Daniel A. Harris Papers

Daniel Alfred Harris was born in Dayton, Ohio to Joseph Hastings Harris (1870-1941) and Bertha Elizabeth Lambert (1872-1954) on May 19, 1903. He had five brothers - Paul Joseph (1900-1962), Robert Lambert (1902-1902), Theodore Otterbein (1905-1920), James Lowell (1908-1960), and RIchard Lambert (1911-1989). He attended public schools in Hillsboro and Columbus, Ohio. He received the B.A. degree from Otterbein College and graduated from the Otterbein Conservatory of Music with a diploma in Voice. He studied in Columbus under Cecil Fanning (1883-1931) and did post-graduate work at Ohio State University. He received an honorary Doctorate of Music from Otterbein College in 1939.

Harris studied and performed in musical productions in New York from 1925 to 1927. He conducted advanced study and opera performances (baritone) in Italy from 1927 to 1931, and in France and Belgium from 1931 to 1935. After eight years abroad, Harris returned to perform with opera companies around the country, performing additionally in South America and Canada in opera and concert.

Harris began his teaching career at Louisiana State University. He came to Oberlin in 1940 as an assistant professor of singing. He received an associate professorship of singing in 1946 and took sabbatical leave from 1953-54 to study History of Oratorio and Opera. In 1955, Harris spent three months in Korea teaching at three universities in Seoul and directing opera under the State Department’s International Exchange Program. In 1959, he was appointed by President Eisenhower to membership on the Advisory Committee for the National Cultural Center. In 1961, he spent a sabbatical leave of four months visiting theaters in Italy, Germany, and Austria. In 1966, Harris served as language coach for the Metropolitan National Opera, and worked in the same capacity with the American National Opera Company in 1967. After his retirement from Oberlin College as Emeritus Professor of Singing in 1969, he sat on the staff of the Oberlin Teachers Performance Institute and taught as a guest member of the faculty at the University of Miami School of Music.

Daniel A. Harris married Aletha Grace Stacey (1902-1978) in France in 1934. They had two sons, Daniel Stacey (1940-2000) and John Lambert (1945-2016). He passed away in January 1993 in Hialeah, Florida.

Sources Consulted

Oberlin College Archives:

Daniel A. Harris Case File (RG 30/166).

Daniel A. Harris Faculty File (RG 28/3).

Note written by Kira Zimmerman.