Guide to the Clara Schumann Club Records

Descriptive Summary
Creator: Clara Schumann Club
Title: Clara Schumann Club Records
Dates: 1894-2004
Quantity: 2.5 cu. ft.
Abstract: Records of the Clara Schumann music club of Mobile, Alabama.
Accession: 95-09-293

Biographical Note
The Clara Schumann Music Club was organized in 1894 in Mobile, Alabama, by a group of educated, middle- and upper-class women who wanted to maintain a high musical standard in their own work and promote and encourage the culture of musical art in the area. In the beginning the club emphasized piano quartet work and later vocal music. The club took on such musical subjects as Scandinavian, German, Latin-American, and Jewish music as well as women composers, Shakespeare set to music, and sacred works. Membership was by audition. In 1899 the club joined the National Federation of Music Clubs. Over the years the club has sponsored and given programs for different occasions, many to benefit the Mobile Public Library. In addition to performances at its monthly business meetings, public concerts are held in January and in the spring, and the club regularly presents piano and vocal scholarships to high school students. In 1984 the organization's name was changed to the Schumann Club to reflect its decision to admit men. The organization, which celebrated its one-hundredth birthday in 1994, is considered one of the earliest music clubs in the state of Alabama.

Scope and Content:
This collection consists of scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings and memorabilia that chronicles and documents the club's history from 1894 to the present. Also included are minutes of the club's meetings for the years 1894 to 1990, as well as various issues of the Clavier, the American Music Teacher, and Piano Guild Notes. In addition, the collection contains yearbooks of the Mobile Teacher's Association and miscellaneous correspondence and financial records. There are also assorted programs and yearbooks for the years 1899 to 2004, and one music book. Materials are added to this collection periodically.

Arrangement:
Scrapbooks, minutes, and programs are arranged chronologically.

Access Restrictions:
This material is open for research.

Related Material:
Katherine Crampton Cochrane Papers, 95-09-291

Preferred Citation:
Clara Schumann Club Records, The Doy Leale MCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama

Box 1 - Scrapbooks (See also, Box 5)

1894-1989 (fragile)
1959-1974
1973-1976
1980-1982
1982-1984
1984-1988
1988-1994

Box 2 - Miscellaneous

1. Constitution and Bylaws, 1896
2. 40^th Anniversary, 1934
3. 50^th Anniversary, 1944
4. Music Camp Scholarship, 1970-1971
5. Membership Applications, n.d.
6. Membership
7-16. Correspondence, 1897-1970
17-31. Financial Records
32. Minutes (scattered dates - 1898, 1929, 1936, 1967)
33. Programs
34. Performers (Yarbrough and Cowan, duo pianists, 1964-1965)
35. Performers (Herbert Witherspoon, 1900-1901)
36-38. Scrapbook, 1939-1940
39-42. Reports
43-49. Historian's Reports, 1949-1941, 1946-1947
50. Newsletters, 1992-2002
51. Newsclippings
52-55. Mobile Music Teachers Association, Yearbooks, Membership Applications
56. Alabama Federation of Music Clubs, Newsletters
57. Miscellaneous Organizations, Brochures
58. Allied Arts Council of Mobile, Directory, 1966-1967
59. Publications (Clavier, The American Music Teacher, Piano Guild Notes)
60. Articles from Keyboard and Young Keyboard, Jr.

Box 2a

Book: Der Holzdich: Komische Oper in 1 aufzug von Friedrich Kind in Musik gesetzt von Heinrich Marschner (The Wood Thief: A Comic Opera in One Act by Friedrich Kind Put to Music by Heinrich Marschner), signed by S. Schlesinger

100^th Anniversary, 1994 (guest register boxed)
100^th Anniversary Pins (boxed)

Box 3 - Minutes (many include annual membership rolls as well as annual reports) [See also, Box 2, Folder 32]

1894-1899
1899-1906
1907-1911
1910-1912
1921-1923
1923-1925
1929-1933
1941-1946
1958-1967
1988-1990

Box 4 - Programs and Yearbooks (See also, Box 2, Folder 33)

1899-2002

Box 5 - Scrapbooks (See also Box 1)

1950s-1990s
1990s-2004

Scrapbook, 1976-1980 (oversized, not boxed)