Fred Waring's America

The Fred Waring Collection, known as Fred Waring’s America, is a unique part of the Special Collections Library at the University Libraries.

This distinctive collection contains the historical memorabilia, music library, radio, television and concert recordings, films, photographs, cartoons, and business and personal correspondence reflecting the life of Fred Waring and his nearly seventy year career as a choral conductor, band leader, music educator and entrepreneur.

Fred Waring’s America documents 20th century American popular culture through song, radio, movies and television performance. The mission of this large scale collection is to provide primary source material for researchers from Penn State, musicians and music educators, orchestra and choral conductors, documentary filmmakers, golden-age radio enthusiasts as well as media and cultural historians.