Constance Mills Herreshoff Collection

Title: Constance Mills Herreshoff Collection

Dates: 1914-1985

Collection Number: MS.023

Creator/Collector:

Extent: 4 boxes, 4 linear ft.

Repository: San Diego Public Library

Abstract: The Constance Mills Herreshoff Collection contains materials related to the musical compositions and the published writings of the San Diego Union’s music and drama critic Constance Mills Herreshoff. According to her obituary, she was born Constance Mills in St. Louis, Mo. in 1881. She moved to San Diego at the age of 15 in 1896.

Language of Material: English

Collection is open for research.

San Diego Public Library can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claims of the copyright holder. Permission to copy or publish any portion of San Diego Public Library's collection must be given by the San Diego Public Library.

Constance Mills Herreshoff Collection. San Diego Public Library

The Constance Mills Herreshoff Collection contains materials related to the musical compositions and the published writings of the San Diego Union’s music and drama critic Constance Mills Herreshoff. According to her obituary, she was born Constance Mills in St. Louis, Mo. in 1881. She moved to San Diego at the age of 15 in 1896. In 1900, Constance Mills was awarded a scholarship to New York City’s Columbia University where she studied under famed composer Edward MacDowell, one of the first seven Americans honored by membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters. While studying in New York she composed and published music and was a piano accompanist to some of the top artist in the early 1900s. During this time Constance Mills also tutored other students and worked in the Columbia Musical Library. After graduation, she became a teacher at the Institute of Musical Arts in New York. Constance Mills (Herreshoff) would go on to write more than 40 compositions, including such well known songs as “Come Be My Love” and “On a Singing Girl.” On January 11, 1906, Constance Mills married James Brown Herreshoff, scion of the prominent family of racing yacht designers. The couple had six children; three girls and three boys. Constance Herreshoff began her 33-year career as a critic when she joined the staff of the San Diego Sun in 1930 as their musical editor. In 1942 she became the San Diego Union’s music and drama critic. Constance was lauded as “the dean of Southern California critics” and a dominant figure in the cultural life of San Diego, becoming somewhat of a celebrity herself. In 1955 she was given the Musical Merit Foundation award for furthering young musical talent. Two years later she was recognized as the unsung hero behind the scenes of San Diego’s cultural world at the Atlas Awards dinner.