| Ref No | BEB |
| Title | The Sir Thomas Beecham Collection- Books |
| Date | 1923-2008 |
| Description | Collection of books containing a reference to Sir Thomas Beecham.
The actual pages corresponding to Beecham are usually listed in the index or contents page. If the book gives no indication as to the origin of the Beecham reference then the relevant page numbers are given in this catalogue.
The title of the book usually gives some indication as to the nature of the Beecham reference. In autobiographies and biographies any mention of Beecham is normally concerned with the subject's relationship to the conductor, and usually gives personal stories, anecdotes etc. |
| Extent | 127 volumes |
| Level | Fonds |
| CreatorName | Artificial collection of books most of which were collected by staff from the Beecham Music Library, St.Helens from 1975-1986. |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| AdminHistory | On 17 Mar 1975 the St.Helens Central Library, Music Library was renamed the Beecham Music Library by the conductor Denis Vaughan. This act commemorated the fact that Sir Thomas Beecham was born in St.Helens in 1879 where his family had been associated with the town since 1860, when his grandfather Thomas Beecham established the Beecham Pills Company in Westfield Street.
Part of the remit of the newly named library was to gather material and information on the life and work of the conductor thus forming a Beecham Collection of vinyl records, cassettes, books, scores and general memorabilia. This material was housed along with the general music scores, books, vinyl records and cassettes in an area of the library at the corner of the Corporation and Library Street elevations.
In 1986 it was decided as part of a departmental restructuring process that the Beecham Music Library was no longer appropriate to the needs of the general public. As a result it was closed and all the Sir Thomas Beecham material was transferred to the Local History and Archives Library and the remaining records, cassettes and books were placed into an Audio Collection as part of the general Central Library Stock. |
| Acquisition | BEB/115-BEB/116 were deposited by Miss Olive Chadwick former St Helens Music Librarian in 1995. |