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The Dena Epstein Award for Archival and Library Research in American Music was created through a generous endowment from Morton and Dena Epstein to the Music Library Association in 1995. Grants are awarded to support research in archives or libraries internationally on any aspect of American music. There are no restrictions as to an applicant’s age, nationality, profession, or institutional affiliation. All proposals are reviewed entirely on the basis of merit. The decision by the Dena Epstein Award Committee and the Board of Directors of the Music Library Association is announced at the MLA annual meeting. Calls for applications are issued in the spring.
Dena Epstein (1916-2013) had a lifetime interest in the history of American music publishing and in pre-Civil War African-American music in the United States and West Indies. She was the author of many publications, the best known being Sinful Tunes and Spirituals (University of Illinois Press, 1977) and Music Publishing in Chicago Before 1871 (Information Coordinators, 1969). Her articles have appeared in Notes, Musical Quarterly, Ethnomusicology, and American Music. The most recent include “Way Up North in Dixie: A Black Family’s Claim to the Confederate Anthem” (1994), “Frederick Stock and American Music” (1992), “Black Spirituals: Their Emergence into Public Knowledge” (1990), and “The Mysterious WPA Music Periodicals Index” (1989). She received numerous awards, including two National Endowment for the Humanities grants, the Chicago Folklore Prize, and the Francis Butler Simkins Prize from the Southern Historical Association. She was perhaps the most proud of I Came a Stranger: The Story of a Hull-House Girl (University of Illinois Press, 1989). Edited by Dena, this book is the autobiography of Hilda Satt Polacheck, her mother.
Until her retirement, Dena Epstein was Assistant Music Librarian at the University of Chicago for some 22 years. Active throughout her career in the Music Library Association, Dena served on the Board of Directors as member-at-large and as MLA President from 1977 to 1979. She also chaired and was a member of many committees. In 1986, Dena Epstein was awarded MLA’s highest honor, the MLA Citation, and became an honorary member of the Association.
Application Details
Requests are currently being accepted for one or more grants to be awarded for 2024. The total amount to be awarded this year is $1000. The decision of the Dena Epstein Award Committee and the Board of Directors of the Music Library Association will be announced at the MLA annual meeting, which will be held online in 2025.
