Ernest Williams Collection

Individual Collection name: Ernest Williams Collection

Repository name: Special Collections in Performing Arts,
Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, University of Maryland

Type: Papers, photographs, and memorabilia

Extent: 9 linear feet

Description: The Ernest Williams collection contains correspondence, administrative papers, programs, newspapers, publications, biographical materials, newspaper clippings, photographs of students and faculty, memorabilia, sound recordings and the papers of the Ernest Williams Alumni Association. It contains arrangements of some of Williams's works by Ray Huston and Eric Leidzen in manuscript; a manuscript version of "Just for Fun" by Victor Herbert. Photograph subjects include Frank Elsass, Ned Mahoney, Leonard Smith, Katherine Williams and many others.

Statement of provenance: Gift of John E. "Ned" Mahoney, Ernest Williams Alumni Association, 1995. The collection comprises donations from members of the Ernest Williams Alumni Association.

Governing documents: Deed of Gift, 28 July 1995, signed by Dr. H. Joanne Harrer and members of the Ernest Williams Alumni Association.

Finding Aid: An unpublished finding aid is available in the repository [View Online].

SCPA shelf location: SCPA Collections Room, Aisle D

Access: Materials from this collection must be used in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library's Irving and Margery Morgan Lowens Room for Special Collections, 10 to 5, Monday through Friday. Please make an appointment with the curator.

Biography: (taken from "A Tribute to Ernest Williams, program held at The University of Maryland, 29 July 1995).

Cornetist and educator, Ernest S. Williams (1881-1947) was born in New Richmond, Indiana. He began playing the cornet at a very early age under the tutelage of his father. With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Williams joined the 158th Indiana Volunteer Regiment Band and became its conductor. After several succeeding appointments, Williams left the military in 1899 to pursue a performance career.

In 1901 John Phillip Sousa selected Williams to tour with the Sousa Band on its European tour. That same year, Williams became soloist and first cornetist with the 13th Regiment Band at Ontario Beach. Moving to Boston in 1903, Williams performed during the summer with the Mace Gay Band at Nantasket Beach and during the winter with the Boston Cadet Band, for which group he was soloist and bandmaster. In 1904, Williams founded his own publishing business. The catalog of works that he published included E. E. Bagley's National Emblem March as well as many other important works for band.

In 1911, Williams married Katherine Rankin, one of his students, and together they moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado where William had a summer engagement with the Herman Bellstedt Band. In 1913, Ernest and Katherine Williams embarked on their joint performing career with a year-long tour of Australia followed in 1914 with a world tour.

Williams continued his successful performing career in 1917 as soloist with the Patrick Conway Band, first trumpet in Victor Herbert's Orchestra, and first trumpet with the Philadelphia Orchestra. From 1918 to 1922, Williams was also a soloist with the Goldman Band during its summer series at Columbia University. In 1920, he was appointed bandmaster of the Kismet Temple Shrine Band in Brooklyn.

Plans for the Ernest Williams School of Music began in 1923 after Williams's departure from the Philadelphia Orchestra. Williams had taken in private students since 1922. In June 1929, following the death of Patrick Conway, Williams was appointed Dean of the Conway Military Band School, affiliated with the Ithaca Conservatory of Music. But in 1931, he left that post to found the Ernest Williams School of Music at his home in Brooklyn. Modeled after Kneller Hall in England, Williams formally instituted a curriculum and engaged faculty members in 1931.

Headquartered in Brooklyn, the school flourished. The main building of the school housed students and was the site for rehearsals, meals and classes. Three other buildings provided additional dormitories, practice rooms, dining halls, and recreational facilities for students, including the Bedford YMCA. The YMCA was also the site for many concerts.

With his appointment in 1936 to the faculty of New York University as director of the Concert Band, Williams arranged for his students at the Williams School of Music to transfer credit to New York University. These credits could then be applied to the baccalaureate degree.

The curriculum at the Williams School emphasized artistry and technique in band, orchestra, and choral performance. Solo playing experience was stressed, and several private lessons per week was not unusual. The faculty sought to prepare students for the harsh conditions and demanding personalities of the music profession. Often, Williams would surprise a student by requesting a solo performance during rehearsal, even if the material had been assigned in a private lesson just the day before.

In addition to performing New York premieres of such works as Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posey and Eric Leidzen's Storm King, Williams School students gained experience through their own composing. Each student was required to submit an entry in an annual composition contest, which awarded the winner an opportunity to conduct the Goldman Band in a performance of the prize work.

Williams founded the Ernest Williams Music Camp in 1930 on property he owned in Saugerties, New York, at first as a companion to the Band School at Ithaca. In 1932 the camp became an extension of the Williams School in Brooklyn, emphasizing the same concepts. The aim of the camp was to provide high level instruction for its students from all over the United States, and to give them the opportunity to study with prominent performers and educators, while still enjoying recreational activities. The Williams School in Brooklyn closed in 1943 when World War II took away so much of its student body. The camp operated by Williams' second wife, Gladys, until Williams' death in 1947. In 1948, a fire struck the camp's main building, destroying many of the school files and records and some of the library.

The Ernest Williams School of Music and the Ernest Williams Music Camp were designed to work together to provide a high quality of practical education for musicians who thrived on the opportunity to associate with and learn from the most renowned performers and musicians of the time. Although the training was rigorous, the school motto was, "To be Williams-trained is to be successful." Many alumni, such as Frank Elsass, Raymond Crisara, Robert Hoffman, Joseph Losh, Gilbert Mitchell, George S. Howard, Ned Mahoney and Leonard B. Smith, went on to prominent careers as performers.

Series Arrangement:
Series I: Correspondence
Series II: The Music Schools and Summer Music Camp
Series III: Programs
Series IV: Newspapers
Series V: Publications by or related to Ernest Williams
Series VI: Biographical materials
Series VII: Newsclippings
Series VIII: Photographs
Series IX: Memorabilia
Series X: Ernest Williams Alumni Association
Series XI: Sound Recordings
Series XII: Oral History

Collection Highlights
View selected items from the collection

Series Description:
Series I, Correspondence is organized by author. There are letters by Ernest Williams, Lillian Brewster, the Registrar of the Williams schools; Robert McCutchen, chair of the Scholarship Committee for the Ernest Williams Band and Orchestra Camp; Mayhew "Mike" Lake, instructor at Ernest Williams School of Music and Ernest Williams Band and Orchestra Camp; Gladys Williams, second wife and sister-in-law of Ernest Williams (after his death, she married Ernest's brother, Jan) and Director of the Ernest Williams Band and Orchestra Camp during the 1940s; and Katherine Williams-Manley, former wife of Williams.

Series II, The Music Schools and Summer Music Camp comprises materials from the institutions with which Williams was affiliated. Items include advertisements, brochures, school documents, and commencement programs from the Ithaca Military Band School and Ithaca Conservatory, the Ernest Williams Band and Orchestra Camp and the Ernest Williams School of Music.

Series III, Programs is organized by name of the ensembles Williams conducted, programs of his former students as conductors, and programs in honor of Williams. This series contains programs from the New York Military Band (Edwin Franko Goldman, conductor); the Ithaca Military Band School Band; ensemble concerts and student recitals from the Ernest Williams Band and Orchestra Camp and the Ernest Williams School of Music; the Kismet Temple Band of Brooklyn, New York; programs from New York University; programs with Williams as a guest conductor, and a program in honor of the 100th anniversary of Williams's birthday given by the U. S. Army Concert Band "Pershing's Own."

Series IV, Newspapers contains materials from the Williams Band and Orchestra Camp organized by title: Williams Band and Orchestra Camp News, The Camp Musician, Overtones, and News and Notes for Music Folks.

Series V, Publications by or related to Ernest Williams is organized by type: Music Scores, Catalogs, and Books. While the majority of the works are by Williams, there are works by former students of Williams and other composers, including an original manuscript by Victor Herbert. Most of the titles were published by Williams.

Series VI, Biographical materials is organized by type: biographical articles and related materials on Ernest S. Williams, and advertisements of endorsements by Williams. There are personnel lists for the Philadelphia Orchestra, excerpts from the New York University Faculty Directory, excerpts from the Julliard School of Music Faculty Directory, and several articles from journals, newspapers, and magazines. There is also a bound copy of letters nominating Williams into the National Band Association Hall of Fame. The endorsements by Williams are for cornets and trumpets. [For further biographical information on Williams, a copy of Dr. Keith Winking's doctoral dissertation, "Ernest Williams, Virtuoso and Educator: A Biographical Survey of his Philosophies and Techniques," is held in the Special Collections in Music Research Paper Collection (entry # RP 1645)]

Series VII, Newsclippings, has clippings about Ernest S. Williams, Katherine Williams-Manley, the Williams Schools, and Williams's students, arranged chronologically. The clippings contain information on performances, careers of former students of Williams, and obituaries.

Series VIII, Photographs, is separated into two photo-albums and one folder of oversize and loose photographs. Most pictures are from the Ernest Williams Band and Orchestra Camp, ranging from the 1930s to the mid-1940s. There are photographs of Williams, his students, his family and friends, the schools and the faculty, and the ensembles he directed. Furthermore, there are photographs that have been signed by Percy Grainger, Georges Barrère, Frank Elsass, Mayhew "Mike" Lake, and Frank Fisher.

Series IX, Memorabilia comprises various materials related to Williams, the Williams Schools, and his students. Items of interest include a damaged piece of sheet music that survived the fire at the Ernest Williams Band and Orchestra Camp in 1947, a T-shirt from the Camp, a medal won by Lena Hartzel in 1942, and a sheet of signatures of staff, faculty, and guest conductors. This series also contains a Conn trumpet that belonged to Williams and was given to his student Doris Stark De Quinze.

Series X, Ernest Williams Alumni Association comprises materials relating to the activities of the alumni of the Ernest Williams School of Music and the Ernest Williams Band and Orchestra Camp. Items include a newsletter from the alumni association ("The Chief"), notes and photographs from annual reunions, and music, correspondence, and programs of a former Williams student and faculty member, Robert Hoffman.

Series XI, Sound Recordings, contains audio and video cassettes, Included in this series is a recording of the U. S. Army Band, "Pershing's Own," at the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Williams's birthday.

Series XII, Oral History, contains audio cassette recordings of interviews of Williams Alumni pertaining to their memories of Williams and the history of the Williams schools.

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