraclete, St. James, Abingdon, Trinitas, Hinshaw, and MorningStar. His hymns are found in a number of books, including The Hymnal 1982 (Episcopal), the recently published supplement to that book, Wonder, Love, and Praise, The United Methodist Hymnal, Japan's Hymnal for the United Church of Christ, and Great Britains' Worship Songs Ancient and Modern. A collection of his hymns, Sing My Soul: David Ashley White Hymnal, was published in 1996 by Selah Publishing Co.

Technical Requirements

Series 8 contains unprocessed digital archival materials, which can be accessed in the Special Collections Reading Room by advance request. Because this series is unprocessed, these materials may require up to two weeks to access. Some files may be restricted and not available for access at all. Contact curator Mary Manning (mmmaning@uh.edu) for more information.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Dr. David Ashley White, 1991.

Accruals

Additional materials were acquired in 2010 as part of a donation by David Ashley White. Further additions arrived in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

General

Other Information:

Uploaded to TARO, 2005.

Additional information may be found at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uhua/00017/hua-00017.html

Title
Guide to the David Ashley White Papers
Author
Edward F. Lukasek, Gus Paredes, Rebecca Russell
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the University of Houston Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
University of Houston Libraries Special Collections
MD Anderson Library
4333 University Drive
Houston TX 77204-2000 USA
713-743-9750