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Finding Aid to the Stern Grove Festival Association records,
1931-1984,
MS 2063
MS 2063
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Title: Stern Grove Festival Association records
Date: 1931-1984
Collection Identifier: MS 2063
Creator:
Stern Grove Festival Association (San Francisco, Calif.)
Repository:
California Historical Society
678 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA, 94105
415-357-1848
reference@calhist.org
URL: http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org
Physical Location: Collection is stored onsite. Photographs are shelved separately under the call number MSP 2063.
Abstract: Consists of correspondence; financial records and reports; planing committee minutes; San Francisco Recreation Commission
records; concert records, programs, and posters; scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings and ephemera; and photographs,
all of which were created or collected by the Stern Grove Festival Association (SGFA) between the years 1931 and 1984. Collection
materials document the inception, administration, and activities of the SGFA, and the history of the open-air concerts produced
by the organization in San Francisco since 1932. Significant figures represented include past SGFA presidents Rosalie Meyer
Stern, Elise S. Haas, and Rhoda H. Goldman; San Francisco Superintendent of Recreation Josephine D. Randall; and conductor
Arthur Fielder. The collection also contains professional photographs of performances by groups such as the San Francisco
Ballet and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, some of which were taken by Gabriel Moulin Studios.
Collection is open for research.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Director
of Library and Archives, North Baker Research Library, California Historical Society, 678 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA
94105. Consent is given on behalf of the California Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. Restrictions
also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational
purposes.
[Identification of item], Stern Grove Festival Association records, MS 2063, California Historical Society.
The records of the Stern Grove Festival Association were placed on permanent loan with the California Historical Society beginning
in 1955, with additions made every five years. The last deposit was made in 1984.
The collection was reprocessed and additions incorporated by Megan Hickey Nespeco in 2012.
The collection is arranged in seven series: 1) Correspondence; 2) Financial records and reports; 3) Planning committee minutes;
4) San Francisco Recreation Commission; 5) Concerts; 6) Scrapbooks; and 7) Photographs. Some correspondence related to specific
financial records is filed with Financial records and reports (Series 2); and some programs documenting specific concerts
can be found in Scrapbooks (Series 6). Within each series, materials are arranged in chronological order.
In 1931 Rosalie Meyer Stern purchased a historic parcel of land situated at the intersection of Sloat Boulevard and 19th Avenue
in the southwestern portion of San Francisco. This twelve-acre tract was the only undeveloped area left on the former 160-acre
Greene family ranch, homesteaded in 1849. Located on the property was the Trocadero Inn, built in 1892. The inn enjoyed a
reputation during the 1890s as a fashionable recreation and picnic spot for prominent San Franciscans. The Trocadero, as it
was then called, offered such diversions as fishing and boating on a spring-fed lake, as well as food and lodging. By 1906,
however, the inn began to lose its appeal and gradually acquired an unsavory reputation. The inn finally closed in 1916 and
it was not until Rosalie Stern purchased the ranch that the inn regained its original splendor.
Because of her long involvement in the city's recreational program, Mrs. Stern established the Sigmund Stern Recreational
Fund in memory of her husband. Under the auspices of this organization, she offered her newly acquired property to the City
of San Francisco as a recreational facility. The donation, however, was contingent upon acceptance of several conditions by
the City concerning the future use of the park. These stipulations were: (1) that the land be used solely and exclusively
for recreational purposes; (2) that the land be under the jurisdiction and control of the Playground Commission of San Francisco
(Mrs. Stern was president of this commission for many years); and (3) that, if the land ever ceased to be used for recreational
activities, the property would revert back to the Sigmund Stern Recreational Fund.
Mrs. Stern and the five trustees of the Sigmund Stern Recreation Fund also made two requests of the City: that the recreational
activities to be conducted on the land should include music, dramatics, and pageantry; and that the Playground Commission
(later the Recreation Department) consult with the Trustees of the Fund concerning the general scope and character of the
recreational activities to be conducted on the property. The City of San Francisco, under direction of Mayor Angelo Rossi,
agreed to accept both the land and the criteria under which it was offered. The result was a city-owned and operated park
in which music, dramatic productions, and dance were staged under the sponsorship of the Stern Grove Recreational Fund. Under
Rosalie Stern's guidance, the Fund underwrote the cost of these productions at the Grove's outdoor stage. The stage itself,
situated in a natural amphitheatre-like valley on the property, had been designed at Mrs. Stern's request by architect William
Merchant, Bernard Maybeck's partner.
June 4, 1932 marked the inauguration of Stern Grove and the first formal concert was given fifteen days later. By the summer
of 1938, the popularity of concerts in the Grove led Rosalie Stern and the Board of Trustees of the Fund to sponsor a concert
series called the Midsummer Musicals. The series, consisting of twelve programs given every Sunday between July and September,
ranged from orchestral music to jazz. This first summer concert series was highly successful with over 4,000 in attendance
per concert. The Midsummer series has been produced by the Stern Grove Festival Association every summer since 1938.
In 1940, Rosalie Stern organized the Allied Relief Benefit Concert to help raise funds for Great Britain's war effort. Famed
conductor Bruno Walter and singer Kerstin Thorborg performed. The concert was highly successful and prominent San Franciscans
donated over $6,000. During the difficult years of the Depression, a concerned Mrs. Stern utilized the services of numerous
unemployed musicians. She also encouraged the use of WPA workers to help with the initial landscaping of Stern Grove.
By 1942, the Sigmund Stern Recreation Fund was incorporated as a nonprofit California corporation under the name of the Sigmund
Stern Grove Musical Festival Committee. The organization's name was changed to the Sigmund Stern Grove Music Festival Association
in August of 1944, and to its present form, the Stern Grove Music Festival Association, on March 18, 1959.
The summer concert series has attracted a number of prominent artists, including Bruno Walter, Isaac Stern, Arthur Fiedler,
Pete Seeger, and the Preservation Jazz Band. Until her death in 1956, Rosalie Stern not only coordinated and arranged these
concerts, but, as President of the Trustees of the Fund, either personally financed or raised the money to fund every concert
series since 1938. Following her death, her daughter Elise Haas (whose name often appears in the collection as Mrs. Walter
A. Haas) assumed this responsibility. By 1963, the complexity of scheduling, finances, and publicity resulted in the hiring
of Lucy Eastlund as Executive Secretary. Elise Haas and her secretary, along with the Board of Trustees, ran the organization
until the early 1970s, at which time the presidency was transferred to Mrs. Haas' daughter Rhoda Goldman (Rhoda F. Haas).
The collection consists of correspondence; financial records and reports; planing committee minutes; San Francisco Recreation
Commission records; concert records, programs, and posters; scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings and ephemera; and photographs,
all of which were created or collected by the Stern Grove Festival Association (SGFA) between the years 1931 and 1984. Collection
materials document the inception, administration, and activities of the SGFA, and the history of the open-air concerts produced
by the organization in San Francisco since 1932. Significant figures represented include past SGFA presidents Rosalie Meyer
Stern, Elise S. Haas, and Rhoda H. Goldman; San Francisco Superintendent of Recreation Josephine D. Randall; and conductor
Arthur Fielder.
Correspondence (Series 1, 1932-1984) includes letters between festival organizers and musicians, conductors, performers, agents,
dance and theatre companies, and the San Francisco Musicians Union, Local 6; as well as letters documenting fundraising activities
and support from individuals and corporations. Significant correspondents include photographer Ansel Adams and festival performers
such as conductor Arthur Fiedler.
Financial records and reports (Series 2, 1932-1984) comprise SGFA season reports and weekly records, records of disbursement
of funds and concert revenues, and donation information. This series also contains correspondence about finances. Planning
Committee minutes (Series 3, 1938-1984) contain the minutes of the SGFA board and provide detailed information about festival
policy and planning issues, finances, and performances.
The Concerts series (Series 5, 1932-1984) includes broadsides, posters, and other material created to promote specific concerts,
along with programs, reports, and newspaper clippings documenting the events. Significant performers represented in this series
include conductors Pierre Monteux and Arthur Fiedler; founder of the San Francisco Opera, Gaetano Merola; and founder of the
San Francisco Municipal Chorus, Hans Lescke. Sixteen scrapbooks (Series 6, 1932-1972) contain newspaper clippings from the
San Francisco Chronicle and
San Francisco Examiner about the summer concert series, in addition to some concert programs.
The collection also includes records of the San Francisco Recreation Commission (Series 4, 1932-1941), which were not produced
directly by the Stern Grove Festival Association, but relate to the SGFA through Rosalie Stern's work as President of the
Commission (Mrs. Stern presided over both organizations concurrently). These records consist of correspondence with various
city officials, including letters by Josephine D. Randall, who was a significant figure in the development of the San Francisco
park system. Minutes of the Recreation Commission are also included and outline Mrs. Stern's efforts to expand the San Francisco
parks and recreation program.
Photographs (Series 7, 1946-1983) mostly consist of professional photographs of Stern Grove performances. Some of these pictures
were published in the
San Francisco Chronicle and
San Francisco Examiner; others were taken by Gabriel Moulin Studios. Snapshots of concerts and a Stern family studio portrait are also included.
In addition to the records of the SGFA, the collection contains a folder of secondary material documenting the history of
the Association, including an article about Rosalie Meyer Stern (photocopied from the
California Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 184-187); several papers describing the growth and development of Stern Grove and the summer concert
series; and an essay titled, "The History Apertaining to Trocodero."
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog:
Fielder, Arthur, 1894-1979.
Gabriel Moulin Studios.
Goldman, Rhoda H., d. 1996.
Haas, Elise S. , 1893-1990.
Randall, Josephine D.
San Francisco (Calif.). Recreation Commission.
San Francisco Ballet.
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
Stern, Rosalie Meyer, 1869-1956.
Concerts--California--San Francisco.
Parks--California--San Francisco.
Financial records.
Programs.
Scrapbooks.
This index is derived from a list of added entries in the legacy finding aid for the Stern Grove Festival Association records.
Names and subject headings are unauthorized.
- Alder, Kurt Herbert
- Albert, Alexander
- Allen, William Duncan
- Arrieta, Marti
- Bender, Albert M.
- Bissinger, Paul S.
- Boone, Philip S.
- Brakebill, Harry
- Bruce, Starr
- Caverly, Joseph M.
- Chamberlain, Selah
- Concerts
- Cox, Mary Elenor
- Donnell, Mrs. Dewey
- Glenn Dr.
- Eastlund, Elizabeth F. (Lisa)
- Elkus, Albert I, Professor
- Escabosa, Hector
- Friedman, James
- Funke, Max G.
- Garcia, Alfred B.
- Ghirardelli, D. Lyle
- Goldman, Rhoda H.
- Haas, Elise F.
- Haas, Peter E.
- Haas, Walter A.
- Haas, Walter A. Jr.
- Hare, Nathan
- Harris, Thomas
- Heller, Elizabeth
- Johns, Roy C.
- Jorda, Enrique
- Joseph, Sydney Mrs.
- Kendrick, Charles
- Koshland, Marcus S.
- Koshland, Daniel E.
- Kimbell, Raymond
- Knuth, William Dr.
- Lilienthal, Philip N. Jr.
- Lilienthal, Ruth Haas
- Lewis, David E.
- Lyckfors, Erik K.
- McDevitt, Edward
- McKanna, J Fenton Dr.
- McKinnon, Katherine Duer Stoney
- Meade, William
- Merchant, William Gladstone
- Merola, Gaetano
- Meyer, Otto E.
- Middione, Lisa Eastlund
- Mid-Summer Music Festival
- Miller, Robert Watt
- Molnar, Ferenc
- Moore, Joseph A. Jr.
- Mosgrove, Alicia
- Mulcrevy, Dorothy
- Murry, Earl Bernard
- Music festivals
- Musicians Union, Local No. 6
- Nathe, Al H.
- Operas
- Oppenheimer, Selby C. Mrs.
- Orrick, William H., Jr.
- Parks-San Francisco
- Ozawa, Seiji
- Parr, Fred D.
- Pilcher, Will
- Plant, David N.
- Powell, Stanley
- Randall, Josephine D.
- Rossi, Angelo J.
- Roth, William M.
- Russell, Mrs. Hass
- Salkind, Milton
- San Francisco Ballet
- San Francisco Recreation Commission
- San Francisco Recreation Department
- San Francisco Youth Symphony Association
- Sanguinetti, Alfred
- Scafidi, Joseph
- Schwabacher, James H., Jr.
- Simon, Louis F.
- Skinner, Howard K.
- Sorenson, Kurt D.
- Stern, Rosalie Meyer
- Theater, Open Air-San Francisco
- Thompson, Jean
- Trefethen, E. E., Jr.
- Trocadero Inn-San Francisco
- Watt, Mrs. Robert
- Weil, Michel D.
- White, Albert
- Wollenberg, Lucile