Barbara B. Heyman: NEH We the People Grant Awarded to Music Historian

Barbara B. Heyman, a music historian who most recently was director of the Office of College Information and Publications at Brooklyn College, has been awarded a 2006 grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Founded in 1965, the NEH is an independent federal agency and is the largest funder of humanities projects undertaken by museums, archives, libraries, public television, and independent scholars.

Heyman receives a grant of $40,000 to support research for her book, A Comprehensive Thematic Catalog of the Complete Works of the American Composer Samuel Barber (1910–1981). She was one of fifty recipients whose projects were included in a special category, We the People, which recognizes work that advances the study, teaching, and understanding of American history and culture.

Her award-winning biography Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music (Oxford University Press, 1994) has become a standard in music history scholarship.

An accomplished violinist and pianist, Heyman earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Barnard College. She went on to receive a master’s degree from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the City University of New York. Her biography of Barber was based on her doctoral research.