Gladys Pitcher papers
Collection
0171-SCPA
Gladys Pitcher (1890-1996) was a music educator, pianist, and cellist. Throughout her career, she served as a public school music educator in New England, as well as an editor and arranger of choral music for multiple music publishers. The collection consists of articles, newspaper clippings and interviews with the Pitcher family, including Gladys’ parents Elbridge and Emma Pitcher, photographs, awards presented to the Pitcher family, copies of choral arrangements edited by Pitcher, musical collaborations with elementary school students as well as entries submitted to “Tuneful Tim,” a children’s series of songs and lyrics written by Pitcher and published by C.C. Birchard, and a copy of The Laurel Song Book used by Elbridge Pitcher.
The collection is open for research use. Materials from this collection must be used in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library's Irving and Margery Morgan Lowens Special Collections Room during SCPA’s operating hours. Please contact the curator for an appointment or if you have questions related to digital access of the materials.
Copyright was not transferred to the University of Maryland with the gift of any copyrighted materials. All rights remain with the creators and rights holders. The University of Maryland Libraries is granted permission for the use in scholarly research by the Libraries’ patrons under fair use in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.
To inquire about duplication of materials for research or for publication, please contact SCPA’s curator.
1.00 Linear Feet
The Gladys Pitcher papers covers the period from 1854 to 1976; the bulk of the materials date from 1959 to 1976. The collection consists of both personal and professional materials related to Gladys Pitcher’s family and career as a musical educator.
Materials include newspaper clippings collected by Elbridge Pitcher, concert posters and programs, photographs, awards presented to Gladys, Elbridge and Emma Pitcher, choral arrangements edited by Gladys Pitcher, one book with a note by Gladys Pitcher, and two collaborative musical works by Gladys Pitcher and public school children.
Gladys Pitcher (1890-1996), a pianist, cellist and music educator, was born in Belfast, Maine to music educators Elbridge and Emma Pitcher. Gladys Pitcher graduated from Belfast High School in1907 and went on to study cello and piano at the New England Conservatory of Boston, from which she graduated in 1910. In 1914 she married James T. Sleeper, the Director of the Music Department at Beloit College in Wisconsin, and replaced him temporarily as Director when he left to serve during World War I. Following the War, Pitcher settled in New England and taught music in the public school system. In 1926 she was hired by C.C. Birchard, a music publisher in Boston, where she acted as editor-in-chief until her retirement in 1957. Following her retirement, she continued to write and edit music for the Willis Music Company, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, and continued to edit after settling in Belfast, Maine in 1962. Gladys Pitcher died on March 24, 1996 at the age of 105.
This collection is organized into six series.
Gift of Rhoda Frederick, October 1996.
Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library