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Private society affiliated with the University of Michigan, sponsors music, opera, theatrical and other performances. Contains brochures or pamphlets, flyers and other publicity publications. The two volume history One Hundred Years of Great Performances, 1879-1979 is included in addition to the newsletter UMS Notes. Also contains programs of various performances sponsored by the University Musical Society.

The UMS Publications, 1874-2010 (13 linear feet) were received from the University Musical Society staff in periodic transfers. Additional publications, collected by the Graduate Library, have been interfiled to fill gaps in the series. Publications is composed of two series: Unit Publications and Sub-Unit Publications.

The Unit Publications series contains printed material published specifically by the University Musical Society. These publications are defined as being widely distributed and may be published at regular intervals. They are arranged by genre of the publication.

Organized in 1879 to "cultivate the public taste for music," the Society sponsors concert series, opera, dance and theater performances at the University of Michigan. The records consist of director's files of Albert A. Stanley, Charles A. Sink, Gail Rector, and Kenneth Fischer; include correspondence relating to performances and management of the Society; ledgers and account books, board of directors minutes and packets; files concerning the Choral Union, the University of Michigan School of Music, the Henry S. Frieze Memorial Organ Fund, and Hill Auditorium; also visual materials and audiotapes of Board meetings.

The records of the University Musical Society document its founding in 1879, governance and administrative restructuring through the years, its activities sponsoring musical, dance and theatrical performances on campus, and its role in music and arts education. The records include directors' correspondence files, board of directors minutes, ledgers and financial records, photographs, sound recordings and videotapes.

Intellectually, the records are organized into eight series: Directors' Correspondence, Financial records, Historical file, Board of Directors, Committees, Topical File, Contracts, Photographs, President's Correspondence, Staff Files, Executive Directors' Files, and Motion Pictures (film, videotape and digital materials).

The records were received in several major and numerous small accessions and the physical arrangement of the records (the order in which they are arranged in boxes/folders) reflects this. In this finding aid, the records are described in term of their intellectual organization regardless of the particular accession in which they were received. As a result, the box number order in which the descriptions are displayed in the contents list will not always be consecutive.