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
18th 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
