Frances Carter and Marjorie Moore Research Files on John Philip Sousa, 1849-2007 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Marjorie Deane Moore, born in 1922, was the first female archivist for the U.S. Marine Band in the early 1950s. A publicist by trade, she worked as a technical advisor for the 1952 film Stars and Stripes Forever. Her first brush with John Philip Sousa’s legacy was in her childhood hometown of Washington, D.C., where she grew up watching parades on Pennsylvania Ave., which would often perform Sousa’s marches. After attending Barnard College, the University of Michigan, and New York University, Marjorie traveled to California post-WWII to become a lighting manager in Hollywood, and then a publicist in her own firm. She then enlisted in the Marine Corps and found a job that reflected her background as the publicist for the U.S. Marine Band. She began work on a history of the Marine Band during John Philip Sousa’s tenure as conductor from 1880-1892, using materials in the Library of Congress archives.

Her research and expertise on Sousa, combined with her engaging personality and publicity background, led her to become the technical advisor for the film Stars and Stripes Forever, consulting on everything from wardrobe choices to the portrayal of John Philip Sousa’s personality. Around this time, she began corresponding with Sousa’s daughters, Jane Priscilla Sousa and Helen Sousa Abert. Their bond grew over the years, and the sisters encouraged Marjorie to write a biography of John Philip Sousa, to serve comprehensively alongside Sousa’s 1928 autobiography Marching Along. Marjorie passed away suddenly in 1972, leaving her research notes, manuscripts, and material on Sousa to her sister, Frances Moore Carter.

Frances Moore Carter was born in Washington, D.C. in 1925 and was the younger sister of Marjorie Moore. Frances, along with Marjorie, grew up listening to Sousa’s marches on the radio and during school events. She received her PhD. in Education in 1978 from the University of Pennsylvania, and became an adjunct professor at Villanova University and St. Joseph’s University. After retiring in 1990, Fran discovered her sister’s research on John Phillip Sousa and continued the work on the Sousa biography her sister started. Frances was able to complete several chapters of the book, but had to stop her work because of her health. Frances Moore Carter passed away on August 1st, 2022, and her children honored her wish to have the Sousa collection materials be brought to the Sousa Archives at the University of Illinois.

John Philip Sousa was born in 1854 in Washington, D.C. At the age of 13, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Band as an apprentice musician, following in the musical footsteps of his father. Sousa remained a band musician until 1875, when he was discharged. Sousa returned to the Marine Band in 1880, where he served as the band’s director until 1892. Under Sousa’s leadership, the Marine Band expanded its tour’s reach beyond the nation’s capital and became the finest military band in the world. However, Sousa decided to leave the Marine Band director position, urged by his manager, David Blakely, to form his own civilian band, the John Philip Sousa Band. The Sousa Band performed transcontinentally from 1892-1931. Due to the constant touring of the Sousa Band, John Philip Sousa was often away from home, which was a source of tension between him and his family. The personal correspondence, in the Frances Carter and Marjorie Moore Sousa Research Files collection, between Sousa and his wife and children document these family dynamics.