Special Collections
Charles Sanford Skilton Collection

Born in Northampton, Massachusetts, Charles Sanford Skilton (1868-1941) received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1889. He taught languages at Siglar's Preparatory School in Newburgh, New York from 1889 to 1891. While in New York, he studied composition with Dudley Buch and organ with Harry Rowe Shelley. From 1891 to 1893, Skilton attended the Berlin Hochschule für Musik where he studied with Woldemar Bargiel and Otis Boise. He became Director of Music at the Salem Academy and College in North Carolina until 1896. The following year he took a position as instructor of piano and theory at the State Normal School in Trenton, New Jersey. In 1903, he secured a position as professor of organ, theory, and history at the University of Kansas, and from 1903 to 1915, he served as Dean of the School of Fine Arts. Skilton became acquainted with American Indian tribal melodies while working at the Haskell Institute near the Kansas University campus, and he incorporated some of these melodies in his compositions. His opera Kalopin, based on an Indian story, received the David Bishop Medal of the American Opera Association of Chicago. Skilton died in Lawrence, Kansas on March 12, 1941.

The Skilton Collection contains several of his major works in manuscript, including the operas The Day of Gayomair, Kalopin and The Sun Bride. Printed works in the Collection include Music to the Electra of Sophocles, Suite Primeval on Tribal Indian Melodies for Grand Orchestra and The Witch's Daughter in vocal/piano score. Included in the Collection are numerous songs and chamber music arrangements.

Special Collections is a non-circulating and non-browsing resource center. The Special Collections Reading Room is open to researchers Monday through Friday during the academic year. Public service hours for the current semester are listed at http://library.umkc.edu/spec-col/index.html#hours but researchers are encouraged to call ahead for verification of hours due to University intersessions and other events. Special Collections is located on the fourth floor of the Miller Nichols Library at 5100 Rockhill Road in Kansas City, Missouri. All inquiries concerning access to the collections should be addressed to Special Collections Library Information Specialists Teresa Gipson or Kelly McEniry.