Contents

Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

William P. Bigelow (AC 1889) Papers, 1867-1941

Finding aid prepared by Graham Leach-Krouse, Peter Nelson.

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2003

Biographical Note

William P. Bigelow, Professor of Music at Amherst College, was a lifetime native of Amherst. Born in 1867, he attended Amherst High School and then Amherst College, graduating in 1889. He showed early musical talent as first tenor in Amherst's Glee Club, and continued to study music from 1889 to 1890 in Worcester under Edward L. Summer and Ivan Morkowski; from 1890 to 1894 in Berlin and Düsseldorf; and in 1898 in Paris and London, eventually learning under Stockhausen, Rest, Hriglia, and Buths. Between 1894 and 1898 he returned to Amherst College and was hired as an instructor; in 1901 he became associate professor and in 1906 a full professor. Returning to Berlin in 1908, he met his soon to be wife, Jane Ball. They were married September 7th, 1909, in Amherst. Their first child, Mary, was born in 1910, and a second daughter Ruth followed in 1912. Among Professor Bigelow's published works are Amherst College Songs, which he compiled and edited in1926. The Bigelow family resided at 2 Orchard Street until 1935. William P. Bigelow died in 1941.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

Letters, postcards, photographs, drawings, sheet music, certificates, receipts, passports, manuscripts, a translation, music programs, posters, speeches, essays, poems, and other materials documenting the professional and personal life of Professor William P. Bigelow and his wife Jane Ball Bigelow. The papers include extensive correspondence between Bigelow and his family, members of the Amherst college faculty, and various admirers, as well as partial memoirs. Letters and papers addressed to the department and administration have some significance, as do some financial and legal records. Correspondents include Mrs. D. D. Eisen, Horace Hewlett, George R. Stewart (manager of the Boston Festival Orchestra), Professor C.K. Adams, Frank Chapman Sharp (AC 1987), Amherst Professor of Latin and Greek Levi Elwell, Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Arthur Curtis James (AC 1889).

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into five series:

• 1. WRITINGS, ca. 1886-1936
• 2. LEGAL DOCUMENTS, 1891-1933
• 3. IMAGES, ca. 1885-1941
• 4. CORRESPONDENCE, 1891-1939
• 5. MISCELLANEOUS, 1887-1941

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Series 1: WRITINGS, ca. 1886-1936

Series 1, WRITINGS, ca. 1886-1936, contains manuscripts, speeches, essays, songs, poems and departmental papers written by William P. Bigelow during his lifetime. His speeches and essays revolve mainly around the life of a teacher, and the nature of proper education. Two musical works, "Amherst Songs" and "Oh Bill Bryan," are included. The various poems relate primarily to family life, and the preserved early works, a high school paper, and his master's thesis, are on Bassino from the Merchant of Venice, and the relation of Parsifal to the moral character of Wagner, respectively. The departmental papers are primarily financial records.

Series 2: LEGAL DOCUMENTS, ca. 1891-1933

Series 2, LEGAL DOCUMENTS, 1891-1933, contains passports, an identity card, a business card stamp, certificates, a copyright, receipts, checks, and financial correspondence. Passports are for William P. Bigelow, Jane Bigelow, and Mary Bigelow. The certificates signify marriage, residency, freemasonry, and membership in the American Defense Society. The copyright is for the song "Oh Bill Bryan," which Bigelow composed ca. 1914.

Series 3: IMAGES, ca. 1885-1941

Series 3, IMAGES, ca.1885-1941, contains drawings, as well as loose, mounted, and framed photographs, photocopies, and one photograph album. Extensive portraiture of William P. Bigelow ranges over nearly his entire lifetime. Pictures of Mary and Jane, and miscellaneous images of vacations and the Orchard Street residence are included as well.

Series 4: CORRESPONDENCE, 1891-1939

Series 4, CORRESPONDENCE, 1891-1939, contains letters and postcards. The letters deal primarily with William P. Bigelow's personal and performing life, with some communications to the administration and music department of the time, giving evidence of his professional world as well. A few letters belonging to Jane Bigelow are included also.

Series 5: MISCELLANEOUS, 1887-1941

Series 5, MISCELLANEOUS, 1887-1941, contains posters, postcards, announcements and programs. These assorted materials relate to various performances of William P. Bigelow, most notably Amherst's colorful "Old Heidelberg" night. A few other items come from European travel between 1898 and 1922.