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Princeton Footnotes Records
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Held at: Princeton University Library: University Archives [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: University Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Princeton Footnotes is an all-male a cappella group at Princeton University that was founded in 1959. The organization that became the Footnotes emerged as a dispute within the Glee Club, which resulted in twelve of the Club's members leaving the Club to form a separate group, the Prospectors. The name "Prospectors" was chosen because many of the group's first members were part of the octet within the Glee Club of the same name. However, when the Prospectors applied for official recognition in February of 1961 as a separate singing group, the Undergraduate Music Council granted the organization recognition only on the condition that it select a different name, as the Council deemed the name to be "the property of the Glee Club." Thus, the Footnotes was established formally in the spring semester of 1961, with the following students as the group's first officers: James Benjamin '1962 (president), Joel Rosenman '1963 (vice president and secretary), and Stephen (Steve) Teich '1962 (musical director).
Since obtaining official recognition, the Footnotes have performed across the United States and across the world. Two highlights of the group's history include its performance at the Inaugural Ball for President George H. W. Bush in 1989 and its appearance on season four (2013) of NBC's "The Sing-Off." Outside of performing and recording music, the Footnotes also offer educational sessions that provide a cappella lessons to singers of various ages and experience levels.
The Princeton Footnotes Records consists primarily of digitized recordings of former Footnotes albums released between 1961 and 1987. The collection also includes two compilation albums and the organization's website. See descriptive notes for each series for further description.
The collection is arranged into two series according to their provenance: Albums (Series 1) and Public Website (Series 2).
The records were transferred to the University Archives in November of 2016 (AR.2016.109).
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection contains records created and used on computing devices. Researchers are responsible for meeting the technical requirements needed to access these materials, including any and all hardware and software.
This collection was processed by Jarrett M. Drake in 2016. Finding aid written by Jarrett M. Drake in 2016.
No materials were separated from the collection.
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- University Archives
- Finding Aid Date
- 2016
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research use. The unedited albums (Subseries 1B) are available only in-person at Mudd Library.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. The Trustees of Princeton University hold copyright to all materials generated by Princeton University employees in the course of their work. For instances beyond Fair Use, if copyright is held by Princeton University, researchers do not need to obtain permission, complete any forms, or receive a letter to move forward with use of materials from the Princeton University Archives.
For instances beyond Fair Use where the copyright is not held by the University, while permission from the Library is not required, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
Series 1: Albums consists of digitized recordings of past albums recorded by the Footnotes. Within most folders of this series one can find the album's original label as well as any editor's notes in the cases of those albums that have been edited. The two subseries of this series duplicate each other a great deal, however the Edited subseries contains 3 albums not found in the Unedited series. Also, some of the folders in one subseries contains label or notes information that are not found in the other subseries.
This series is arranged according to whether the record was edited or unedited.
Physical Description187 digital files
This folder contains digitally remastered and edited recordings of vinyl albums recorded by the Footnotes. This folder also includes two compilation albums, "The Footnote Tradition" and "The Innovative Footnotes," that James Winn '1968 culled. The first compilation album includes songs from the Footnotes' core repertoire. The second album, "The Innovative Footnotes," features songs that were recorded only once during the LP era. More information about each album can be found in the liner notes file of the folder titled "The Footnote Tradition."
Files retain their original order.
Physical Description156 digital files
15 digital files
29 digital files
19 digital files
26 digital files
15 digital files
13 digital files
20 digital files
15 digital files
20 digital files
15 digital files
19 digital files
18 digital files
16 digital files
This folder contains unedited digitized recordings of vinyl albums recorded by the Footnotes.
Files retain their original order.
Physical Description84 digital files
15 digital files
14 digital files
17 digital files
14 digital files
15 digital files
20 digital files
14 digital files
18 digital files
17 digital files
18 digital files
The public website of the Princeton Footnotes contains information about the history of the organization, schedule for auditions, and a listing of current members. Also included on the website is a gallery of photographs from select performances, among them the group's appearance on Season 4 (2013) of NBC's "The Sing-Off."
Full text searching of this archived web site is available through the Archive-It interface.
This series retains its original order.
Physical Description1 website