Tuesday Morning Musical Club Records, 1898-2024 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

The Tuesday Morning Musical Club Records are arranged into three series:

Series 1) Concert and Club Programs, includes the club's many recital programs which they began printing in 1916 as well as the club's annual program booklets. The first five program books were grouped together, and the first three were compiled by the club's historian Dorothy Miller O'Donnell in 1946. The first of these books contains club history rather than concert programs.

Series 2) Adminstrative Files,  includes secretary books of meeting minutes--many handwritten, financial records, and correspondence. The correspondence includes personal letters, thank you notes, recommendations, and resignations.

and Series 3) Membership and History includes records created by and about the members of the club. One file includes the photographs of the founding members. A few of the scrapbooks were compiled by Mrs. Edna Morey and Mrs. Michaud. The scrapbooks include photographs, newspaper clippings, concert programs, letters, cards, and telegrams. Some of the content in the history binders is photocopies of the first Program Book of Series 1. Other content includes handwritten stories and member lists.

The Tuesday Morning Musical Club (TMMC) was formed in October 1914 by five women who felt the need for association among the women musicians of Champaign and Urbana, Illinois, and these founding members (Mrs. Anne Angell Webster, Mrs. Susie Young  Fay, Mrs. Lena Marshall, Mrs. Harriet Blair Ward, and Mrs. Mary Norris Paul)  brought together twenty-six other women from the community to form this women's music organization.  The following year a formal constitution was adopted by the TMMC which stated that its purpose was "to advance the interests and promote the culture of musical arts in the community and the mutual improvement of its members.  In 1916, under the leadership of the club's president, Harriet Ward, the TMMC printed its first year book and began printing programs for its bi-montly music concerts and membership meetings.  In March 1945 the club began a series of annual gifts to the University of Illinois' Music Library to honor the five founding members of the TMMC.  These annual gifts of music books and scores were chosen by the membership at large in direct consultation with the University's  Director of the School of Music and Music Librarian.  Other activities included sponsoring guest performers, producing the annual Christmas carol program, and the staging of operas and other large scale music works within the community.  The TMMC continues to play an active role in promoting the musical performances of the Urbana-Champaign community's women musicians, and is recognized as the longest continually-operated women's music organization in Central Illinois and possibly the country.

Sources:
Margaret Khachaturian, Tuesday Morning Music Club Historian, 1987-2014.

Concerts
Faculty Wives
Music
Music & society
Music--Societies, etc. -- United States
Music - United States

Concert Programs
Meeting Minutes
Newspaper Clippings
Photographs
Scrapbooks