Description
Carleton Smith (1910-1984; not to be confused with Carleton Sprague Smith) of Bement, Illinois, was a University of Illinois alumnus and taught here from 1926-1929. He served as music editor of Esquire magazine from 1934 until 1942.
He traveled extensively in Eastern Europe and elsewhere during the years immediately following the close of World War II and expended considerable time and energy seeking lost manuscripts of Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, and other major composers, all of which had disappeared from German libraries during the war years. He founded the National Arts Foundation (of New York) in 1947 or 1948, and numbered world figures such as President Harry Truman, the composer Jean Sibelius, and pianist Ignaz Paderewski among his personal friends. He also helped establish major prizes in fields not covered by the Nobel Prize.
Music materials received by the library in 1985 following Smith’s death included books, music scores, and sound recordings. Smith’s collection was noteworthy for ethnic vocal music, particularly song collections from non-Russian Soviet republics, music of Sibelius and Richard Strauss, and published scores by contemporary Soviet composers (including R. Glière and D. Shostakovich). Several published scores, including those of Glière, Shostakovich, and Sibelius, have autograph signatures of their composers. The donation also included several privately produced discs recording a telephone conversation between Smith and Sibelius on the composer’s birthday (these discs were copied by the Library of Congress for their own collection). Non-music materials from Smith’s estate may have been incorporated into holdings of other Library units.
Location/Access
Music and Performing Arts Library
- Dispersed within circulating holdings and MPAL Special Collections.
- For clippings and photographs see Series 1, Box 3, Folder 6 of the Music and Performing Arts Library Small Special Collections, 1911-1981 Finding Aid at the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music.
Index terms
- Russian music
- Smith, Carleton
- Sibelius, Jean
- Lenin, V. I. (speeches)
- Shostakovich, Dmitrii
- Stalin, Joseph (speeches)
- Gliere, Reinhold
See also
Smith’s personal papers, largely concerning his time as music editor of Esquire, are held by the Lilly Library at Indiana University.
Obituary, NYT https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/01/obituaries/carleton-smith-dies-helped-to-establish-architectural-prize.html