Finding aid for the Lecture Recital Club Records

History of the Lecture Recital Club

The Lecture Recital Club was a Cleveland, Ohio, social and cultural organization founded in 1908 by Janet Talcott for the purpose of presenting music and literature in lecture-recital. The club was an early member of the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs.

The club's membership was divided into two parts. Active members, originally limited to twenty, and later expanded to forty, were amateur and professional artists who were expected to perform in recitals at the request of the program chairman. An equal number of associate members were expected to provide refreshments and host a meeting once every three years. Membership was by invitation only. Although membership was never formally restricted to women, the membership was exclusively female over the years.

Lecture-recitals were presented at the afternoon meetings on the second Tuesday of each month from October through May. The first program was presented October 23, 1908, by Elmyra L. Ewing at the home of Bess Hidy. One of the club's early successes was the 1911 mono-dramatic reading of Maurice Maeterlinck's Mary Magdalene, given by Blanche E. Norvell, to which over 800 invitations were issued. Mrs. Norvell was a professional dramatic reader of national reputation. Another early member who maintained a lifelong association with the club was Lila Robeson, a contralto with the Metropolitan Opera Company.

The Lecture Recital Club celebrated its silver anniversary in 1928, and its golden anniversary in 1958. The discrepancy is obvious. There is no evidence, however, that the club existed before 1908, and no explanation can be made for the premature twenty-fifth anniversary celebration.

As the club's membership and resources grew, its activities expanded beyond the monthly programs. Scholarship grants and student loans became a major club function. The Donna Goodbread Scholarship Fund, named in honor of Mrs. Harry Goodbread, was established in 1936. It was supplemented by the Kulas Endowment Fund, from the estate of Fynette H. Kulas, in 1958. The club made grants from these funds to gifted students at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Cleveland Music School Settlement, Hiram College, and Case Western Reserve University.

Scope and Content

The Lecture Recital Club Records, 1908-1974 and undated, consist of minutes, financial records, reports, correspondence, programs, newsletters, clippings, scrapbooks, club histories, and publicity clippings and souvenirs of prominent club members.

This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of women and culture in Cleveland, Ohio, in the twentieth century. The roles and attitudes of upper-middle to upper class women, particularly with regard to their relationship to the fine arts, are reflected in these records. The activities and careers of several professional and semi-professional singers, musicians, and dramatic readers in the Cleveland area are also documented here. Among the members represented in the collection are Janet Talcott, Elmyra L. Ewing, Lila Robeson, Blanche E. Norvell, Fynette H. Kulas, Donna Goodbread, Mary Leven, and Allette Wennerstrom.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Access

None.

The researcher should also consult MS 4487 Lecture Recital Club Records, Series II.

All photographs have been removed to the WRHS photograph and print collection.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 3887 Lecture Recital Club Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Gift of the Lecture Recital club in 1974.

Processing Information

Processed by Emily Epstein in 1981.

Other Finding Aid

A list of prominent members of the club, including their maiden and married names, is available at the Reference Desk of the WRHS Research Library.

Detailed Description of The Collection