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Guide to the Ernest T. Kretschmer Archive, 1927-
MS 93  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Administrative Information
  • Biography
  • Scope and Content
  • Indexing Terms
  • Related Archives
  • Related Works

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Ernest T. Kretschmer Archive,
    Date (bulk): 1927-
    Collection number: MS 93
    Creator: Kretschmer, Ernest T.
    Extent: 10 boxes

    10.5 linear ft.
    Repository: University of California, Santa Cruz. University Library, Special Collections & Archives
    Santa Cruz, California 95064
    Abstract: This collection includes programs, posters, and ephemera related to the Cabrillo Music Festival, Santa Cruz Symphony, Cultural Council of Santa Cruz, the Crown College Concerts at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Watsonville Concert Association, Barati Ensemble, and Santa Cruz County Arts Commission, as well as material dealing with the proposed Wingspread performing arts complex. Also includes personal correspondence from composers, conductors, and soloists; music organization documents; and personal items related to Mr. Kretschmer's school, college, and military years.
    Physical location: Collection stored offsite at NRLF: Advance notice is required for access to the papers.
    Language: English.

    Administrative Information

    Access

    Collection is open for research.

    Publication Rights

    Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce, please contact the Special Collections & Archives Librarian.

    Preferred Citation

    Ernest T. Kretschmer Archive, 1927- , MS 93, Special Collections & Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.

    Acquisition Information

    Gift of Ernest T. Kretschmer.

    Biography

    Ernest T. "Bud" Kretschmer is a philanthropist and civic leader particularly prominent in the support of classical music organizations in Santa Cruz County, California. He was born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan, and studied the piano throughout his youth and during his first two years of college. After receiving an associate of fine arts degree in 1935 from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mr. Kretschmer continued his education at Michigan State University in East Lansing, where he earned an A.B. degree in business in 1938.
    After his graduation, he operated a wholesale frozen-food business until 1941, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army. That same year he met his wife-to-be Jean while attending an Army Medical Technician's course. For the next four years he served with hospital units in Iceland and in the New Hebrides. He and Jean were married in Salinas, California in 1942, in between his overseas assignments. Having advanced to the rank of captain by 1945, Mr. Kretschmer then left the Army to join his brother in the family's wheat germ business back in Michigan.
    Two years later, at the Army's request, Mr. Kretschmer rejoined and, after the U.S. Air Force was established as a separate branch of the military, he requested to be transferred there in 1949. While in the Air Force, he attended the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University, earning an M.S. degree in 1951, and served with the Armed Services Medical Procurement Agency in Brooklyn, the Surgeon General's Office in Washington, D.C., and the Alaskan Air Command in Anchorage. In 1959, he was assigned to administer the Beale Air Force Hospital in Marysville, California, a post he held until his retirement at the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1962.
    Immediately following retirement from the military, Mr. Kretschmer moved to Santa Cruz, and for the next two decades operated nursing homes in central and southern California. He also became actively involved in the cultural, and particularly the musical affairs of the community. A list of the arts organizations he has been affiliated with in executive capacities or as a board of directors member would include: the Cabrillo Music Festival, the Santa Cruz County Symphony, the Watsonville/Pajaro Valley Concert Association, the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County, the Santa Cruz County Arts Commission, UCSC's Crown Chamber Players, and the Barati Ensemble.
    Mr. Kretschmer has a particular love of music for the piano, and is known for having established permanent music scholarships, subsidizing many concert presentations and performances, facilitating the appearances of many pianists, and working unceasingly to enrich the musical lives of both the Santa Cruz and Grand Rapids, Michigan, area communities.

    Scope and Content

    The collection includes personal items related to Mr. Kretschmer's school, college and military years. Also included are materials related to Mr. Kretschmer's interest in music and its performance, especially for the piano, musicians, and composers, both locally and in his home state of Michigan. Highlights include material related to his involvement with the Cabrillo Music Festival, the Santa Cruz Symphony, UCSC's Crown College Chamber Players, the Henry J. Mello Center in Watsonville, the Barati Ensemble, and the Santa Cruz County Arts Commission.

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

    Subjects

    Kretschmer, Ernest T. ,1914-
    Barati, George, 1913-
    Musical Groups--California--Santa Cruz County.

    Other Indexed Terms related to this collection.

    Harrison, Lou, 1917-
    Masselos, William
    Lorenz, Philip
    Wingspread Beach

    Related Archives

    • Cabrillo Music Festival, MS 64
    • George Barati Archive, MS 94
    • Lou Harrison Archive, MS 132

    Related Works

    Ernest T. Kretschmer: Reflections on Santa Cruz Musical Life, v.1
    Date: 1962-1992.
    by the Regional History Project, University Library, University of California at Santa Cruz, 2001. http://library.ucsc.edu/reg-hist/kretschmer.html 
    Ernest T. Kretschmer: Reflections on Santa Cruz Musical Life, v.2
    Date: 1993-1999.
    by the Regional History Project, University Library, University of California at Santa Cruz, 2001. http://library.ucsc.edu/reg-hist/kretschmer2.html