Title:

C.G. (Charles) St. Clair scrapbook of personal ephemera and newspaper clippings, 1858-1887

Creator/Contributor:

St. Clair, C.G. (Charles), creator, creator.

Scrapbook of C.G. (Charles) St. Clair contains personal ephemera and newspaper clippings pertaining to St. Clair's experience as a music teacher, organist, and performer. Includes handbills, programs, playbills, advertisements, a promotional card that includes St. Clair's portrait; a few manuscripts, some created by St. Clair and others business references created by St. Clair's previous employers. Also includes newspaper clippings, some advertising St.Clair's services as a vocal instructor and others published travel accounts and music reviews. The ephemera and clippings date from approximately 1858 to 1880 and are arranged more or less chronologically. The outer wrapper of the scrapbook is reinforced with a newspaper dating August 28, 1886. The ephemera and clippings emanate from various locations throughout the United States and Canada, but the scrapbook may have been assembled by hand in Los Angeles or San Bernardino, California around 1887. C.G. (Charles) St. Clair, along with his wife, Avice Ann St. Clair were a husband and wife musical team that traveled throughout the United States and Canada serving in roles such as vocal instructor, choir leader and organist. St. Clair may also have found employment as a lecturer, freelance travel writer, and music reviewer. He also claimed to have invented the Xylo-Calame Piano, a wood straw piano. Sources not represented in the scrapbook indicate the St. Clair family, including C.G. and Avices' son, Fred, may have been involved in criminal activity, Avice and Fred having served time in the mid to late 1880s for larceny and receiving stolen goods. C.G. himself was described as a thief and swindler in newspaper accounts from Kingman, Kansas and Quincy, California. A Kingman, Kansas newspaper published a story about the discovery of the body of Avice Ann St. Clair in a "hovel" in Cheyenne, Wyoming on March 10, 1888. C.G. St. Clair died March 6, 1888 in San Bernardino, California.

Date:

1858 (issued)

Subject:

Music -- Performance

Music -- Instruction and study

Travel writing

Musique -- Exécution

Musique -- Étude et enseignement

Voyage -- Art d'écrire

Music -- Instruction and study

Music -- Performance

Travel writing

St. Clair, C.G. (Charles) -- Archives

Purchase from Garrett Scott, Bookseller; 2022.

C.G. (Charles) St. Clair scrapbook of personal ephemera and newspaper clippings, BANC MSS 2023/204, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Type:

Archives

Scrapbooks.

print

1.125 (1

English

Origin:

California