Collection Information

Size: Transcript: 17 p.

Format: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 1 hr., 2 min.

Summary: An interview of Valter Poole conducted in 1964, by Heyward Ehrlich, for the Archives of American Art.

Poole speaks of his background and education; his musical training; his years prior to the Federal Music Project; getting the directorship of the Federal Music Project in Detroit, and later becoming orchestra conductor; the activities of the orchestra, including regular concerts in schools and museums; introducing new music and new composers to Detroit; the effect of the Project on the musicians involved; the project's benefits to the community.

Biographical/Historical Note

Valter Poole (1903-1984) was a symphony conductor, violist, and music professor in Detroit, Mich.

Provenance

Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Transcript: microfilm reel 3949 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.

Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interviews with Valter Poole, 1964. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.