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This collection contains documents concerning the work of Ruth Pelham, a singer/songwriter and educator in the Albany, New York area who has been performing for decades in an effort to bring about peaceful communities through music. From the late 1970's to circa 2016, Pelham traveled in a mobile music program called the Music Mobile; singing, teaching, and writing songs with the community.

This collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, opera librettos, songs, short stories, novels, sketches, and critical reviews. It also has personal family papers of Kurt (Ashley Vernon) and Greta Hartwig Manschinger, paintings and writings by and other records from Greta's sister Mela Hartwig and her husband Robert Spira, audio recordings, scores, and sheet music, as well as audio recordings of performances.

Originally the Department of Speech and Dramatic Art, it encompassed the disciplines of Dramatic Art; Rhetoric and Public Address; Radio, Television and Film; and Speech Pathology and Audiology. The Department is responsible for the operation of the State University Theatre, is closely affiliated with the Northeastern New York Speech Center, and is the sponsor of a number of course-related student organizations