Booking agents

Subseries 4.1 includes correspondence, distribution tracking files, expenses, financial records, forms, incorporation forms, invoices, mailings, orders, publicity, requests, and other documentation related to Williams’s namesake record label, Mary Records. During its first run, Mary Records saw the release Williams’s self-titled 1964 album (later known as Black Christ of the Andes), Music for Peace (1970) and its subsequent update Mary Lou’s Mass (1975), Zoning (1974), and multiple singles and EPs. Subseries 4.2 includes statements and correspondence concerning Williams’s publishing and recording royalties, as well as lists prepared by Williams and O’Brien. Organization types include performing rights groups, publishing companies, record labels, and publishing companies. Additional dealings with recording companies are included in subseries 4.5, which also includes discographies retained by Williams. Additional records related to Williams’s publishing can be found in Subseries: 6.6: Cecilla Publishing, which began concurrently with the establishment of Mary Records, in 1962.
Subseries 4.3 contains original and photocopies of copyright applications, renewal applications and acknowledgements of receipt of notice of use, as well as notes on Williams’s copyrighted compositions, prepared by Williams and O’Brien. Subseries 4.4 contains correspondence, contracts, and other business dealings with booking agents. Additional materials may be found in series 6: Performance and personal appearance files. Of particular note are Williams’s dealings with Barney Josephson, who owned a pair of night clubs at which Williams enjoyed lengthy residencies, Café Society and the Cookery, as well as an unexecuted management contract between Williams and Lorraine and Dizzy Gillespie.
Williams’s relationships with professional organizations are contained in subseries 4.7. These include the Kansas City Federation of Musicians and American Federation of Musicians, dating back to the 1930s, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and other organizations.
Subseries 4.8 contains documents, receipts, and bills related to Williams’s expenses, providing a glimpse into her daily life. Williams kept records of a substantial number of transactions, and significant stretches of her life could partially be recreated by referencing her daily purchases, especially in tandem with her bank records (found in subseries 4.13), and her day-by-day notebooks (found in subseries 5.5). Subseries 4.9 tracks Williams’s dealings with lawyers and law firms. These include her dealings with Herbert Bliss, who helped prepare many of Williams’s business and charitable enterprises.
Williams’s 1970s frequently included appearances at colleges and universities. Documentation of her appearances is included in subseries 4.10, which also includes materials related to various grant-endowing charitable institutions, including the Guggenheim, from whom she received a Fellowship for Music Composition in 1972, and the National Endowment for the Arts. A significant portion of William’s own charitable efforts are collected in subseries 4.12, which documents with the Bel Canto Foundation, which focused on assisting musicians in moments of personal crisis. Materials document Bel Canto’s efforts to stage benefit concerts, run a charitable thrift shop, and provide grants to musicians in need.
The last years of Williams’s life were spent educating students at Duke University, where she was joined by her manager, Peter O’Brien. These efforts are documented in subseries 4.13. Materials include documentation of classroom activities, concerts, and publications and ephemera from time there. It also contains some papers related to O’Brien’s activities. Additional materials related to O’Brien’s time at Duke can be found in his papers. Correspondence with former students can be found in Series 3.