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