"The University Archives was established in 1950 with the responsibility of collecting, preserving, organizing, and describing the official records of the university. This collection of records is directed towards those materials that are of enduring…value, records that include information regarding the University's origin, purpose, programs, development, and of the achievements of its officers, faculty, students, and alumni."

-from the University Archives mission statement

Richard William Wienhorst has had a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Valparaiso University, a relationship the productivity of which more than satisfies the Archives' standards requiring "enduring value" of "the achievements of its…faculty, students, and alumni." An outstanding student in the brilliant class of 1942, and an indispensable music faculty member from 1946 until his retirement in 1984, Dr. Wienhorst still found time to compose music. A prolific composer whose still-growing catalog currently lists 380 works composed and edited, 220 of which are published, Dr. Wienhorst wanted a set of his compositions to remain in the possession of the University, where and for whom so many of them were written.

After meeting with Music Department chair Dr. Linda Ferguson to explore options for the collection of compositions, the two approached University Archivist Mr. Mel Doering with the collection in 1997. The grateful acceptance of the collection into the Archives was the safest home yet at the University; two fires, the first at the Chapel-Auditorium in 1956, the second at Kinsey Hall in 1970, destroyed scores, including the only copy of composer's only Symphony (written at the age of 17), and damaged others. Additionally, the move to the new Valparaiso University Center for the Arts (VUCA) from Art-Music and Dickmeyer Halls in 1995 resulted in the loss of other scores and sets of parts. As a student attending Valparaiso for the summer, I was hired in 1997 to organize the collection, and working summers through 2000, produced the catalog of the collection.

The catalog consists of:

  • brief biographical information
  • a directory of the catalog numbering system
  • an outline of the catalog according to the system
  • a title index to the catalog
  • the catalog
    indices by Alternate Author, Biblical Reference, Choir, and Tune
  • selected bibliography, and
  • contact information for securing music and performance rights.

It is the intent of the composer that this collection be available to researchers in the archives for the purposes of scholarship and general edification, not for check-out with the intent to perform. More widely known than practiced, copyright law forbids the photocopying or performance of copyrighted music, under which category falls all of Dr. Wienhorst's work. Therefore contact information for the publishers is provided to secure the published works, and the composer's own information to secure the unpublished works. Only under certain circumstances is the collection available for photocopying, and only under exceptional circumstances are any works available for check-out.

The library also possesses other materials to aid those interested in the collection, including (but not limited to) articles by and about the composer, audio tapes, correspondence, and programs of performances including Dr. Wienhorst's work. Dr. Wienhorst has been and continues to be a vital part of the Valparaiso University community, as well as one of the century's important church music composers. It is the hope of the composer, Dean of Library Services Richard AmRhein, University Archivist Mel Doering, and myself, that this collection sparks well-deserved interest from the greater music community.

-Tom Oram, 2001