Presentation Showcases Rare Collection of Buffalo Impresario

On Friday, September 27th at 12noon, Riverrun–NA, Inc. fellowship student Sally Schaefer will give a presentation about her research into the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library’s Zorah Berry Collection of scrapbooks, programs and photographs.  The presentation takes place in the Central Library’s Ring of Knowledge.

Zorah Berry (c 1888-1969) was a Buffalo impresario whose 40-year career brought concerts to Buffalo featuring hundreds of world-renowned musicians and singers including greats such as Amelita Galli-Curci, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Lily Pons.  This collection, housed in the Library’s Grosvenor Room, features Berry’s five-volume scrapbook collection spanning from 1926 to 1956, which includes newspaper advertisements and articles, promotional flyers, performance reviews and other items relating to her business endeavors, plus original concert programs from 1927-1964. Since 2015, riverrun-NA, Inc. has provided several liberal arts fellowships to outstanding undergraduate and graduate students for a summer long, in-depth research project focusing on a specific collection of the Rare Books & Special Collections of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.  Each student recipient culminates their research with a public presentation and paper on the chosen collection.  This year’s fellow Sally Schaefer holds a Master of Arts degree in Ethnomusicology and is currently working toward her Master of Science degree in Library and Information Science at the University at Buffalo.

Past riverrun-NA scholarship projects may be viewed online at https://www.buffalolib.org/content/grosvenor/rare-book-room/collection-studies. For more information, call the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library System at 716-858-8900 or visit www.BuffaloLib.org.