Irving Lowens (19 August 1916 – 14 November 1983) was an American musicologist, critic, and librarian in the Washington, D.C. area.
While neither Moravian in content nor in origin, the Lowens Collection is an extremely valuable resource for hymnological study, both in music and texts.
Lowens served as an air traffic controller in the Civil Aeronautics Administration during World War II, continuing in the position until the 1950s.
In 1966, Lowens left the Library of Congress in order to devote himself full-time to the Washington Star, where he had been appointed Chief Music Critic in 1960; he remained in this position until 1978.
[1] Irving Lowens's research on early American music resulted in several important publications, including some in collaboration with Allen Britton and Richard Crawford.