Vera Bradford Collection

Vera Bradford was an Australian classical pianist who graduated from the University Of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in 1927. In 1928 she won a scholarship to study with Percy Grainger in Chicago. She also studied under Rudolph Ganz and Alexander Raab, making her concert debut in 1931 at the Chicago Opera House. On her return to Australia Vera played with the ABC orchestra, an association that continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Vera made several overseas tours to England. She represented Australia at the Second Korean Music Festival in Seoul in 1963, also performing concerts in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan. For many years she was a Chief Study teacher at Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and taught students at her home in Frankston. In 1968 she formed the Frankston Music Society and Orchestra. .

Vera Bradford donated her music collection to the State College of Victoria in 1978, which later became Monash University Library’s Peninsula branch. The collection was named the Vera Bradford Music Collection and contains books on the history of music, scores and sheet music, librettos, and orchestral sets. The collection has continued to grow, with donations from local Peninsula music groups, Defence Force Bands and other materials purchased by the State College of Victoria. .

The Library has commenced a digitisation project to make these items available to the wider research community and general public. The first batch of items now available for viewing in Monash Collections Online.