The Herbert and Trudl Zipper Archive materials date from approximately 1900–1997 and contain materials from the lives of Herbert Zipper (1904–1997), his wife Trudl Dubsky Zipper (1913–1977), and members of the immediate and extended Zipper family, including sister Hedwig “Hedy” Zipper Horwitz/Holt (1907–1989), and maternal uncle (by marriage) artist Arthur Paunzen (1890–1940). The collection was originally bequeathed to Crossroads School by Herbert Zipper and retrieved from Zipper’s home, garage, and office spaces by Paul Cummins after Zipper’s death in April 1997. Since then, the collection has been housed at Crossroads School and in 2019, Crossroads School donated the collection to the Colburn School.
In 2022, Colburn received a Save America’s Treasures Grant to preserve and digitize the archives. These materials include personal and professional photographs, correspondence, unpublished and published sheet music and scores, books, audio, music, and video recordings on various media, concert programs and related publicity materials, award plaques and certificates, framed and unframed artworks, a set of 1939 encyclopedias, a wood/stone sculpture and a portrait carved by Herbert Zipper, a bronze and a stone sculpture of a dancer, and more.
After an 18-month process, the digital collection was launched at zipperarchives.org. The digital collection, spearheaded by archivist Brendan Morris, involved meticulous organization and careful digitization of select materials from the more than 20,000 artifacts in the archives. Materials were chosen for digitization based on their significance and fragility, ensuring their preservation. Read more.
Watch: Spectrum News 1 Archivist digitizing the collection of music advocate and Holocaust survivor Herbert Zipper
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the generous support of Ann Moore.