Berg, Chuck

Person

Biography

Charles (Chuck) Merrell Berg was born in 1941, growing up in a number of towns including Towson, MD, Springfield, MA, and Yonkers, NY, where he began to study music at the City University of New York (CUNY) before enlisting in the army (1961-64). Berg attended the University of Kansas to study Journalism and Radio/TV/Film. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Iowa in Film Studies in 1973.

Berg wrote as a Jazz and Arts journalist for a number of magazines and papers, including the Kansas City Star, Topeka Capitol Journal, and Jazz Times.

Berg joined the KU faculty in 1977, teaching in the Department of Film and Media Studies and serving as Chair of Theatre and Film from 2005-2007. His main areas of focus were American film history and popular culture, and he taught a variety of courses in film and media history, theory, criticism, and production.

Berg served in a number of positions, both elected and editorial, including serving as a Grammy-voting member of the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences. Awards he received included the Mortar Board Outstanding Educator Award and the Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence. He played flute and jazz saxophone.

Berg married Beth Noe, a native of Holton, KS in 1966, after they met while studying at KU. They had one son, Nathan Charles. Chuck Berg died at the age of 75 on July 26, 2016.

Found in 2 Records:

Chuck Berg press kits collection

Collection

Call Number: MS 339

Overview This collection contains handouts, fliers, articles, and other press kit and publicity materials received by Chuck Berg from a wide range of musicians and recording artists and companies. Chuck Berg was a noted jazz enthusiast and a professor of film and media studies at the University of Kansas. The collection is organized alphabetically by artist or company name, with an addition separately alphabetically organized. At the end of the collection are some additional music librettos and...

Dates: 1977 - 2016

Found in: University of Kansas. Kenneth Spencer Research Library

Personal papers of Chuck Berg

Collection

Call Number: PP 609

Overview

This collection comprises materials from Professor Chuck Berg's academic career in Film and Media Studies, primarily at the University of Kansas, as well as to his musical career as a music and theater critic and jazz flutist and saxophonist. The papers include nearly the full scope of Berg's publications as a jazz and arts columnist for several local and national publications.

Dates: 1965 - 2016