By Carnegie Hall
Digital portrait by Stanley Chow, © Carnegie Hall
Marian Anderson had a more than 70-year association with Carnegie Hall. Following her debut at the Hall in 1920, she appeared more than 50 times until the mid-1970s.
Marian Anderson and Franz Rupp (1955) by Carnegie Hall ArchivesCarnegie Hall
In 1960, she became one of the original board members of The Carnegie Hall Corporation when the Hall was saved from demolition. She remained on the board until her death in 1993.
It is easy to look back, self-indulgently, feeling pleasantly sorry for oneself and saying I didn’t have this and I didn’t have that. But it is only the grown woman regretting the hardships of a little girl who never thought they were hardships at all. She had the things that really mattered.
— MARIAN ANDERSON
This signed program is from Anderson's recital debut at Carnegie Hall, a concert by the Martin-Smith Music School on December 30, 1920. Her final appearance, pictured in the previous photograph, was at the Black History Makers Awards Ceremony on February 1, 1989.
Marian Anderson—Seven Decades at Carnegie Hall and Beyond: From the Carnegie Hall Archives (2013-02-26) by Carnegie HallCarnegie Hall
Hear Her Voice
Learn more about Marian Anderson and hear her sing in this video with Gino Francesco, Director of the Archives and Rose Museum at Carnegie Hall.
Learn more about Carnegie Hall Icons here.
https://www.carnegiehall.org/About/History/Carnegie-Hall-Icons/Marian-Anderson
