Smith, Carleton (d. 1984) | University of Illinois Archives

Name: Smith, Carleton (d. 1984)

Historical Note: Carleton Smith of Bement, Illinois, (d. 1984; not to be confused with Carleton Sprague Smith, music scholar) a University of Illinois alumnus, was a colorful figure who traveled extensively in Eastern Europe and elsewhere during the years immediately following the close of World War II. He founded the National Arts Foundation (of New York) in 1947 or 1948, and numbered world figures such as President Harry Truman, the composer Jean Sibelius, and pianist Ignaz Paderewski among his personal friends. After World War II he expended considerable time and energy seeking lost manuscripts of Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, and other major composers, all of which had disappeared from German libraries during the war years.

Sources: N. Lewis, Paperchase , 1981 (780.94 L587P)

Note Author: Noah Lenstra