Laura Boulton Collection
During her years of fieldwork, Laura Boulton (1899-1980), amassed a notable collection of musical instruments from around the world. Boulton conducted her own formal graduate studies in the anthropology department at the University of Chicago. However, her fieldwork and investigation into "primitive" music began many years before her formal education (she did not become a graduate student until 1932). Her research interests led her to acquire African instruments, also Asian instruments, particularly Burmese materials, and indigenous North American, South American, and European instruments.She made her first trip to Africa in 1929 under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History. This trip, which lasted approximately three months, allowed Boulton to collect musical instruments and recordings from the indigenous populations of Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanganyika. Prior to her death on October 16, 1980, Boulton participated in close to 20 trips to the continent of Africa. She visited and collected musical data and instruments from (in addition to the aforementioned localities) Mozambique, Nyasaland, Rhodesia, Transvaal, Cape Province, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gold Coast, Angola, Nigeria, Senegal, Niger Colony, Dahomey, British Cameroons, French Equatorial Africa, Zaire, Ethiopia, and Ghana.
In addition to collecting numerous examples of musical instruments and sound recordings, Boulton published a large number of articles and films, and helped to produce a multitude of museum exhibits related to the artifacts and data she gathered during her research. She also performed a large number of illustrated lectures that served as educational tools for students of music and anthropology.
Between the years of 1962-1972 Boulton served as the director of the Laura Boulton Collection of Traditional and Liturgical Music at Columbia University. After retiring from Columbia, Boulton became director of the Laura Boulton Collection of World Music and Musical Instruments, and Distinguished professorof Fine Arts, at Arizona State University . In 1977 she established the Laura Boulton Foundation, a not-for-profit institution supporting the study of ethnomusicology. It can be said that the pioneering efforts of Laura Boulton made a significant impact on the study of ethnomusicology, contributing to the creation of ethnomusicology departments in many major universities.
The Mathers Museum obtained this collection of musical instuments in 1986 from Arizona State University and the Laura Boulton Foundation.