American arts administrator
Katherine Frazier
Born January 28, 1882Slingerlands, New York
Died 1944Cummington, Massachusetts
Other names Katharine Frazier Occupation(s) Musician, educator, arts administrator Relatives John I. Slingerland (great-uncle)
Katherine Maria Frazier (January 28, 1882 – 1944), also seen as Katharine Frazier , was an American musician and arts administrator. In 1923 she opened a theatre in Cummington, Massachusetts , which in 1927 became part of Frazier's Cummington School of the Arts , offering summer residencies, camps, and a performance venue for visual artists, musicians, and writers.
Early life and education
Frazier was born in Slingerlands, New York , and raised in Amsterdam, New York , the daughter of Leonard A. Frazier and Catharine A. Slingerland Frazier. Her father was a physician.[ 1] Her mother's uncle was abolitionist Congressman John I. Slingerland . She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1902.[ 2] [ 3] She studied music in Paris in 1908 and 1909.[ 4]
Career
Music
Frazier was a concert harpist,[ 5] [ 6] [ 7] a member of the Carlos Salzedo Harp Ensemble,[ 8] [ 9] and director of the Trio Eleu,[ 10] the Smith College Harp Ensemble[ 11] and the Phaneian Harp Ensemble.[ 12] She was also a pianist and organist.[ 1] She worked at Smith College ,[ 13] [ 14] as head of the harp and piano programs.[ 15] She was assistant to editor Carlos Salzedo at the Eolian Review ,[ 16] and general secretary of the National Association of Harpists.[ 17]
Cummington School and Cummington Press
In 1923 Frazier opened The Music Box, also known as Playhouse-in-the-Hills, in Cummington, Massachusetts,[ 3] which became part of Frazier's progressive Cummington School of the Arts.[ 13] [ 18] [ 19] She intended to provide a pastoral setting and minimal distractions[ 20] for summer residencies,[ 21] classes,[ 22] camps, and a performance venue for visual artists, musicians, and writers including Diane Arbus ,[ 23] [ 24] Amy Clampitt ,[ 25] Chaim Gross ,[ 26] Willem de Kooning , Helen Frankenthaler , and Marianne Moore .[ 27]
Frazier and Harry Duncan were directors of the Cummington Press ,[ 28] a small but influential press[ 29] that published works by William Carlos Williams ,[ 30] Robert Lowell ,[ 31] Wallace Stevens , and other poets.[ 32] [ 33] In the early 1940s, she sold her concert harp to fund new equipment for the press.[ 34]
Publications
"Aim IX" (1921)[ 35]
"The Esthetic and the Exact" (1922, with Vera Gushee)[ 16]
Personal life and legacy
Frazier died from cancer in 1944, at the age of 62, in Cummington.[ 34] [ 36] There was a memorial chamber music concert at the Playhouse-in-the-Hills after her death.[ 37]
The records of the Cummington School of the Arts from Frazier's years are in special collections at University of Massachusetts Amherst .[ 27] There are also papers related to Frazier in the Cummington Press records at Emory University .[ 36] The Cummington Community of the Arts program closed in 1993,[ 38] and Cummington Press moved to Iowa in 1956 before it closed in 1997;[ 34] but the Community House still stands and offers art exhibits and other cultural events.[ 39] There is a Frazier Lane in Cummington.[ 40]
References
^ a b "Dr. Frazier Retires" . Altamont Enterprise . May 17, 1912. p. 16 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
^ "Alumnae Notes" . The Mount Holyoke . 25 (8): 561. April 1916.
^ a b "Phases of Work at Music Box Described; Katherine Frazier, Founder, Speaks Before Mount Holyoke College Club" . Pittsfield Berkshire Evening Eagle . November 17, 1928. p. 6 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
^ "Notes on Contributors: Katharine Frazier" . Eolian Review . 1 (1): 25. December 1921.
^ "Harpist Entertains at Faculty Club" . Connecticut College News . April 24, 1926. p. 1. Retrieved June 19, 2023 .
^ "Fine Concert Promised" . Greenfield Daily Recorder . 1917-12-05. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Unusual Musicale Greatly Enjoyed" . The North Adams Transcript . 1929-03-12. p. 20. Retrieved 2023-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Salzédo Harp Ensemble; van Dresser, Soloist" . Musical Courier . 75 : 16. December 27, 1917.
^ "Member of Salzedo Harp Ensemble" . Altamont Enterprise . January 4, 1918. p. 15. Retrieved June 19, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
^ "Katherine Frazier Activities". The Crescendo . 13 (11): 7. May 1921.
^ "Smith College Harp Ensemble Heard in Recital of French Music" . Musical America . 29 : 35. February 15, 1919.
^ "Music and Dramatics" . Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly . 4 (1): 35. April 1920.
^ a b Liebenow, Carolyn (1999-08-09). "Cummington's arts community forged from nature, creativity" . Daily Hampshire Gazette . pp. 1, 4 . Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "News from Northampton" . The Smith Alumnae Quarterly . 5 : 178. April 1914.
^ "Opening Recital at Cummington Playhouse" . Pittsfield Berkshire Evening Eagle . June 21, 1930. p. 12 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
^ a b Frazier, Katharine, and Vera Gushee. "The Esthetic and the Exact" Eolian Review 1(3)(July 1922): 10-15.
^ Frazier, Katharine. "A Note to the Members of the N. A. of H., Inc." Eolian Review 1(3)(July 1922): 21.
^ Foster, Helen H. (1974). Only One Cummington: A Book in Two Parts . Cummington Historical Commission.
^ "Progressive School in Cummington Hills Extends its Program" . The Berkshire Eagle . 1931-06-13. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Plans for Art Center at Cummington Are Announced" . The Berkshire Eagle . 1930-11-11. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Korelitz, Jeanne Hanff (1990-08-24). "Cummington, A Place For Artists With Space for Children" . Daily Hampshire Gazette . pp. 42, 43, 44 , 45. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Summer School Director is Speaker; Miss Katherine Frazier of Cummington Addresses Pittsfield Art League" . The Berkshire Eagle . 1932-04-15. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Bosworth, Patricia (2005). Diane Arbus: A Biography . W. W. Norton & Company. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-393-32661-1 .
^ O'Heir, Jeff (1990-05-24). "A rural haven for artists" . Transcript-Telegram . p. 13. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Spiegelman, Willard (2023-02-28). Nothing Stays Put: The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampitt . Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-525-65827-6 .
^ "Playhouse-in-the-Hills Offers Scholarships for Summer Study" . The Berkshire Eagle . 1936-04-06. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
^ a b "Cummington School of the Arts Records" . University of Massachusetts, Special Collections & University Archives . Retrieved 2023-06-18 .
^ Richmond, Mary L. (November 1967). "The Cummington Press" . Books at Iowa . 7 (1): 9–31. doi :10.17077/0006-7474.1298 . ISSN 2378-4830 .
^ Foster, Ed (1983-12-21). "Cummington--cradle of many poets" . Daily Hampshire Gazette . p. 29. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Mariani, Paul L. (1994). Lost Puritan: A Life of Robert Lowell . W. W. Norton & Company. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-393-31374-1 .
^ Hamilton, Ian (2011-09-15). Robert Lowell: A Biography . Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-28262-3 .
^ Klarén, Ron (1990). "Wallace Stevens and the Cummington Press: A Correspondence, 1941-1951" . The Wallace Stevens Journal . 14 (1): 62–70. ISSN 0148-7132 . JSTOR 44884172 .
^ Filreis, Alan (2014-07-14). Wallace Stevens and the Actual World . Princeton University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-4008-6170-5 .
^ a b c Reiken, Rick (1997-09-26). "The Hilltown Muse; Why Cummington Lures the Literary" . Daily Hampshire Gazette . pp. 8, 9 , 10, 11, 22. Retrieved 2023-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Frazier, Katharine (December 1921). "Aim IX" . Eolian Review . 1 (1): 20–21.
^ a b "Collection: Cummington Press records and Harry Duncan papers" . Emory Libraries ArchivesSpace . Retrieved 2023-06-19 .
^ "Chamber Music Recital to Have Katherine Frazier" . The Berkshire County Eagle . 1944-08-02. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Cummington arts retreat faces extinction due to financial fate" . The Berkshire Eagle . 1994-02-14. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Johnson, Joanna (2011-06-23). "Coming to Cummington" . The Berkshire Eagle . Retrieved 2023-06-18 .
^ Reiken, Rick (1997-08-16). "Cummington Arts Community Thrives" . Daily Hampshire Gazette . p. 13. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
External links