Elsie Shawe (1866–1962), supervisor of music in St. Paul, Minnesota, for thirty-five years, is an example of a music supervisor in the United States who was active in the formative years of the Music Supervisors National Conference (MSNC). Although she is cited only briefly in national accounts, there is a substantial amount of material on her career in local archives. In the St. Paul Public Schools, Shawe supervised classroom teachers, organized the school music curriculum, and conducted performances in the community. She served as a church organist and choir director in St. Paul and was president of the Minnesota Music Teachers Association. At the national level, Shawe was an officer of the NEA Department of Music Education and a member of the board of directors of the MSNC. Through her committee work, Shawe promoted the standardization of patriotic national songs.
May 5, 2004
November 10, 2004.
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References
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1. Edward Bailey Birge, History of Public School Music in the United States (Washington, DC: Music Educators National Conference, 1966), 241–42, 250; and Michael L. Mark and Charles L. Gary, A History of American Music Education, 2nd edition (Reston, VA: MENC: The National Association for Music Education, 1999), 209, 233.
2.
2. Biographical material is from Robert Tallant Laudon, “Elsie M. Shawe, President, MMTA 1920–1921” (unpublished paper in the Archives of Minnesota Music Teachers Association, 1991), 1–6, 9.,
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3. Letter from Sister Mary Paula McCarthy, Monastery of the Visitation, to Robert Laudon, 25 April 1991.
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4. Laudon, “Elsie M. Shawe,” 2.
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5. Laudon, “Elsie M. Shawe,” 1–2, 9; Certificate of Death, Minnesota Department of Health; and Arthur E. Washer and Thomas Clayton Ingham, Who's Who in Music and Dramatic Art in the Twin Cities Minneapolis and St. Paul (Minneapolis, MN: Associated Publicity Bureau, 1925), 185.
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6. Sources on the history of Minnesota music institutions, which are all thriving today, include: Robert T. Laudon, Minnesota Music Teachers Association: The Profession & the Community, 1901–2000 (Eden Prairie, MN: Minnesota Music Teachers Association, 2000); James Taylor Dunn, Saint Paul's Schubert Club: A Century of Music, 1882–1982 (St. Paul, MN: Schubert Club, 1983); Lois Cooper, Thursday Musical: The First Century, 1892–1992 (Minneapolis: Thursday Musical, 1992); and Minnesota Orchestra at One Hundred: A Collection of Essays and Images (Minneapolis: Minnesota Orchestral Association, 2002).
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7. Laudon, “Elsie M. Shawe,” 2–6.
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8. Linda Faye Parker, “Women in Music in St. Paul from 1898 to 1957” (Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1982), 13–20.
9.
9. Laudon, “Elsie M. Shawe,” 7, footnote 21.
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10. Linda F. Parker, “Women in Music Education in St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1898 to 1957,”The Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education8, no. 2 (July 1987): 85–86; and Parker, “Women in Music,” diss., 105–09.
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11. For more information on St. Paul today, see http://thecenter.spps.org/Arts.html, accessed December 8, 2004.
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12. Parker, “Women in Music Education,”Bulletin of Historical Research, 85–86.
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13. Parker, “Women in Music,” diss., 33; Fifty-Second Annual Report of the Board of School Inspectors of the City of St. Paul, Minn., 1910:, 103–05, hereafter cited as Annual Report, St. Paul.
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14. Sally Gibbs Nyrop, “An Analysis of the Career, Methods, and Philosophy of Thaddeus P. Giddings and His Influence on Music Education” (MM thesis, St. Cloud State University, 1995), 81–82.
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15. Forty-Fifth Annual Report, St. Paul, 1904:, 20–21, 56–57; and Forty-Seventh Annual Report, St. Paul, 1906:, 73–75.
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16. On early teacher-training programs and normal schools, see H. Warren Button and Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr., History of Education and Culture in America, 2nd edition (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989), 128–29; and John D. Pulliam and James van Patten, History of Education in America, 7th edition (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999), 136.
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17. Sondra Wieland Howe, Luther Whiting Mason: International Music Educator (Warren, MI: Harmonic Park Press, 1997), 37–38.
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18. Nyrop, “Thaddeus P. Giddings,” 72–78.
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19. Forty-Second Annual Report, St. Paul, 1900:, 50.
20.
20. Forty-Fifth Annual Report, St. Paul, 1904:, 55.
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21. “Music Course of Study,”Forty-Ninth Annual Report, St. Paul, 1908:, 196–207.
22.
22. Forty-First Annual Report, St. Paul, 1899:, 104–08; and Fifty-Second Annual Report, St. Paul, 1910:, 205–15.
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23. Parker, “Women in Music,”diss., 33, 39–42.
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24. Lawrence Arthur Cremin, American Education: The Metropolitan Experience, 1876–1980 (New York: Harper and Row, 1988), 546–55; and Pulliam and Patten, History of Education in America, 121, 126, 157–58.
25.
25. Emelie S. Courteau began her career as an elementary teacher (1900–14); held the position of assistant to the supervisor of music (1914–19), with the responsibility of working with the classroom teachers; and was promoted to assistant supervisor of music in 1919 and given more administrative duties. Parker, “Women in Music,” diss., 43–44.
26.
26. Report of a Survey of the School System of Saint Paul, Minnesota (St. Paul, MN: City Council of St. Paul, 1917), 232–50, 564–71; and Official Bulletin of the Department of Education of the City of Saint Paul 1, no. 1 (October 1917): 12, hereafter cited as Bulletin, St. Paul.
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27. Parker, “Women in Music,” diss., 41–42. On the growth of music memory and musical discrimination contests, see Mark and Gary, A History of American Music Education, 2nd ed., 274–76.
28.
28. “Course of Study Revised in St. Paul High Schools,”Northwest Musical Herald (St. Paul), November 1927, 9; and Elsie Shawe, “Music in Junior High School,”Bulletin, St. Paul9, no. 5 (January 1926): 7–8.
29.
29. “The Radio in Schools,”Bulletin, St. Paul12, no. 4 (December 1929): 1–2. For more information on Damrosch's nationwide broadcasts, see Sondra Wieland Howe, “The NBC Music Appreciation Hour: Radio Broadcasts of Walter Damrosch, 1928–1942,”Journal of Research in Music Education51, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 64–77.
30.
30. Letter from Jeanne Smith Ward to Robert T. Laudon, 2 July 1991, in Laudon, “Elsie M. Shawe,” 10.
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31. Forty-Second Annual Report, St. Paul, 1900:, 49; and Forty-third Annual Report, St. Paul, 1902:, 30–31.
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32. Forty-Ninth Annual Report, St. Paul, 1907:, 79.
33.
33. Bulletin, St. Paul 5, no. 1 (October 1921): 8–9; and Laudon, “Elsie M. Shawe,” 12–13.
34.
34. Dunn, Saint Paul's Schubert Club; and Zylpha S. Morton, “A Brief History of the Schubert Club 1882–1962” (Minnesota: n.p., 1964) in the Minnesota Historical Society.
35.
35. Florence L. C. Briggs, “Annual Report of the Students' Section of the Schubert Club for the Season 1901–1902,” 1–6; and Briggs, “Schubert Club Recording Secretary's Annual Report for the Season 1901–1902,” 3–9, Schubert Club Papers, Minnesota Historical Society.
36.
36. Laudon, “Elsie M. Shawe,” 13; and Laudon, Minnesota Music Teachers Association, 44–45.
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37. “Teachers Ask Better Musical Training,”St. Paul Pioneer Press (Tuesday, May 20, 1902), no pages listed.
38.
38. Minnesota Music4, no. 1 (January-February 1917): 8–19; and Laudon, Minnesota Music Teachers Association, 48. Minnesota Music was the official journal of the Minnesota Music Teachers Association, vols. 1–7 (1913–20).
39.
39. Bulletin, St. Paul4, no. 3 (December 1920): 5–6.
40.
40. For information on NEA, see Birge, History of Public School Music, 234–43; Mark and Gary, A History of American Music Education, 206–11; Mildred Sandison Fenner, NEA History: The National Education Association, Its Development and Program (Washington, DC: National Education Association, 1945); Edgar B. Wesley, NEA: The First Hundred Years (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1957); and Sondra Wieland Howe, “Women's Participation in the NEA Department of Music Education, 1884–1925,” Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, forthcoming. The activities of NEA are recorded in Addresses and Proceedings, National Education Association, vols. 1–110 (1858–1972), hereafter cited as NEA Proceedings.
41.
41. NEA Proceedings, 1911, pp. 790–94; and School Music12, no. 56 (September 1911): 5–9.
42.
42. NEA Proceedings, 1911, 789.
43.
43. On community singing, see Mark and Gary, A History of American Music Education, 2nd ed., 239–43.
44.
44. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Elsie M. Shawe, 26 December 1907. Elsie M. Shawe Papers, Minnesota Historical Society.
45.
45. NEA Proceedings, 1908:, 835–36.
46.
46. NEA Proceedings, 1909:, 675; and School Music11, no. 51 (September 1910): 34.
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47. NEA Proceedings, 1910:, 791–96; and NEA Proceedings, 1911:, 788.
48.
48. William B. Kinnear, “The Star Spangled Banner Melody,”School Music13, no. 58 (January 1912): 11–14.
49.
49. Ibid., 12.
50.
50. [Philip Cady Hayden], “Comments by the Editor,”School Music13, no. 58 (January 1912): 14–15.
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51. Ibid.
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52. NEA Proceedings, 1912:, 1001–02.
53.
53. For more details, see “The Star Spangled Banner,”Music Supervisors Journal5, no. 2 (November 1918): 2–4; Peter W. Dykema, “Report of Committee on the Community Songbook,”MSNC Proceedings (1919): 144–47; and “The Code for the National Anthem of the United States of America,”Music Educators Journal28, no. 6 (May-June 1942): 24.
54.
54. Birge, History of Public School Music, 278–79.
55.
55. Jere T. Humphreys and Charles P. Schmidt, “Membership of the Music Educators National Conference from 1912–1938: A Demographic and Economic Analysis,”Bulletin of the Council of Research in Music Education, no. 137 (Summer 1998): 20, 22. North Central membership was 37.4%. Women were 73% of this membership from 1912–20, 76% from 1921–29, and 68% from 1930–38.
56.
56. For information on the MSNC/MENC, see Mark and Gary, A History of American Music Education, 225–54, 289–326; Birge, History of Public School Music, 243–300; James E. Houlihan, “The Music Educators National Conference in American Education” (PhD diss., Boston University, 1961); Harry M. Kauffman, “A History of the Music Educators National Conference” (EdD diss., George Peabody College for Teachers, 1942); John W. Molnar, “The History of the Music Educators National Conference” (EdD diss., University of Cincinnati, 1948); Molnar, “The Establishment of the Music Supervisors National Conference, 1907–1910,”Journal of Research in Music Education3, no. 1 (Spring 1955): 40–50; and Sondra Wieland Howe, “Leadership in MENC: The Female Tradition,”Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, no. 141 (Summer 1999): 59–65; Chester N. Channon, “The Contributions of Philip Cady Hayden to Music Education in the United States” (EdD diss., University of Michigan, 1959), 62–107.
57.
57. Channon, “The Contributions of Philip Cady Hayden,” 156.
58.
58. Journal of Proceedings of the Music Supervisors National Conference, 1910–1940.
59.
59. Elsie M. Shawe, “Standardization of Sight Reading,”Journal of Proceedings of MSNC, 1910:, 37–52; and “Program,”Journal of Proceedings of MSNC, 1914:, 2–5; 1919, 38–39.
60.
60. Carl E. Seashore, “Demonstration of Measurements of Musical Capacity,”Journal of Proceedings of the MSNC, 1919:, 30–39.
61.
61. Elsie M. Shawe, “Voice Testing and Classification of Voices,”Music Supervisors Journal2, no. 4 (March 1916): 22, 24, 26; and “Books for the Supervisors,”Music Supervisors Journal5, no. 3 (January 1919): 14.
62.
62. Music Supervisors Journal4, no. 1 (September 1917): 10.
63.
63. “Why Go to Philadelphia?”Music Supervisors Journal6, no. 4 (March 1920): 26.
64.
64. Frances Boardman, “St. Paul's First Lady of Music,”St Paul Pioneer Press (January 7, 1963): 10, cited in Parker, “Women in Music,” diss., 42–43.
