Edmond Mignon music manuscripts, 1953-2011

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Mignon, Edmond
Title
Edmond Mignon music manuscripts
Dates
1953-2011 (inclusive)
Quantity
3.34 cubic feet (6 boxes plus 4 CDs)
Collection Number
5980 (Accession No. 5980-001)
Summary
Music manuscripts and CDs of compositions by Edmond Mignon, a composer, information scientist, and University of Washington faculty member
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to all users.

Languages
English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Edmond Mignon was a composer, information scientist, and former University of Washington faculty member. He was born in New York City on November 30, 1929, to Edmond Mignon, Sr. and Martha Montgomery Mignon. He graduated at age 16 from the New York High School of Music and Art (now the High School of Performing Arts). He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in music from Syracuse University, then served four years in the Navy, most of that time in Seattle. His Navy duties included working with a group of associates to produce a local Navy-sponsored television program called "March On." His assignment was to compose a new musical score for each week's Friday evening show. He spent his days writing and orchestrating the new music, which was then rehearsed and conducted by Jack Herriman, who later was the conductor of the Chandler, Arizona, Symphony Orchestra.

After his discharge from the Navy, Mr. Mignon served as pianist for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and as an accompanist for many professional performers. He also presented a weekly Sunday afternoon music program on local talk radio. In 1959, he received a master's degree in library and information science from the University of Washington, then moved on to a position at UCLA. He married a former Bellingham resident, Molly Raymond, in Santa Monica, California, on December 31, 1959.

During the 1960s, Mignon was employed by the Boeing Scientific Research Laboratory in Seattle. He left in 1966 to accept a fellowship for four years of study at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a PhD in information science. During that time, he participated in research leading to the development of the Internet at Berkeley's Institute of Library Research.

Mignon later returned to Seattle and began his teaching career of over 30 years in the University of Washington Graduate School of Library and Information Science. After his retirement, he and Molly moved to Tucson, where Mr. Mignon became a friend of the Chandler Symphony Orchestra and wrote a number of compositions performed by that ensemble, including "Frolic" and "Optimistic Overture," which was first performed in November 2008. Another of his compositions, "A Short Symphony," was performed by the Arizona Chamber Orchestra. Mignon continued composing music up to the time of his death on January 17, 2012.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

Music manuscripts and CDs of compositions by Edmond Mignon.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Molly R. Mignon, 2012-12-24 and 2013-04-25

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Composers--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Composition (Music)
  • Musical notation--Specimens
  • Musicians--Washington (State)--Seattle

Personal Names

  • Mignon, Edmond--Archives

Form or Genre Terms

  • Music
  • Sound recordings

Other Creators

  • Corporate Names
    • University of Washington. University Archives (creator)

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • University Archives/Faculty Papers (University of Washington)