Susannah Armstrong Coleman Collection
Catalog Record: http://lccn.loc.gov/2006577448
General International Standard for Archival Description
Music Division Library of Congress Washington, D.C.
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Music Division, 2009
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Susannah Armstrong Coleman Collection 1912-1953 (bulk 1930-1949)
Coleman, Susannah Armstrong
Biographical History for: Susannah Armstrong Coleman Collection 1912-1953 (bulk 1930-1949)
Biographical Note Susannah Armstrong Coleman (1897-1985) was an American pianist, composer, and teacher. Born in Chicago, Coleman began her musical studies locally with Hilda Brown before earning a bachelor's degree at the Northwestern University School of Music in 1919. There she studied piano with Victor Garwood, Josef Lhevinne, and Arne Oldberg, the latter with whom she also studied composition. She continued her piano studies abroad with Artur Schnabel from 1924-1925. Between 1930 and 1946, Coleman composed extensively while in summer residence on fellowship at the MacDowell Colony in Peterboro, New Hampshire. She moved to New York in 1934 and married former Colony member Laurence Vail Coleman four years later. The couple spent the remainder of their lives in the Washington, D.C. and Charlottesville, Virginia, areas while also travelling extensively throughout Europe and the Carribean. Over the course of her lifetime, Susannah Coleman won prizes for numerous compositions, including awards from Mu Phi Epsilon for her Blue Symphony and Mother Goose Suite. Date Event 1897 March 11 Born Susannah Winifred Armstrong, Chicago, Illinois 1919 Earns Bachelor of Music, Northwestern University School of Music 1930 Awarded fellowship to study composition at the MacDowell Colony, Peterboro, New Hampshire 1939 Feb. 9 Marries Laurence Vail Coleman 1985 July Dies in Arlington, Virginia
Scope and Content Note The Susannah Armstrong Coleman Collection spans the period 1912-1953; the bulk of the materials date from 1930-1949. The collection includes music manuscripts, organizational publications, correspondence, programs, photographs, biographical notes, clippings, and miscellaneous items. Correspondence principally consists of greeting cards from Mrs. Coleman's friends and acquaintances. The clippings focus on collegiate programs and the activities of her instructors at the Northwestern University School of Music. Pamphlets and publications of Mu Phi Epsilon and Pi Kappa Lambda portray Coleman as an invested member who actively contributed to organizational events.
series
Music
file
The bagpipe man
Barter
Blue symphony
Chimes (variations)
Debate : for piano
Debate : for two pianos
Dusk
Four compositions: Slumber song ; Hunting song ; Bells ; Chinese dance
Introit and differencia
The King of China's daughter
Men and wheat
Missal theme
Mother Goose suite
The noise of waters
Oh, where have you been Billy Boy?
The oxen
Pastoral suite
Prelude, G sharp minor
Promenade
Pyrenees legend
Rock-a-bye baby
Quietly gone
Sea shell
Seven suite for piano
Trio-andante con moto
When that I was and a little tiny boy
Publications
Mu Phi Epsilon, June 23-26, 1948
Pi Kappa Lambda, 1918-1937
The Triangle, 1947-1950
The Washington Season, Winter 1948-1949
YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association), 1942-1943
Correspondence
Brown, Ray B.
Clutcher, Ruth Row
Garwood, Victor
King, Bertha
Klein, Dr. Charlotte
Lutkin Quintette
Lutkin, Lelah and Peter
Oldberg, Arne
Programs
Programs, 1912-1926
Recital by pupils of Miss Hilda B. Brown, The Woman's Library Club, Glencoe, Illinois, June 15, 1912
Northwestern University School of Music, Evanston, Illinois, Thirty-ninth students' recital, Music Hall, Orrington Avenue and University Place, May 17, 1917
Northwestern University School of Music, Evanston, Illinois, Forty-fourth students recital, Music Hall, Orrington Avenue and University Place, May 23, 1918
Northwestern University School of Music Evanston, Illinois, Sixth alumni recital, Music Hall, Orrington Avenue and University Place, May 1, 1919
Northwestern University School of Music, Evanston, Illinois, Third alumni recital, December 6, 1920
Glencoe Men's Club entertainments recital, February 4, 1921
Glencoe Men's Club entertainments recital by Mr. Attilio Baggiore, tenor, assisted by Miss Susannah Armstrong, pianist, Miss Bertha Hagen, accompanist, February 4, 1921
Northwestern University School of Music Evanston, Illinois, Twenty-fifth student recital, March 25, 1924
Enlightenment, a pageant commemorating the quarto-centennial anniversary of the birth of New Trier Township High School, June 14 and 15, 1926
Enlightenment, Twenty-Fifth Anniversary, 1926
Programs, 1927-1953
Northwestern University School of Music, Thirty-second student recital, June 9, 1927
Northwestern University School of Music, First alumni recital, December 8, 1927
Dedication exercises, Central School auditorium, Glencoe, Illinois, May 31, 1929
A spring festival, Saturday evening, April 27, 1935
Recital by new members of the faculty of Gardner School, Friday evening, October 25, 1935
The National Association for American Composers and Conductors, Steinway Concert Hall, March 16, 1937
Elizabeth Layman Anning, pianist, Katherine Hamilton, violinist, Susannah Armstrong at the piano, November 9, 1937
Friday Morning Music Club, Fifty-fifth season, Friday, February 28, 1941
Friday Morning Music Club, Fifty-sixth season, Friday, February 27, 1942
Friday Morning Music Club, Fifty-seventh season, February 12, 1943
Friday Morning Music Club, Fifty-eighth season, December 10, 1943
Arts Club of Washington, March, 2, 9, 12, 16, 23, 28, 29, 30, 1944
Friday Morning Music Club, Fifty-eighth season, March 3, 1944
Arts Club of Washington, February 1, 1945
Friday Morning Music Club, Fifty-ninth season, April 6, 1945
Friday Morning Music Club, March 15, 1946
The Arts Club of Washington, in a program for two pianos, April 11, 1946
Friday Morning Music Club, February 14, 1947
275th concert, National Gallery of Art, September 21, 1947
Arts Club of Washington, May 13, 1948
Arts Club of Washington, November 18, 1948
Friday Morning Music Club, Friday, November 26, 1948
The Phillips Gallery, December 13, 1948
The Phillips Gallery, December 11, 1949
Carnegie Recital Hall, February 13, 1951
The Arts Club, February 22, 1951
The Phillips Gallery, song recital, March 3, 1952
The Arts Club, January 22, 1953
The Friday Morning Music Club, Sixty-seventh season, February 6, 1953
First annual program of original compositions by the students of N.T.H.S. harmony classes, undated
Photographs
Trophy from an original composition contest of Mu Phi Epsilon
Two portraits of Susannah Armstrong Coleman
Certificates and Academic Papers
Pi Kappa Lambda member certificate
Mu Phi Epsilon demission certificate
Examination papers
Biographical Notes
Notes prepared for various short biographies
Clippings
Clippings of Susannah Armstrong Coleman and her teachers
Miscellaneous
Biography and portrait of Arne Oldberg