Collection Highlight: Records of the Community Music Center of Boston

An unidentified student practices
her cello at the South End
Music Center. Photo undated.

In today's blog post, we’re featuring one of the State Library’s most melodious collections, the Records of the Community Music Center of Boston. This collection provides valuable insight into the evolution of the Community Music Center of Boston (CMCB), its educational programs, community engagement efforts, and overall significance within the cultural landscape of Boston. The Records of the Community Music Center of Boston include founding documents, program brochures, annual reports, newsletters, administrative records, scrapbooks, sheet music, film, and a wealth of photographs which capture student performances, classes, and community events. These visual records offer a glimpse into the center and its role in fostering a love for music within the Boston community.

Boston Music School 

The CMCB began as the Boston Music School Settlement, organized by Daniel Bloomfield in November 1910. Its aims were to cultivate musical appreciation, give children of limited means the opportunity to obtain a quality musical education, develop the musical resources of the neighborhood, and foster healthy recreation through music. The school opened with 111 children, 23 teachers, and 7 assistants, and teachers and assistants volunteered their services. The School was formally incorporated on January 16, 1912. Within two years of establishing the School, Bloomfield organized the People’s Orchestra and arranged a series of “Concerts for the People.” In 1920, the settlement purchased a twelve-room house at 41 Allen Street in Boston’s West End. In 1936, a branch school was set up in Mattapan, where pupils too young to travel alone to Boston were taught by members of the faculty. In 1940, the word “Settlement” was dropped from the name, and the charter’s wording was changed to include adults.

Above left: Jan Kabialka, age 7, and Deborah Posen, age 6.
Photo dated September 28, 1955. Above right: Rubin Yuan,
Frances Barnette, Lorraine Mindis, and Mary Barnette. Photo dated 1960.

In 1962, Boston Music School changed its name to Boston Community Music Center, and in 1967, plans were made to merge with the South End Music Centre. In 1968, the Boards of Directors of both schools voted individually to merge and to change the name of the institution to the Community Music Center of Boston.

South End Music School  

Above left: Unidentified music students instructed by a suspiciously young conductor.
Photo dated August 10, 1936. Above right: David Towner of Roxbury, Susan Soong of the
South End, and Nicholas Haddad of the South End, hard at work in a solfege class. Photo undated.

The South End Music School began as a minor activity of South End House, a settlement house. The House had been experimenting with providing musical instruction at a moderate price primarily to residents of Boston’s South End. Due to an increasing demand for lessons, the South End Music School was established as a separate entity in 1912 with the stated purpose of “providing musical instruction at cost or less for children and others of limited means in Boston and its vicinity, and to assist in the musical education of the public by means of concerts, lectures, and public gatherings.” The School gave lessons in singing, piano, violin, and other instruments to pupils ranging in age from four years to adulthood. A junior orchestra, trios, quartets, and a chorus provided a variety of musical experiences for the students. The School’s activities included a senior orchestra and a parents’ association.

Above left: George Foote, left, instructs a group of unidentified student musicians.
Photo undated. Above right: Executive Secretary Flora Gay meets children
outside the South End Music Centre. Photo dated July 30, 1964.

In 1950, it changed its name to the South End Music Centre. Finally, as previously stated, it was decided to consolidate the activities of the South End Music Centre and the Boston Community Music Center in 1968.

Community Music Center of Boston  

Above left: Rhythm demonstration led by Mrs. Erna Fisher. Photo undated. Above right: Christine
Rua leads a recorder group at the Milmore School as part of a CMCB program. Photo undated.

From the CMCB’s website today:

"The CMCB was established in 1910 in the settlement house tradition, founded to promote unity and equity in access to music education across greater Boston. Today, more than a century later, that original mission continues to flourish through the availability of music learning and enrichment to all citizens of greater Boston... CMCB welcomes, includes, and values all voices. These voices will continue to include those from different races, ethnicities, sexual orientation, gender, abilities, faiths, nationality, age, and socioeconomic status."

Pictured above right is Leo Levy, age 4 ½, "the youngest pupil in school," photo dated May 1919. You can access the finding aid for the CMCB collection in the State Library’s digital repository, linked here. This collection is open to researchers who want to learn more about this celebrated musical hub for the Greater Boston community.

Alyssa Persson
Special Collections Processing Librarian