Hammond papers, 1868-1964 (bulk 1885-1949)
General International Standard for Archival Description
Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections South Hadley, MA
Finding aid generated in MARC format from database, then encoded using Perl scripts and XSL stylesheet. 2003-05-20
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Hammond papers
Creation of Hammond papers
Time of Creation of Hammond papers
Hammond, William Churchill, 1860-1949.
Biographical History for: Hammond papers
Biographical Note William Churchill Hammond was born November 25, 1860, in Rockville, Connecticut, to Joseph Churchill Hammond, Jr. and Katharine Isham Burr Hammond. He began his career as an organist in 1876 at the Second Congregational Church in Rockville and served in that position until 1884. Hammond also studied music with B.F. Leavens, N.H. Allen, and S.P. Warren in Hartford, Connecticut and New York City in 1876. In 1884, he played organ at the Pearl Street Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut. He went to Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1885 to play organ for the Second Congregational Church. He was there from 1885-1949 and also formed the choir at that church. In 1896, Hammond was a founder of the American Guild of Organists. He married Fanny Bliss Reed in 1898 and they had two sons, William Churchill Hammond, Jr. and Lansing Van der Heyden Hammond. Hammond was a music teacher in Holyoke and taught organ at Smith College from 1889-1899. He joined the faculty of Mount Holyoke College as a music professor in 1899. In 1924 Hammond took over direction of the Mount Holyoke Glee Club. He was also given an honorary degree of Doctor of Music by Mount Holyoke in that year. He remained at Mount Holyoke College until 1937. Hammond died on April 16, 1949, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, at the age of eighty-eight.
Scope and Contents of the Collection The William Churchill Hammond Papers consist of scrapbooks, correspondence, material relating to "White's Air" (a folksong that Hammond arranged for organ), music programs, biographical information, memorabilia, sound recordings, and photographs. The twenty scrapbooks dating from 1868-1950 and the music programs, 1896-1942, provide an overview of Hammond's life and work. In particular, these documents reflect his service as organist and choir director for the Second Congregational Church in Holyoke, Massachusetts, from 1885-1949; his work as a music professor, organist, and director of the Glee Club at Mount Holyoke College, 1899-1937; and his association with the American Guild of Organists, which he helped to establish. The scrapbooks also include information concerning both his family and the William Churchill Hammond Memorial Fund established by Mount Holyoke College after Hammond's death in 1949. Material in the collection relating to "White's Air" includes copies of the score, information about the song's history, and two copies of a sound recording of "White's Air" and "The March of the Magi Kings" performed by Hammond. Correspondence in the collection is limited to brief professional letters between Hammond and the Mount Holyoke College President's Office dating from the 1930s-1946. The photographs, circa 1903-1946 and 1964, consist of formal and informal photographs of Hammond alone and with others as well as several photographs of family members, including his son, William Churchill Hammond, Jr.
Organists - United States - Biography.
lcsh
Choral conductors - Massachusetts - Biography.
Organ music, Arranged.
Folk songs, American - Instrumental settings.
Music teachers - Massachusetts - Biography.
College teachers - Massachusetts - Biography.
Music - Instruction and study - Massachusetts.
lcnaf
Hammond, William Churchill, 1860-1949. White's air.
Hammond, William C. (William Churchill), 1903-1996.
Dubois, Theodore, 1837-1924. March of the Magi kings in E [sound recording]
Mount Holyoke College - Faculty.
Second Congregational Church (Holyoke, Mass.)
American Guild of Organists - History - Sources.
Mount Holyoke College Glee Club.
Mount Holyoke College. - Music Dept.
Mount Holyoke College - Funds and scholarships.
Mount Holyoke College. - William Churchill Hammond Memorial Fund.
Mount Holyoke College. - President's Office.
aat
series
Scrapbooks, 1868-1950
The scrapbooks consists of twenty volumes dating from 1868-1950. Volumes one through nineteen were compiled during Hammond's lifetime. They date from 1868-1948 and document Hammond's professional and family life. They mainly include programs for his organ recitals at the Second Congregational Church and the Skinner Memorial Chapel in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The scrapbooks also contain other music programs, newspaper clippings, greeting cards, post cards, snapshots of family and friends, invitations, telegrams, some letters and envelopes, programs and memorabilia relating to many colleges and churches, class schedules, and some cancelled checks written by Hammond. Volume twenty, dating from 1934-1950, consists of a list of alumnae and friends who donated to the William Churchill Hammond Memorial Fund and a collection of cancelled checks that Hammond wrote to Mount Holyoke College.
Unrestricted
Correspondence, circa 1930s-1946
Hammond's correspondence consists of several letters that he sent to or received from the President's Office at Mount Holyoke College in the 1930s and in 1946. These letters chiefly invitations to play at Vesper Services at Commencement.
"White's Air" Material, 1916-1949, 1962
"White's Air" is a folksong dating from the 1850s that Hammond arranged for the organ and played at the end of each Vesper Service at Mount Holyoke College. This series includes copies of the score for the song that he made to give to students between 1916-1931 and another handwritten copy of the score, with a detailed description of the song's history, that Hammond prepared in 1937. The series also contains a copy of the score published in 1949 and three articles about the song written in 1936, 1949, and 1962.
Music Programs, 1896-1942
The series chiefly consists of programs for concerts given by Hammond. They include programs for the celebration commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Hammond's service as organist of the Second Congregational Church in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1935; programs for his many other concerts at that church between 1896-1942; programs for organ recitals given by Hammond at Mount Holyoke College, 1898-1939; and programs for the New England Chapter of the American Guild of Organists recitals, 1908-1917. Many of the programs in this series are also filed in Hammond's scrapbooks in Series 1 of this collection.
Biographical Information, 1898-1949
The biographical material chiefly includes newspaper articles regarding Hammond's recitals, anniversaries, tributes, and his obituary. The series includes the newspaper announcement of his wedding, pieces about his music and recitals, articles regarding his anniversaries at the Second Congregational Church in Holyoke, Massachusetts and Mount Holyoke College, articles in tribute to Hammond, and his obituaries.
Memorabilia, 1915-1949
This series consists of invitations, programs, a certificate, a brochure, a music score, and a diploma. The invitations and programs concern concerts given by Hammond or in his honor at the Second Congregational Church in Holyoke, Massachusetts, between 1915-1945. The music score is for "Will's Air" by John Gilman Clark, written to commemorate Hammond's sixtieth anniversary as organist of that Church in 1945. The brochure was issued by Mount Holyoke College in May, 1949, to raise money for the William Churchill Hammond Memorial fund. The diploma and certificate of appreciation were given to Hammond by Mount Holyoke College in 1924, when he was awarded an honorary degree of music, and by the citizens of Springfield, Massachusetts, in about 1935.
Sound Recordings, circa 1920s
This series contains two copies of a 78 rpm sound recording of "White's Air" and "March of the Magi Kings." These albums are recordings of songs played at Mount Holyoke College with pipe organ solos by Hammond. The recordings probably date from the 1920s.
Photographs, circa 1903-1946, 1964
The series consists of formal photographs, snapshots, and postcards of Hammond alone or with others, circa 1903-1948, and several photographs of Hammond family members. The photographs include those of Hammond with Mount Holyoke choir members and with visitors to the College. The series also includes photographs of Hammond with his children and grandchildren, a snapshot of his wife, Fanny Hammond, taken in 1964, and a photograph of their son, William Churchill Hammond, Jr., dating from about 1909.
Volume 1,1894-1895
Volume 2,1908-1926
Volume 3,1915-1920
Volume 4,1940-1942
Volume 5,1885-1947
Volume 6,circa 1938-1944
Volume 7,1944-1945
Volume 8,1944-1945
Volume 9,1915-1946
Volume 10,1893-1947
Volume 11,1874-1931
Volume 12,1891-1930
Volume 13,1868-1934
Volume 14,1934-1935
Volume 15,1935-1937
Volume 16,1905-1939
Volume 17,1896-1941
Volume 18,1939-1945
Volume 19,1922-1948
Volume 20,1934-1950
Historical information; copies of the score for the song, "White's Air,"1916-1949; 1962
Music programs, 1896-1901
Music programs, 1902-1906
Music programs, 1907-1911
Music programs, 1912-1913
Music programs, 1914-1916
Music programs, 1917-1918
Music programs, 1919-1922
Music programs, 1924-1931
Music programs, 1934-1942
Biographical information, 1898-1942
Biographical information, 1943-1949
Diploma, 1924
Sound recordings, circa 1920s
Hammond alone, circa 1904-1935
Hammond with others: family members, circa 1903-1946
Hammond with others: Mount Holyoke College students and visitors,circa 1910-1937
Postcards of Hammond, 1909-circa 1920s
Photographs of others, circa 1906, circa 1909, 1964