Faculty Scholarship
C. FRANK ARCHER JR, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF FINE ARTS
 ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR of Fine Arts C.
Frank Archer, Jr. ’73, continues his work
teaching music history, literature, and voice,
and also directs the Hampden-Sydney College
Men’s Chorus and its select chamber choir, the
Notables. He is also much in demand as an
organist and piano accompanist throughout the
state.
The Men’s Chorus sings regularly on
campus; recent concerts included the popular
Family Weekend concerts every year, Lessons
and Carols with the Mary Baldwin College
Choir, and Spring Concerts with the Sweet
Briar College Concert Choir, which Archer also
conducts. The chorus was invited to sing for the
College’s Through These Gates capital campaign
kickoff events at Hampden-Sydney and in
Birmingham, Alabama, and is a regular presence
at admissions and alumni events.
During the 2006 Spring Break, Archer led
the Men’s Chorus on a tour of Italy, which
included concerts at two historic churches
in Rome and services at the installation of
the new Bishop of Assisi and at the Vatican.
He has also been heard in concert with his
wife, flutist and Lecturer in Fine Arts Mary
Ann Archer, formerly of the Metropolitan
Opera Orchestra, at the College as well as
at Virginia Commonwealth University and
Sweet Briar College. Archer accompanied
the Commonwealth Chorale in 2006 in a
performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’
Toward the Unknown Region and recently
returned to New Jersey to conduct his former
community chorus, the Shrewsbury Chorale,
as a part of its 50th-anniversary celebration.
His research is currently centered on the
College’s recent acquisition of a large 18th century
Italian book of Gregorian chant, an
antiphonale that was a gift of the Johns family,
long-standing supporters of the College. Archer
is transcribing and analyzing the chants for
performance and publication of the pieces
unique to this collection from Sicily.
Archer came to the College in 2003 after
a career in teaching and performance in New
York and New Jersey. In addition to his B.A. in
history from Hampden-Sydney, he has an M.M.
from Westminster Choir College and holds
the Choirmaster certificate from the American
Guild of Organists.
BEYOND THE Classroom FOR THE Classroom
Hampden-Sydney College Faculty Scholarship 2005-2008
A report by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty
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