A Century of Women's Bands in America

"Participation of 10th and 12th Graders in Extracurricular Activities, by Selected Student Characteristics: 1990 and 1992," National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, First and Second Follow-up Surveys. (Washington DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics), Table 141; and "Percentage of High School Sophomores Who Participate in Various School-Sponsored Extracurricular Activities, by Selected Student Characteristics: 1990 and 2002," A Profile of the American High School Sophomore in 2002, Base Year of the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002. (Washington DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics), Table 138.

Raoul Camus , "The Brass Band in the Nineteenth Century," in On Bunker's Hill: Essays in Honor of J. Bunker Clark, ed. W. A. Everett and P. R. Laird ( Sterling Heights, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 2007), 42.

Raoul Camus , "Band: American Wind Band," New Grove Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians , 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 635.

State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City, Frederick Crane Collection. This photograph is poor in quality and not suitable for manuscript duplication.

To see a photograph, visit http://www.public.asu.edu/~jmsulli/Webpages/townbands.htm. For more information on the Grand Army of the Republic, visit http://garmuslib.org/.

The Smithsonian Institution possesses the Helen May Butler Collection. This quote is taken from artifacts posted on its Web site: http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d5261.htm.

Billboard article from the Smithsonian Web site on Helen May Butler, unknown date. Accessed from http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d5261b.htm .

"Maryville, Mo., Women's Band to Lead Pageant: Suffragists Are Ready for To-Day's Big Parade." St. Louis Globe Democrat , March 3, 1913, 1. In 1920, the nineteenth amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, allowing American women to vote in national elections. To see a photograph of this band, visit http://www.public.asu.edu/~jmsulli/Webpages/townbands.htm.

In fall 2006, letters were sent to 189 archivists at former public normal schools inquiring about instrumental music during the normal years. In addition, all state historical societies were contacted in fall 2006 in a search for photographs of women's bands. This research made the statements in this article possible. I now possess more than a hundred photographs from this century of women's bands. To see more visit: http://www.public.asu.edu/~jmsulli/Webpages/schoolbands.htm.

Mabel Bourquin , "The Fostoria High School Band: Results Obtained by Perseverance and Determination Can Be Duplicated in Other Communities," The Musician, April 1922, 3.

Franklyn Wiltse , "Girls!" The School Musician , April 1933, 41.

Kenneth S. Clark , Music in Industry (New York : National Bureau for the Advancement of Music, 1929), 228.

Steve Vickers , ed., A History of Drum & Bugle Corps (Madison, WI: Sights and Sounds, 2002).

To see photographs and listen to recordings of the women's WW II military bands, visit http://www.public.asu.edu/~jmsulli/Webpages/military.html. Seventy-nine WW II women band members were interviewed by the author of this article.

To see pictures and read more about this band, visit www.public.asu.edu/%7Etmontgom.

For more information on this band, visit www.wafband.org .

Sherrie Tucker , Swing Shift: "All-Girl" Bands of the 1940s (Durham, NC: Duke University Press , 2000).

Ibid., 49.