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| The Ward Papers are a valuable resource that can assist scholars in a variety of ways.
First, they document John Owen Ward's life from beginning to end. In his Papers we see the history of his professional career through his first efforts at translations, his drafts and proofs of the Oxford Companion to Music, his scholarly publications, and his letters, memos, and financial records from Oxford University Press. The Papers also contain materials documenting Ward's private life, including childhood fiction, letters and photographs from World War II, personal correspondence with friends and family members, and detailed financial records. |
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In addition to documenting Ward's own
career, the materials in the Ward Papers also preserve Ward's research
interests. A significant portion of the collection is made up of Ward's
own subject files, which contain clippings, articles, and images Ward
used in his is own research, and to update and revise the Oxford Companion
to Music. These files contain information on everything from Josquin
to Andy Warhol. Perhaps most notable are the large number of notes about
John Stanley, a blind English musician Ward spent considerable time researching. |
Perhaps most importantly, the Ward Papers document the activities of a music editor and a scholar who took a vital interest in music and helped to make it available to a wide audience. Like his mentor Percy Scholes, Ward had his musical biases, but as an editor, scholar, and music-lover, he worked to make all music available to all listeners. |
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Thanks to a generous monetary gift from members of the Ward family (including Roger Ward, Arnold and Betty June Huxtable, John and Nikki Huxtable, and Susan Reeder), which was used in part to create this Website and to process the materials, the John Owen Ward Papers, which the family also donated, are now available for research and study at the University of Maryland's Special Collections in Performing Arts. Thanks also to Jody Shields, the executrix of Ward's estate, for all she did to assist the family and the University in developing this collection.
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