A harp formerly owned by Mildred Dilling was donated to Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts by the family of Dilling’s student Mary-Elizabeth Collins, who passed away in January 2021. Collins earned a Bachelor of Music Education from what is now Douglass College of Rutgers University and subsequently performed and taught for over 40 years in New Jersey. Collins was also a longtime member of the North Jersey Chapter of the American Harp Society.
Collins received the harp upon Dilling’s passing in 1982. Dilling was a founder of the American Harp Society, performed for five different presidents, and owned the world’s largest private collection of harps—including about 65 harps in her apartment.
The Dilling-Collins harp was dedicated May 7 at Kirkpatrick Chapel on the Rutgers campus at a concert organized by André Tarantiles, harp instructor at Mason Gross School of the Arts, and Frances Duffy, president of the North Jersey Chapter. Performers in the dedication concert included current and past students of Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, along with members of the North Jersey Chapter.
