Janet Knapp Byles Papers

Collection

Identifier: RG 30-363

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The papers of Janet Knapp Byles are modest in volume, and contain both personal and professional papers, several photographs and three scrapbooks. The content of the material largely focuses on Byles' life during and after attending Oberlin College.

The bulk of the collection consists of photographs and scrapbooks, regarding Byles’ family, friends, class reunions and trips abroad. In addition to the photographs and scrapbooks, there are several writings by Byles regarding her class instruction critique notes and her personal musical endeavors. The unpublished works contain writings and reports referencing her three years in China with the Shansi Program. The collection lacks extensive biographical information and correspondence.

The collection is divided into seven series: Series I. Biographical, Series II. Correspondence, Series III. Diary and Notes, Series IV. Photographs, Series V. Printed Matter, Series VI. Scrapbooks and Series VII. Writings.

Dates

Creation: 1850-1999, undated
Other: Majority of material found in 1850-1948
Other: Date acquired: 2003 January 28

Creator

Byles, Janet Knapp (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Unrestricted.

Biographical Sketch

Janet (Knapp) Byles was born on September 1, 1922 in Cobleskill, New York. She attended Oberlin College graduating with an A.B. in 1946 and an M.A. in 1952. Between receiving her A.B. and M.A., Knapp taught in China from 1946 to 1949 as a representative of the Oberlin Shansi Program.

Knapp obtained a Ph.D. in Musicology from Yale University in 1961. Shortly after, Janet Knapp married J. George Huntington Byles on September 7, 1965 in Morristown, New Jersey. They were married until the time of his death and did not have any children.

Byles made her career as a musicologist, teaching music history at the Oberlin Conservatory, Yale, Boston University and Vassar College. She was Professor of Music at Vassar College from 1971-1988, where she received Professor Emeritus status.

As an avid medievalist and violin player herself, her specialty was the study of conductus, a form of medieval music used in processions. She transcribed a 13th century conductus and published a book about the transcription, Thirty-five Conductus for Two and Three Voices, in 1965. Byles made history as the first female president of the American Musicological Society in 1975.

Janet and George moved from Fearrington, North Carolina to Kendal at Oberlin in 1993, where they both remained until the time of their deaths respectively. Byles died Friday, January 22, 2010 at the age of 87 with many surviving nieces and nephews.

Sources Consulted

Oberlin College Yearbook, Hi-O-Hi, Oberlin College Archives, 1945

Associated Emeritae/i of Vassar College website, 2007

Boston University Musicology Newsletter, 2/10/2010

Note written by Julie Cowan