Helen Walker-Hill Collection

The Helen Walker-Hill Collection is composed of musical compositions by black women composers throughout the United States and England.

This collection was compiled by pianist and musicologist, Dr. Helen Walker-Hill. She holds degrees from the University of Colorado, Smith College, and the École Normale de Musique in Paris, France, where she also studied with Nadia Boulanger. Formerly on the piano faculty of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Dr. Walker-Hill has performed and lectured on the music of the twentieth century, black American composers, and women composers.

Proceeding from a desire to use music of black women composers in her piano performance and teachings, Dr. Walker-Hill has dedicated herself since 1987 to uncovering the material, utilizing secondary sources and numerous archives, conducting interviews with composers, and engaging in voluminous correspondence with individuals and institutions. Her lecture-recital, "Rediscovering Heritage: the Music of Black Women Composers" has been featured on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" and "Horizons" programs and was the subject of a United States Information Agency film for foreign distribution.

She is the author of several articles which have appeared in journals such as American Music Teacher and Black Music Research. Her first book was Piano Music by Black Women Composers: A Catalog of Solo and Ensemble Works (Greenwood Press, 1992), which provides a catalog of music composed by black women to date including over 300 piano works and 200 detailed descriptions of works the author was able to obtain and study.

Her second book, Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music 1893-1990 (Hildegard Publishing Co., 1992) is an anthology of music by nineteen black women composers. The volume includes an historical overview, short biographies, and pictures of the composers. In 1995, Music by Black Women Composers: A Bibliography of Available Scores was published as a monograph. The CD, "Kaleidoscope: Music By African-American Women" with performances by violinist, Gregory Walker, and pianist, Helen Walker-Hill, was released by Leonarda Records in 1995.