The J. Stanley Ballinger Papers are organized into twelve series:
- Correspondence/Memoranda
- Faculty Files
- Academic Department Files
- Administrative Department Files
- Committee Records
- Curriculum Records
- Student Organization Records
- Gifts/Fundraising Records
- Special Event Records
- Subject Files
- External Files
- Photographs
The first series includes general correspondence from the years 1977-1982; correspondence with NEC staff members; correspondence with NEC students/parents; selected correspondence with Gunther Schuller, Chester Williams, and the Alumni Club of Puerto Rico; and memoranda to faculty and the NEC Community.
The Faculty files series contains correspondence between individual faculty members and President Ballinger. Also included in this series is one folder concerning NEC faculty members who were also members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Important materials contained in the Academic Department Files include reviews/proposals/structural changes involving the departments of Afro-American/Jazz Studies, Third Stream, Organ, Opera, Liberal Arts / Humanities, and Theory /Composition.
The Ballinger collection contains a small number of Administrative Department Files including those of Building Operations, Dean’s Office, Development, Libraries, Placement Office, and Residence Life. Of particular interest are the Building Operations records. Some of these document a refurbishment project for the Jordan Hall foyer. Planning/proposal documents for this project from the architectural firm Forbes, Hailey, Jeas and Erneman are found in this file. Other important Building Operations records include: a Facilities Transition Plan to make the campus handicap accessible, information concerning the use of the 295 Huntington Ave. building, and materials concerning the possible acquisition of Fisher Hill property in Brookline for expansion. Other topics covered in the Administrative Department files include the use of the College Center as a mental health facility; considerations in designing an NEC publicity brochure; the future status of the Placement Office; a Residence Hall Judiciary System; and the criteria for selecting a Resident Assistant. Finally, Ballinger’s administrative papers also detail the activities of the Community Services Department under the direction of Webster Lewis. Community Services records focus specifically on the New England Conservatory Magnet 636 Project, Supplementary Music, conducted at the Madison Park Annex during the 1976-1977 academic year.
The fifth series consists of records of the following committees: Board of Trustees, Executive Committee, Composition/Theory Committee, Evaluation Committee, Governing Committee, Long Range Planning Committee, and the Steering Committee. Among the most significant of the committee records is a report submitted by Ballinger to the Long Range Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees in March 1980. This report discusses the present state of affairs at NEC, and makes recommendations for NEC’s mission and goals, as well as improvements for students, faculty, programs and facilities. Two of the primary administrative topics evaluated during Ballinger’s years were the salary structure for faculty and guidelines for faculty promotions. These issues
are addressed in the records of the Evaluation Committee, Governing Committee, and the Steering Committee.
Further steps toward the establishment of the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) program begun during Gunther Schuller’s tenure, are recounted in Ballinger’s Curriculum Records. Also documented in this sixth series are the Conservatory's affiliations with the Kodaly Center of America, the Kodaly Institute (Hungary), the Kodaly Musical Training Institute, the Orff Institute and Tufts University. These files also highlight discussions of joint programs between NEC and Harvard University and the Liszt Academy of Music.
Student Organization Records involve Ballinger’s interactions with the Committee for Concerned Students and the Student Council, including a Jazz Department student questionnaire.
Gifts/Fundraising records include general gift acknowledgements, foundation gift records (including the Rockefeller Foundation), correspondence with members of the Friends organization, scholarship donations, Challenge NEH grant matching gift acknowledgements, Warren Benevolent Fund materials, and non-financial gifts to NEC.
Ballinger's Special event files include records of formal NEC events such as Ballinger’s Inauguration, Convocation (1978) and Commencements (1978-1982). Other special events which took place at NEC during Ballinger’s presidency are: a Broadway review, a meeting of the New England-China Consortium, a concert given by the Contemporary Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, a benefit concert for NEC, and the premiere performance of Ray Luke’s opera Medea. This opera was awarded first prize in a 1979 competition jointly sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and NEC.
Subject files of interest contain materials relating to the Voice of Firestone collection, the Gunther Schuller Center for American Music and the production of an LP recording of NEC’s Stravinsky Celebration by Crest Records. Another subject file documents discussions regarding an NEC-Boston Conservatory merger. Other subject files consist of correspondence regarding the selection of Ballinger as President of NEC, a music education editorial written by Ballinger for Ovation magazine, and biographical information about Ballinger.
Ballinger’s External files document NEC’s participation in several Boston area arts initiatives and organizations. These include the Massachusetts Council on the Arts, Public Action for the Arts, Neighborhood Music School, Boston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, the Paddock Island Art Park proposal (headed by Massachusetts College of Arts), the Massachusetts Design Council and the Consortium Task Force. This task force was comprised of representatives from the Boston Architectural Center, Emerson College, Massachusetts College of Art, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and NEC. Also significant is correspondence with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) regarding the Kodaly program at NEC.
Photographs consist of two sheets of professional proofs taken of President Ballinger for publicity purposes.
