Library of Congress- Music Reading Room - Gloves

 

Walking into the Library of Congress Music Reading Room on Monday, August 4th, this was the scene at the request counter.....research gloves hung out to dry.

Brittle, old and deteriorating paper manuscripts, scores, pictures and articles often must be preserved and protected by wearing white gloves.  Human hands with their natural oils and hand cream could make these treasured items weaken or fall apart, thus the gloves.

Over the weekend, these gloves had been washed and were now drying on the counter top.  Visiting researchers would be wearing the gloves in the next few hours.

Ah, the life of a researcher!

#BringingBackBranscombe

Library of Congress - August 2025

 Gather four people together; discuss dates for travel to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC - August 4, 5 and 6; plan for our individual research projects with our collective interest in the archives of publisher Arthur P. Schmidt of Boston; alert the Library of Congress we will be there on said dates – all this planning created a memorable three days in our nation’s library.

(John Adams Building - Library of Congress)

 Who were these four people?  Dr. Derek Strykowski who is authoring a book about Arthur P. Schmidt, his life and his impact on music publishing in America; Linda Johnson, great granddaughter of Arthur P. Schmidt with her interest in reviewing all the business records and letters from which she would learn more about her great grandfather; Dr. Regan Russell who wrote her dissertation on Gena Branscombe’s 150 art songs was reading women composers' letters written to Schmidt and then, well, me who you know has an interest in Gena Branscombe and whose publisher was Mr. Schmidt! 

 

Paul Sommerfeld, Senior Music Reference Specialist, knowing we were descending upon the Music Reading room assembled a display of items from the Arthur P. Schmidt Publishing Company archives.  Business ledger books, a photo of Schmidt’s home in Boston, an Amy Beach manuscript score and much more.  Joining us that first day was Robin Rausch, former Head of Reader Services, Music Division who is now retired.  Robin and I have known one another for nearly 17 years.  

 

Now it was on to our research.  We filled out our request slips for various items from the Schmidt archives, once the boxes arrived we settled into our individual research.  Stopping for lunch we were joined by Melissa Wertheimer, former Music Reference Specialist and now Senior Digital Collections Specialist for Web Archiving. 

 A few years ago Melissa presented a lecture on the first women composers who joined the National League of American Pen Women in 1924.  There we were over lunch -  Paul, Robin, Melissa, Regan, Derek, Linda and myself sharing our lives and music interests. 

(from left to right - Linda Johnson, Kathleen, Melissa Wertheimer, Regan Russell, Robin Rausch, Derek Strykowski)

Back to researching, then, dinner where once again lively conversation abounded despite our exhaustion from all we had read and photographed.  Sleep was, oh so, welcome that evening.

More of the same research on Tuesday and Wednesday - Schmidt boxes being called to our reading tables, sharing those boxes with one another, sharing our special finds.

(left to right - Kathleen, Paul Sommerfeld, Linda Johnson, Derek Strykowski)

From those three days spent at the Library of Congress we came away having made new friends with like-minded interests.  We are thankful for the experienced, helpful and kind group of Music Specialists at the Library. Their knowledge of the collections in the Library is unbeatable.   They have the ability to move from reading table to reading table offering advice to one person working on an 18^th century subject or another person researching a music theater collection and there we were working on Arthur P. Schmidt. I use this word honestly, these Music Specialists are amazing. 

(Note the picture behind Mr. Schmidt, top row, second from the left - Gena Branscombe - the very picture that was in her file in the Schmidt archive - see below)
 

Frequently I will say that using the internet for research is great, yet, when you befriend a librarian, their knowledge of your subject matter opens up a wide super highway of research materials which they happily share with you. Human contact….never forget the importance of human contact in our technology driven society.

#BringingBackBranscombe

Library of Congress Interview

In late April, Wendi Maloney of the Library of Congress e-mailed to ask if I would be willing to be interviewed about my work on the music and life of Gena Branscombe.  Most important, was the work on reviving Miss Branscombe's dramatic oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny.  Below is the hyperlink to the interview.

https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2019/07/inquiring-minds-rediscovering-one-of-americas-leading-songwriters/

Over the past 20 years, it has been my honor to work on Gena's music and life.  There is more to come in the future - stay tuned!

#BringingBackBranscombe

Declassified - Women Composers Hiding in Plain Sight

 “Declassified: Women Composers Hiding in Plain Sight”.  What an interesting title for a blog written by Melissa Wertheimer, Music Reference Specialist, at the Library of Congress.  Click on the link below and read about Melissa’s first days working for the Library of Congress, finding a picture of five women composers with no identification.  Her search through the Library’s various collections to solve the mystery of the five women in the photo is intriguing.

https://blogs.loc.gov/music/2018/05/women-composers-hidden-in-plain-sight/

The five women are (left to right):  Phyllis Fergus, Ethel Glenn Hier, Amy Beach, Harriet Ware and Gena Branscombe.  They were in Washington, DC having been invited to join the League of American Pen Women.  These five were the elite women composers of their day. 

This past November, Melissa presented her research in a lecture also entitled, “Declassified: Women Composers Hiding in Plain Sight”.   When the Library of Congress announced the lecture, Dan and I decided to take a long weekend trip to Washington to attend the lecture.  Also included in that long weekend was two mornings of research for me at the Library of Congress and tourist time. 

Entering the Music Division of the Library of Congress on Thursday, November 16^th, my mission was to complete photographing Gena Branscombe’s letters to her publisher Arthur P. Schmidt.  I had begun the process of photographing her letters a year earlier but ran out of time to complete the project. 

At the help desk, I called up the second box of her letters which included 18 folders of her correspondence organized by year.  When the box arrived, I decided to re-read the 1923 and 1924 letters in the first two folders.  I wanted to remind myself what was transpiring in her life and musical career.  A letter dated February 18, 1924 held quite a surprise.

Written on two 4x6 cards, front and back, it is sides 3 and 4 of the letter that are most important.  As a P.S., she mentions,

“I forgot to say – I just had an interesting letter from Mrs. Dorothy DeWitt Watson – asking me join the League of American Pen Women – (all sorts of interesting people belong) – to come along to Washington in April – and have my things performed – (with Mrs. Beach, Harriet Ware and Fay Foster) at the convention.  Tea at the White House – a luncheon with President Coolidge presiding.”

“Won’t it be fun.  I’m as thrilled as a child at Christmas!   GBT”

(Gena Branscombe Tenney)

There in my hand was additional proof of why the women in the photograph were together and why there were concerts of their music.  I asked Melissa Wertheimer to join me at my research desk and then showed her the letter.  We stood in silent surprise.  Here was another display item to support declassifying women composers in plain sight. 

Two days later, Melissa presented her lecture with written historical commentary by men about women composers, the composers’ sheet music, pictures and Gena’s letter.  Congratulations, Melissa.  Job well done!  As with any research, it is an open ended project and I know Melissa will continue to dig deeper for facts about these five wonderful composers!

By the way, during our government’s shutdown, the Library of Congress is open for business.  Go search through the astonishing collections our nation’s library holds. 

Photograph credit:  All photos in this blog entry are in the Library of Congress, Music Division.

Pilgrims of Destiny - Performance at Clark University

In May 2015, I wrote a blog entry about Gena Branscombe’s dramatic oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny.  There was a detailed description of what was happening in Miss Branscombe’s and her family’s life at the time.  Also, I had found an original 1929 piano/vocal score online and purchased it.  Please go back and read the posting.

This blog is about Pilgrims of Destiny and wonderful news to share with you. 

Pilgrims of Destiny will be performed Saturday, April 27, 2019 at Clark University in Worcester, MA.  Dan Ryan, Director of Choral Activities at Clark University, will conduct this work which has not been performed since 1940.  

When I began work on my Gena Branscombe Project, it was always my dream to see that Pilgrims of Destiny be performed once again.

Last year I received an e-mail from conductor Dan Ryan telling me had found the score and was interested in performing the work.  Several weeks later we spoke by phone.  He was quite excited by the historical story of the Mayflower's arrival in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  In addition, he loved the music.  He wanted to know about Gena Branscombe, her life, music and much more.

In August 2017, along with my friend, Heather Seaton, the two of us spent two and a half days at the Library of Congress taking photos of the original orchestral score and parts.  That is the only complete conductor's score there is.....preserved in that wonderful library.

Over the past year, Dan Ryan and I e-mailed back and forth about Pilgrims.  He is an energetic, positive energy and determined musician.  Approaching the powers that be at Clark University, he proposed the school perform Pilgrims of Destiny.  They agreed!  We were off and running to see that a performance would happen. 

Over the past two days, Dan and I began creating a new score in the music program Finale.  Tedious, note-for-note entry with the end product being a complete conductor's score and a piano/vocal score.  We spent time at the Lincoln Center New York Public Library for the Performing Arts looking through Gena's collection held in the Special Collections department. 

In particular, we studied Gena's own pencil written conductor's score, the one she then handed off to a professional copyist to create the score that is in the Library of Congress.  To see her markings, where she placed a voice part due to a lack of space on the staff paper, how she changed from Clarinets in A to Clarinets in B flat and more was a delight.

Dan asked questions about Gena, we discussed details of the concert, a possible display of Gena items I have in my collection and much more.  Dan and I became Gena buddies!

To say the least, Gena's family is thrilled and will be in attendance.  The Library of Congress and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts are happy that this work long held in their collections will be performed.

Within the next week or so, Pilgrims of Destiny will have its own blog.  Dan and I will make entries explaining our work.  A beautiful and historic piece of music finds its way from its premiere in 1929 to a performance in 2019.  A woman composer of renown in her day, to near obscurity and now her Pilgrims of Destiny will return to the concert hall.

By the way, if you hear loud screams and expletives, it is me entering the voice parts into Finale.  I am learning and I am slow and I will conquer this computer program.....somehow.

  

To Dan Ryan, thank you for your passion and understanding of Gena's music.  You were chosen!

#BringingBackBranscombe

The Elusive Mr. Schmidt





The Elusive Arthur P. Schmidt

Gena Branscombe's music publishers were numerous and among them was Arthur P. Schmidt of Boston, Massachusetts.   In  my January 2011 blog entry, I wrote the following paragraphs about him.....

"German born Arthur Schmidt (1846-1921) was a trailblazer for American composers and in particular American women composers.  In my mind and opinion he broke down barriers, sought out potential that could be developed into the brightest and best.  He proved that the word composer had no gender bias to it….a composer is a composer whether man or woman! 

What I have found most interesting about Mr. Schmidt is the personal interest he took in his composers.  At the Library of Congress in Washington, DC is the entirety of his business records.  There are ledger books for sales of each composer’s works, royalties paid, copyright filings, renewals and expirations, inventory listings, files with each individual’s contracts, business documents, pictures of composers, their children, families and concerts where they performed, correspondence from each composer immaculately filed by year, and original scores with the copies of each piece of music the company published.  This collection is the history of one of our country’s leading music publishers.

All totaled, Arthur P. Schmidt Music Publisher printed and sold 76 different compositions of Gena Branscombe’s."

After reading the above, one could easily question "elusive"?  Arthur Schmidt, elusive?  Not really, yet amidst all of his business papers, there was not one photograph of Mr. Schmidt.  An online search brought forth no photos of this important business man from the world of music publishing.

 Enter into my life, Linda Johnson from the state of Washington.  She found my website and blog where I had written about Mr. Schmidt, her great grandfather.  Linda wrote me an e-mail and offered to send me a photo of an elusive music publisher from the early 20th century!  Now, the much wanted image of Mr. Schmidt makes him no longer elusive!   Thank you Linda and we will have great discussions in the near future.