Collection: Allentown Band Oral History Collection

Scope and Contents

The Allentown Band and Muhlenberg College, longtime Lehigh Valley institutions and partners, embarked on a collaboration to gather members’ oral histories. The partners creating this collection included members of the Band, students, and faculty in an integrative learning course involving archival science and documentary fieldwork. The course resulted in an ongoing digital scholarship project site.

The collection consists of nine oral histories that speak to the traditions and treasured memories of the Allentown Band. The oral histories provide narratives that speak to the evolution of the Band in the past 50 years. Starting with the tradition of playing for community and church groups, the Band is now also playing at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and at various European venues. A more recent tradition, noted in the oral histories, involves outreach to musically talented Lehigh Valley youth.