About the SFBA Choral Archive
The San Francisco Bay Area Choral Archive is a project developed over the last thirty years by Helene Whitson, assisted by her sister, Valerie Howard and spouse, Bill Whitson. Helene and Valerie were the compilers of The San Francisco Bay Area Chorus Directory (1st edition, 1985-4th edition, 1999).
The purpose of the San Franciso Bay Area Choral Archive is to provide both current and historical information relating to choral activity in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, which has gradually been extended to cover all of Northern California.
The Archive presently encompasses a variety of endeavors:
- Publication of The San Francisco Bay Area Chorus Directory
- Development of a historical archive documenting the history of Bay Area choruses, including books, flyers, advertisements, reviews and other magazine and newspaper articles, audio and video recordings. The archive includes files on most choruses listed in any of the editions of the SF Bay Area Chorus Directory. The archive also includes an extensive general reference collection of “classical” choral scores and recordings, and books on “classical” choral music.
- Development of this umbrella Web site, as a central information source about Bay Area choruses and as a resource for choral singers and conductors