About the Collection

The Barbara Ann Conlogue Collection of Eleanor Steber Photographs, circa 1935-1977 contains 373 images of soprano Eleanor Steber. The collection includes stock publicity photographs, but is special for the many informal snapshots of Steber at various functions throughout her career. The snapshots include photographs of a television screen during broadcasts of Steber performances.

Eleanor Steber was born 17 July 1916 in Wheeling, West Virginia. She made her premiere with the Metropolitan Opera in 1940 and remained with the company until 1963. She is noted for her work as the first Vanessa in Samuel Barber’s opera of that name and she also commissioned the composer for his work,Knoxville: Summer of 1915. She performed the title role of Arabella in Richard Strauss’s opera in the American premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955 and sang the part of Marie in Alban Berg’s Wozzeck in the first performance by the Metropolitan Opera in 1959. Steber devoted her later years to teaching, working at the Cleveland Institute, Juilliard, and her alma mater, New England Conservatory. She established the Eleanor Steber Music Foundation to assist young singers in the early stages of their careers. Steber died in Langhorne, Pennsylvania 3 October 1990.

For more details about the collection please refer to the finding aid for the collection.