Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra Records

Orchestra, Providence, R.I.

Records, 1964-1972

Size: 0.5 linear feet

Catalog number: MSS 483 sg 49

Processed by: Steve Dalpe and Rick Stattler, December 1997

©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

Beginning in 1964, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and its conductor, Francis Madeira, put on an annual concert for children in the Keaney Gym at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I. The purpose was to provide exposure to orchestral music to the largely rural children of southern Rhode Island. The concerts were arranged by a committee of the RIPO called the Children's Concert Committee or the Kingston Concert Committee, and generally drew approximately 4000 people. The original chair of this committee was Mrs. Dorothy Shutak (1914-1992), who was succeeded by Mrs. Nancy L. (Webb) Steere (b.1918) in 1968. Mrs. Steere resigned in 1972.

This collection includes usher lists, correspondence, responses from school districts and programs relating to the annual children's concert in Kingston from 1964 to 1972. The records end with Nancy Steere's resignation in 1972.

These papers were donated by the Hazard family as part of the Hazard Family Papers in 1985. They had been deposited in 1983. The connection of this committee to the Hazard family is through Nancy Steere, who was employed as the office manager at Peace Dale Offices. A single undated usher list circa 1972 is written on the back of an envelope addressed to Peace Dale Offices. The committee presumably operated out of the Hazard family office space in Peace Dale, and left their records there in 1972.

This collection is part of the Hazard Family Papers, which were processed with support from the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities, the Beinecke Foundation, and the extended Hazard Family.

This subgroup was originally described as the records of the "Community Concert Association" during its preliminary evaluation in the 1980s. It was fully processed in 1997.