[2] After growing up in Long Island, N.Y.,[3] she attended the University of Michigan, studying classical harp and piano.

[3] While performing as a harpist with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, she took a job as a reference librarian at Yale University in 1959.

Recognizing the profound usefulness of recorded memories such as these, Perlis began collecting interviews with other acquaintances of Charles Ives.

The core unit, Major Figures in American Music, includes interviews with composers, classical performers, and jazz musicians.

OHAM also holds projects on Ives, Paul Hindemith, Steinway & Sons, and Duke Ellington, video interviews with Yale graduate composers, and acquisitions.

[6][15] In 2005, Perlis released a new book, Composers’ Voices From Ives to Ellington, which was co-written with Libby Van Cleve.

In the next thirteen years, Perlis went on to write and produce three documentaries about other oral history subjects and interviewees for the PBS American Masters Series: Memories of Eubie (Eubie Blake; 1980),[18] Aaron Copland: A Self Portrait (1985),[19] and John Cage: I Have Nothing to Say and I Am Saying It (1990).