Scope and Content Note
The Arthur P. Schmidt Company Archives is a valuable source for the study of American music during the latter part of the 19th and the first quarter of the 20th century (specifically, the years 1881 to 1909). Although the materials range in date from 1869 to 1958, most of the materials date from 1891 to 1951.
Arthur Paul Schmidt was born in Altona, Germany on 1 April 1846 and came to the United States in 1866. He worked for the G.D. Russell publishing house in Boston before opening his own retail and foreign music importing business in 1876. The A.P. Schmidt Company soon gained a reputation for publishing works of many distinguished American composers. With branches in New York from 1894 to 1937 and in Leipzig from 1889 to 1910, it would become one of the largest music publishing and importing firms in the United States. Mr. Schmidt died on 5 May 1921 but the firm continued until it was absorbed by the Summy-Birchard Company of Evanston, Illinois in 1960. The influence of the A.P. Schmidt Publishing Company on the development and dissemination of American music is immeasurable. For more information on the history of the Schmidt organization, see Wilma Reid Cipolla’s article "Arthur P. Schmidt: The Publisher and His American Composers," which is found in Vistas of American Music: Essays and Compositions in Honor of William K. Kearns, edited by Susan L. Porter and John Graziano (Warren, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 1999) (ML200.1.V57 1999 in the collections of the Music Division).
The A.P. Schmidt Company Archives contains music, correspondence, articles and essays, business and financial records, and related documents. These materials provide a detailed look at the management, daily operations, and history of the Schmidt firm.
In the Music series, which contains manuscripts and some printed music and is the largest part of the collection, there are examples of music composed by Americans at the turn of the twentieth century and selected for publication by Schmidt. The majority of the music in the collection is in autograph form; some are holographs in the hand of the composer and many are the work of Schmidt company editors and arrangers. It is from these manuscripts that the Schmidt company prepared its publications. Most of the music in the collection is for voice, chorus or piano. However, examples of large-scale orchestral music in the collection most clearly illustrate Schmidt’s commitment to publishing music by American composers at a time when other American publishers were weary of risking their capital on these works which were oftentimes perceived to have questionable merit and little income-producing potential.
After Schmidt's death in 1921 the firm turned more and more to "educational music" and these materials are also represented in the collection. It should be noted that none of the manuscripts of Edward MacDowell, one of Schmidt’s most important composers, accompanied the collection to the Library of Congress. It may be assumed that after MacDowell’s death, most of his manuscripts were returned to his widow, Marian MacDowell (see the Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection).
The Business Papers series (1876-1951) includes corporate correspondence and letterbooks, legal and financial records and files, publications records and catalogs, iconography, and various writings.
The correspondence includes letters to A. P. Schmidt and his staff from composers, foreign agents, and printers as well as copies of letters from the Schmidt organization. These deal with the various facets of the publishing business but many references are made to a variety of personal matters as well as social and contemporary events. There are letters from most of the composers whose work Schmidt published. Included also are letters (1910-1951) from many of the businesses and organizations with whom Schmidt was connected over the years. Letters from individuals and smaller organizations are filed in alphabetical order by name.
In addition, letterbooks dating from 1891 to 1934 contain copies of correspondence sent from the Schmidt organization. Many of these letterbooks are in poor condition and extreme care is urged in handling. These letterbooks are organized chronologically.
Among the legal and financial records are several boxes of materials dealing primarily with copyright matters (1894-1958). These include copyright recordation books, renewals and application records, and a number of copyright related publications. The financial records (1880-1943) include bound ledgerbooks, payment records, earnings statements, and other information for both the Boston and Leipzig operations.
The publication records include an impressive number of A.P. Schmidt and related organizations’ stock books and publication books. The music catalogs and assorted advertisements include catalogs filed in alphabetical order by subject, composer’s name, or publisher/edition.
The iconographic materials in the collection consist, for the most part, of signed photographs that once lined Mr. Schmidt’s office. The writings encompass a number of interesting literary works, both printed and in manuscript, by some Schmidt composers, including Florence Newell Barbour, Charles Dennée and others.