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Local figure

Benjamin Swalin

Benjamin F. Swalin (1901–1989) took a position in the University of North Carolina's Music Department in Chapel Hill in 1935 and led the North Carolina Symphony from 1939 to 1972. His wife, Maxine M. Swalin, joined him in North Carolina in 1936 and served as the symphony's executive assistant.

Source: UNC Libraries: Benjamin F. Swalin and Maxine M. Swalin Papers, 1903-2006

Also found in catalogs as Benjamin F. Swalin, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin) Swalin.

7 works about Benjamin Swalin are indexed here.

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each opens its own page, with its events date by date.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 6 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Benjamin Swalin joins the UNC music faculty Benjamin F. Swalin, a violinist with a Vienna doctorate, took a position in the University of North Carolina's Music Department in 1935. He went on to direct the North Carolina Symphony from 1939 to 1972, and by 1946 was on indefinite leave from the department for the symphony. People: Maxine M Swalin Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Benjamin F. Swalin and Maxine M. Swalin Papers, 1903-2006 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, September 27, 1935, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 2, 1935, p. 1
  2. Music lovers meeting at Chapel Hill set out to revive the North Carolina Symphony On October 20, 1939, Colonel Joseph Hyde Pratt, still president of the North Carolina Symphony Society, led a meeting at the Graham Memorial that set out to revive the state orchestra, which had folded for lack of money after its success under Lamar Stringfield four years before. Benjamin Swalin of the UNC music faculty was to conduct 50 to 65 players, about 25 of them from Chapel Hill, with a first concert planned in Durham before Christmas. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, Benjamin Swalin, Lamar Stringfield Place: Graham Memorial, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 27, 1939, p. 1
  3. The North Carolina Symphony gives a free concert for Orange County schoolchildren The North Carolina Symphony Orchestra under Benjamin F. Swalin played a free afternoon concert for the children of Orange County in Memorial Hall on Saturday, April 15, 1944, drawing a large crowd of pupils, some of whom walked over from the Carrboro school. An evening concert followed in the same hall. People: Benjamin Swalin Place: Memorial Hall, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Carrboro schoolSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 20, 1944, p. 1
  4. Swalin's newly professional North Carolina Symphony plays Memorial Hall Benjamin Swalin brought the North Carolina Symphony to Memorial Hall after an expansion campaign that let him hire a professional orchestra for the first time. The Daily Tar Heel's critic, a longtime skeptic, wrote that it had become the most capable musical organization then playing in the state. Place: Memorial Hall, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel: editorial on Dr. Swalin and the symphony, April 25, 1946, p. 2
  5. The Ford Foundation grants $1 million to the Chapel Hill-based North Carolina Symphony The Ford Foundation named the North Carolina Symphony, headquartered in Chapel Hill, among 61 orchestras to share $80.4 million, giving it $750,000 in endowment to be matched within five years and $250,000 outright. Director Benjamin Swalin and symphony president Voit Gilmore said meeting the match would make it a full-size, full-time orchestra, resident as well as touring. People: Benjamin Swalin Place: North Carolina Symphony, Chapel Hill · Also named: Voit GilmoreSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, July 7, 1966, p. 1
  6. The North Carolina Symphony marks its 50th anniversary with a concert in Memorial Hall On September 15, 1982, the North Carolina Symphony played a sold-out concert in Memorial Hall marking fifty years since its first concert in 1932. Gerhardt Zimmermann made his first appearance as the orchestra's new artistic director and conductor, Benjamin Swalin, its conductor from 1939 to 1971, led Beethoven's First Symphony, and Herbert Hazelman, an oboist in the original orchestra, conducted his own Danse Moronique. People: Benjamin Swalin Place: Memorial Hall, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Gerhardt Zimmermann, Herbert HazelmanSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, September 17, 1982, p. 5

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Benjamin Swalin, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Indexed works

Works about or by Benjamin Swalin. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

An ear to myself

Swalin, Maxine M. · 1996

Maxine M. Swalin's memoir, published by the author in 1996, ix and 145 pages with illustrations and portraits. Her account follows her from Waukee, Iowa, to Chapel Hill and describes her ties to the North Carolina Symphony and to Benjamin F. Swalin, 1901 to 1989, who led that orchestra for more than thirty years.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Swalin, Benjamin F. -- 1901-1989.

Benjamin Swalin, North Carolina Symphony, circa 1940s

Morton, Hugh M. · 1940

Benjamin Swalin, director of the North Carolina Symphony, applauds a violin soloist while the orchestra sits behind them, at a concert at UNC-Chapel Hill. Hugh Morton photograph, probably from the 1940s.

Included because: Catalog heading in the DPLA record: Swalin, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1901-1989.

Benjamin Swalin, North Carolina Symphony, circa 1940s

Morton, Hugh M. · 1940

Benjamin Swalin, director of the North Carolina Symphony, stands at right with a violinist and the orchestra at an unidentified event at UNC-Chapel Hill in the 1940s. Hugh Morton took the black-and-white sheet film negative.

Included because: Catalog heading in the DPLA record: Swalin, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1901-1989.

Swalin, Benjamin and Maxine (Chapel Hill Historical Society vertical file)

Benjamin Swalin, longtime director of the North Carolina Symphony, and his wife Maxine are the subjects of this folder of photocopied newspaper articles, promotional materials and a report with notes. Chapel Hill Historical Society Vertical File Collection, Individuals and Families series, box 8. Undated.

Included because: Its title names this person.

Swalin, Benjamin: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

Portrait of Benjamin Swalin, longtime conductor of the North Carolina Symphony, undated. One print from the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection of Chapel Hill people.

Included because: Its title names this person.

Swalin, Dr. Benjamin: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

1942

Two photographs of Dr. Benjamin Swalin dated 1942, one showing him conducting and one with two companions after a lecture he gave in Hill Hall. Part of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's UNC Faculty and Administration photographs.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

Show 1 more

Benjamin F. Swalin and Maxine M. Swalin papers, 1903-2006

1903

Papers of Benjamin F. Swalin (1901-1989) and Maxine M. Swalin, 1903 to 2006, roughly 7,000 items in 18.9 linear feet, part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 4962. Subjects include the North Carolina Symphony, conductors and women musicians in the state, government aid to music, music appreciation in elementary schools, the music department at Chapel Hill, and the teacher Adeline McCall.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Swalin, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1901-1989.

UNC

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this person. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 785.062 SWA Hard-circus Road: The Odyssey of the North Carolina Symphony Swalin, Benjamin F. · 1987

    Benjamin Swalin, who conducted the North Carolina Symphony for more than three decades, tells the orchestra's history in this 1987 volume published by the Chapel Hill Museum. 158 pages with illustrations.

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

  • Memorial Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 2 events here

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Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Background

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Benjamin Swalin Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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Books about Benjamin Swalin

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Historical records and collections

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