The materials in this archive span the years 1922 and 1986. The majority of the materials, however, are from the 1920s and 1930s. Correspondence made up the bulk of the archive; they are letters between Howe and her mother, and letters between Arthur Mendeland Howe. Other materials include some photographs, letters and telegrams from Bloch (many other letters from Bloch were donated to the library by Howe in 1987 but are sealed until the year 2000). There are also writings by Howe when she was a music critic for the Monterey Peninsula Herald in the 1930s.

American pianist, critic, and educator. Winifred Bliss Howe(1904-1990) was the daughter of Henry Warren Howe and Katherine McFarland Howe . At the age of one, her father committed suicide, leaving her mother to bring up her sister, Katherine Howe(later Jones, 1894-1971), and Winifred. A brother, Warren, died at the age of 10 (1900-1910). Her uncle left money for the two sisters for college. Winifred attended Mills Collegefrom 1922 (August) to 1924 (May). She then went to England to study with Tobias Matthay (1858-1945) and to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) between 1924 and 1927. She met and fell in love with the noted musicologist, Arthur Mendel(1905-1979), who was then a fellow student of Nadia Boulanger.Their romance lasted until the early 1930s even though Mendelwas living in New York, and she was in living in California most of that period.

Unrestricted