Summary Information
Wisconsin Federation of Music Clubs Records
1926-1964
- Wisconsin Federation of Music Clubs
Mss 94; Tape 489A
5.2 c.f. (13 archives boxes) and 3 tape recordings
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of a Wisconsin organization founded in 1916 to encourage lifelong music education and appreciation, including correspondence, minutes, reports, address books, newspaper clippings, bibliographies, and pamphlets. The collection focuses on organizational records (primarily minutes and correspondence), project records for the Musical Equipment for Servicemen Project (1941-1945) which includes correspondence from U.S. servicemen, records on the Music in Hospitals Project (1944- ), and materials from a folk music archives project which include a folk music survey, bibliographies of folk music collections, folk music transcriptions and recordings, and folk music scores and songbooks. Individuals with work included in the collection are Bertine Larson, John Moulding, H. H. Rader, Elias Howe, Mary Agnes Starr, and Mrs. D. S. MacKinnon.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00094 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
As part of the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893, musicians from across the United States met for a music festival. Their common desire to encourage music education led to the formation of the National Federation of Music Clubs in 1898. The group was organized first on a national level; after which each state was organized by a vice president. In 1912 Mrs. Herbert Stapleton, the Wisconsin vice president conceived of the idea of a state federation. Her efforts culminated in an organizational meeting in Milwaukee on January 25, 1916, attended by leading citizens interested in music including such notables as Dr. David Mannes, Dr. Charles Mills, Peter Dykema, and Madame Schumann-Heink. The purpose of the state federation was to bring together groups for the encouragement of musical education and the maintenance of musical standards. From ten local clubs in 1916, the federation grew to 180 clubs with over 5,000 members in 1957. These were organized into 40 senior clubs, 20 senior associates, two schools of music, 24 church choirs, and 84 junior clubs.
The activities of the Wisconsin Federation of Music Clubs were many and varied. They sponsored contests and scholarships for promising young state musicians and composers, and were responsible for a state supervisorship of music in the schools. The federation worked for music credits in public schools, music shelves in public libraries and higher standards for church music. In 1931 it began an annual Little Theatre Project at the state fair which grew into a cultural program on a Milwaukee radio station. In addition, the Wisconsin Federation of Music Clubs organized a project to collect materials on folk music, particularly that of Wisconsin.
Its most ambitious undertaking was the Musical Equipment for Servicemen Project which began in December, 1941. Entirely through volunteer efforts the committee collected instruments, records, and sheet music for U.S. servicemen around the world. In 1944 the work was expanded into the Music in Hospitals Project which continued as a permanent project after the end of the war to bring musical entertainment to the hospitals of the state.
Scope and Content Note
The collection has been divided into three series of paper records: organizational records of the state federation, records of its chief committee, and its archives for folk music research. A fourth series consists of tape recordings.
The organizational records series chiefly consists of minutes of meetings. From 1926 to 1940 these were unbound, but after 1940 minutes were combined with official correspondence and miscellaneous musical programs into bound volumes.
The second series is comprised of the project records of the Musical Equipment for Servicemen Project (1941-1945) and the Music in Hospitals Project (1944-present). These consist of reports, correspondence, citations, address books, three scrapbooks, a daily record of contributions, and a public relations tape recording. The correspondence is chiefly from servicemen and special service officers during World War II in appreciation for the organization's contributions.
The third series consists of the Wisconsin Federation of Music Clubs' folk music archives and a number of related small additions made by the State Historical Society, etc. These consist of research materials used by the organization in a folk music survey, a number of bibliographies of folk music collections, and reprints of miscellaneous articles and pamphlets concerning folk music. In addition, a few folk music transcriptions, scores and song books have been included, as well as two tape recordings of folk songs.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Mrs. D. S. MacKinnon, Milwaukee, Wis., July-Oct. 1964, April 1965; Mrs. H. L. Nunn, La Jolla, California, Oct. 1964; Mrs. W. Paul Benzinger, Oconomowoc, Wis., Nov. 1967; and Mrs. Mary Agnes Starr, Madison, Wis., May 1958-July 1968.
Processed by Carolyn J. Mattern and Eleanor Niermann, May 18, 1970.
Contents List
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Mss 94
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Series: Organizational Records
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Histories, 1964, 1966
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Unbound minutes
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Box
1
Folder
2
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1926 May - 1934 Dec.
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Box
1
Folder
3
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1935 March - 1937 May
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Box
1
Folder
4
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1937 Sept. - 1939 April
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Box
1
Folder
5
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1939 Sept. - 1940 April
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Bound minutes and correspondence
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Box
2
Volume
1
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1940 Aug. - 1941 May
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Box
2
Volume
2
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1941 Sept. - 1942 May
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Box
2
Volume
3
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1942 Oct. - 1943 May
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Box
2
Volume
4
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1943 May - 1944 May
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Box
2
Volume
5
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1944 June - 1945 April
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Box
3
Volume
1
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1945 May - 1946 Jan.
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Box
3
Volume
2
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1946 May - 1947 May
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Box
3
Volume
3
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1947 May - 1948 May
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Box
3
Volume
4
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1948 May - 1949 May
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Box
3
Volume
5
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1949 May - 1950 Feb.
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Box
4
Volume
1
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1950 May - 1951 May
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Box
4
Volume
2
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1951 June - 1952 May
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Box
4
Volume
3
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1952 May - 1953 May
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Box
4
Volume
4
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1953 May - 1954 May
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Box
5
Volume
1
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1954 May - 1955 May
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Box
5
Volume
2
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1955 May - 1956 May
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Box
5
Volume
3
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1956 July - 1957 May
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Box
5
Volume
4
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1957 Aug. - 1958 May
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Box
5
Volume
5
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1958 Aug. - 1959 May
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Box
5
Volume
6
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1959 Aug. - 1960 May
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Box
6
Volume
1
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1960 Nov. - 1961 June
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Box
6
Volume
2
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1961 Oct. - 1962 June
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Box
6
Volume
3
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1962 Aug. - 1963 May
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Box
6
Volume
4
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1963 Aug. - 1964 April
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Unbound Additions
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Box
6
Folder
1
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Manuals, 1957-1959, 1960
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Box
6
Folder
2
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Miscellany, 1946 Nov. - 1947 April; circa 1964 Sept.
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Series: Musical Equipment for Servicemen Project
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Box
7
Folder
1
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Correspondence, 1942 Feb. - 1945 Dec.; 1954 Nov., undated
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Box
7
Folder
2
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Reports, Music in Hospitals, 1952 May - 1961 April
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Box
7
Folder
3
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Citations, 1944 May - 1952 May
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Box
7
Folder
4
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Miscellany, undated
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Daily Record
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Box
7
Volume
1
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1941 Dec. - 1943 April
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Box
7
Volume
2
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1943 April - 1945 Sept.
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Box
7
Volume
3
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1945 Oct. - 1960 Jan.
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Box
7
Volume
4
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Address Book, circa 1945
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Scrapbooks
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Box
8
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circa 1941-1945
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Box
9
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circa 1945-1949
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Box
10
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circa 1945-1949, continued
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Box
11
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circa 1949-1951
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Box
12
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circa 1949-1951, continued
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Series: Folk Music Archives
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Box
13
Folder
1
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Research materials, 1945 Nov.; 1955 Nov.; circa 1957-1959; undated
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Box
13
Folder
2
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Bibliographies, undated
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Box
13
Folder
3
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Miscellaneous printed matter, circa 1946-1964
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Box
13
Folder
4
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Scores, undated
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Box
13
Volume
1
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Howe's Songs of Scotland, 1864
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Box
13
Volume
2
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H. H. Rader, 33rd Ind., Civil War Song Book, circa 1863-1865
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Box
13
Volume
3
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John Moulding, 36th Ill., Civil War Marches, circa 1861-1865
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Bertine Larson Folk Song transcriptions
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Box
13
Volume
4
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circa 1875
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Box
13
Volume
5
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circa 1881
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Box
13
Volume
6
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circa 1890
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Tape 489A
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Tape Recordings
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No.
1
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“Music Service in Hospitals,” Mrs. S. D. MacKennon, 1954
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No.
2
Side
1
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Wisconsin Folk Songs, recorded July 1961, performed by Mary Agnes Starr
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No.
2
Side
2
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Memories of the Voyageurs, recorded Oct. 1961, performed by Mary Agnes Starr
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No.
3
Side
1
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Miscellaneous Folk Songs, undated, various performers, recorded by Mary Agnes Starr at many places and on scattered dates
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No.
3
Side
2
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Miscellaneous Folk Songs, 1951, various performers, recorded by Mary Agnes Starr
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