One of the big perks of being a music student in Cleveland is the proximity of Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra. Today some of my colleagues and I had the privilege of touring the archives there.

Among the most fascinating items in the collection are a series of signature books. It has been a long-standing tradition of the orchestra to collect the signatures of visiting soloists, conductors, composers, and other dignitaries at concerts. The particular book we viewed included the marks of Gregor Piatagorsky, Bela Bartok, Jascha Heifetz, Nadia Boulanger, Orson Welles, and Igor Stravinsky:

(Photo credit: Tracy C.)