I have long been fascinated by the United States’ great nineteenth and early twentieth-century expositions. Much of my scholarly research centers around musical life at these events. I have given conference papers for conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Westfield Center on organ concerts at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Alexandre Guilmant’s activities in the United States, and women organists at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
My article, “Blending the Popular and the Profound: Organ Concerts at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition,” appeared in the May 2022 issue of the Journal for the Society of American Music (vol. 16, no. 2).
To view video of my presentation titled “Women Organists at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo,” for the Westfield Center conference, Diversity and Belonging: Unsung Keyboard Stories (Ann Arbor, January 2022): visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EksKIwjReI
My article, “Trailblazing Women Organists of the Progressive Era” in the March 2023 issue of The American Organist described changing attitudes towards women performers in the late nineteenth century and discussed the importance of the Buffalo exposition in the context of inclusion.
My analysis of programming trends at these events relies on newly-created databases listing each organ piece performed. These excel spreadsheets are searchable by date, performer, composer, work title, etc. I offer these resources here in the hopes that they might be useful to my peers.
Databases for download:
I received grants from the Ruth and Clarence Mader Memorial Scholarship Fund to conduct research in the archives of the St. Louis Public Library and the Missouri Historical Society in August 2022. With the help of Syracuse student research assistants Abbie Wood and Austin Xiao, hired through the Syracuse Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement (SOURCE), I have created databases of organ repertoire performed at the Chicago, Buffalo, St. Louis, and San Francisco expositions.
Note: The original concert programs of these events contain numerous misspellings of composer names and piece titles, sometimes requiring considerable guesswork when creating a database listing.
Anne Laver 