Oral history interview with Valter Poole
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 1 hr., 2 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Poole, Valter, 1903-1984
label: Interviewer
content: Ehrlich, Heyward
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Federal Music Project (Mich.)
label: Names
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
topic: label: Topic
content: Music -- Instruction and study -- Michigan -- Detroit
label: Topic
content: Conducting
label: Topic
content: Federal aid to the arts
label: Topic
content: Conductors (Music) -- Michigan -- Detroit -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Poole, Valter, 1903-1984
label: Interviewer
content: Ehrlich, Heyward
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
setName: label: See more items in
content: Oral history interview with Valter Poole
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Valter Poole (1903-1984) was a symphony conductor, violist, and music professor in Detroit, Mich.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 30 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1964
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.poole64
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The original transcript was edited. In 2021 the Archives retranscribed the original audio and attempted to create a verbatim transcript. This interview was audited and edited by Ellen Brooks in 2025.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Valter Poole conducted in 1964, by Heyward Ehrlich, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Poole speaks of his background and education; his musical training; his years prior to the Federal Music Project; getting the directorship of the Federal Music Project in Detroit, and later becoming orchestra conductor; the activities of the orchestra, including regular concerts in schools and museums; introducing new music and new composers to Detroit; the effect of the Project on the musicians involved; the project's benefits to the community.