Isidore Witmark papers, 1903-1939

Isidore Witmark papers, 1903-1939

Summary Information

At a Glance

Call No.:
MS#1365
Bib ID:
4079490 View CLIO record
Creator(s):
Witmark, Isidore, 1871-1941
Repository:
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Physical Description:
2 boxes (2 boxes)
Language(s):
English .
Access:
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located on-site.

This collection has no restrictions.

Description

Summary

Forty-three letters to Witmark which were taken out of autographed books given to the University by Mr. Witmark. The letters are from leading authors and artists of the world, chief among them John Kendrick Bangs, Harry B. Smith, and Frederick Kummer. They are mostly friendly notes, some of them in connection with Witmark's requests that authors autograph books for his library. Also, eight manuscript music scores written by various composers including Victor Herbert for the wedding of Witmark and Viola Cahn; and printed matter including programs, clippings, and prospectuses, two autographed photographs, and a typescript catalog of the "Autograph Library of Isidore Witmark, Esq.".

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into 2 series.

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located on-site.

This collection has no restrictions.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Isidore Witmark papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Related Materials

Isidore Witmark Collection of Autographed Books and Muscial Scores. Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Source of acquisition--Witmark, Isidore. Method of acquisition--Bequest; Date of acquisition--1941. Accession number--M-41.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Cataloged Christina Hilton Fenn 09/--/89.

Revision Description

2010-04-05 Legacy finding aid created from Pro Cite.

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

Biographical / Historical

Isidore Witmark (1869-1941), prominent American music publisher and composer, was born in New York City. In 1886, Witmark and his two brothers, Julius and Jay, established the music printing and publishing firm, M. Witmark & Sons, of which Isidore Witmark was president. The Witmarks' acting as their own printer proved a competitive advantage, and they soon began purchasing other publishing houses; the firm eventually absorbed ten of its competitors. Because the brothers were involved in the world of music as singers and composers, the Witmarks enjoyed a special rapport with other composers and performers. The brothers pioneered the national marketing of sheet music of popular numbers. By 1900 the firm had branches in Chicago, San Francisco, London, Paris, and Melbourne. Witmark married Viola Cahan in 1909, and they had two daughters, Marian and Carolyn. Witmark sold the company to Warner Brothers in 1928, but stayed on as an executive in the firm. He died of pneumonia at the age of seventy-two in New York City.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

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Genre/Form
Autographs (manuscripts)
Photographic prints
Scores (documents for music)
Name
Bangs, John Kendrick, 1862-1922
Herbert, Victor, 1859-1924
Kummer, Frederic Arnold, 1873-1943
Smith, Harry B (Harry Bache), 1860-1936
Witmark, Viola Cahn
Subject
Artists
Authors
Composers
Music publishing -- United States
Publishers and publishing
Wedding music

Series I: Laid in Correspondence and Clippings


Box 1

Ade, George Clipping, [v.p.], 8 February 1937

[Laid in his Forty modern fables]


Box 1

Adler, Felix Clipping, 27 April 1935

[Laid in his Creed and deed]


Box 1

Bangs, John Kendrick The word, No. 30, 1908


Box 1

Baum, Lyman Frank. To Isidore Witmark, Chicago, 19 April 1903, 1 a.l.s.

[Laid in his By the candelabra's glare]


Box 1

Bloom, Sol To Isidore Witmark, Washington D.C., 12 October 1938

[Laid in his The story of the constitution]


Box 1

Burke, Thomas To Isidore Witmark, London, 27 May

[Laid in his Limehouse nights]


Box 1

Burnett, Frances Hodgson Re Production of Little Lord Fauntleroy, 1889, 1 program, 2 clippings

[Laid in his Little Lord Fauntleroy]


Box 1

Carvalho, David N. To Isidore Witmark, New York, 16 May 1908, 1 t.l.s.

[Laid in his Forty centuries of ink]


Box 1

Dunbar, Paul Lawrence To a golden girl, 1936, 1 a.ms.

[Laid in his The uncalled, a novel]


Box 1

Fagan, Barney Clipping, [n.p.], [n.d.]

[Laid in William Devere's Jim Marshall's new planner]


Box 1

Frohman, Daniel Prospectus for his book Encore, [n.p.], [n.d.]

[Laid in his Encore]


Box 1

Grossman, Ethel B. Poem, [n.p.], [n.d.]

[Laid in her Poems]


Box 1

Harrison, Mrs. Constance (Cary) [To Isidore Witmark], [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 a.n.s., 1 signed picture

[Laid in her A Virginia cousin and Bar Harbor tales]


Box 1

Haydt, Herman A. Re Poems, [n.p.], 26 October 1933, 1 clipping

[Laid in his Collected poems]


Box 1

Holley, Marietta Marietta Holley's Books, [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 leaflet

[Laid in her Samantha]


Box 1

Houdini, Harry (Ehrich Weiss) Portrait, autographed, [n.p.], [n.d.]

[Laid in his Miracle mongers and their methods]


Box 1

Kennedy, Charles Rann We are all brothers, [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 clipping

[Laid in his The servant in the house]


Box 1

Klein, Hermann At home card and leaflet, [n.p.], 2 December 1906

[Laid in his Thirty years of musical life in London]


Box 1

Kummer, Frederic Arnold To Isidore Witmark, [n.p.], 5 July & 13 Sept 1930, 2 t.l.s.

[Laid in his Gentlemen in Hades]


Box 1

Leavitt, M. B. From Sylain A. Lee, [n.p.], 9 Jan 1906, 1 t.l. (copy)

[Laid in his Fifty years in theatrical management]


Box 1

Lowell, Juliet To Isidore Witmark, [n.p.], 10 Jan 1936, 1 a.n.s.

[Laid in her Dumb belles-lettres]


Box 1

Markham, Edwin Clippings, [n.p.], [n.d.]

[Laid in his The man with the hoe and his Gates of Paradise]


Box 1

Morgenthau, Henry Clippings, [n.p.], [n.d.]

[Laid in his All in a life-time]


Box 1

Nobles, Milton A Blue Grass Widow., [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 promotion booklet

[Laid in his Milton Nobles' shop talk]


Box 1

O' Connor, T.P. To Isidore Witmark, New York, [1906], 1 a.l.s., 3 clipping, 1 dinner menu, 1 t.l. (copy) from Pedgrift to Charles Warren

[Laid in his Lord Beaconsfield]


Box 1

Oursler, Fulton To Isidore Witmark, New York City, 5 Aug 1929 & 12 May 1931, 2 t.l.s.

[Laid in his The world's delight]


Box 1

Oursler, Mrs. Grace (Perkins) To Isidore Witmark, [n.p.], 10 Oct 1929 - 10 Oct 1929, 3 t.l.s.

[Laid in her Angel child and her Personal maid]


Box 1

Perkins, Ray To Al Jolson, [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 a.n.s.

[Laid in Arline De Hass's The Jazz Singer]


Box 1

Riley, James Witcomb Clipping, [n.p.], 9 February 1935

[Laid in his The boys of the Old Glee Club]


Box 1

Roma, Caro card, [n.p.], [n.d.]

[Laid in his Poems]


Box 1

Romberg, Sigmund To Isidore Witmark, New York, 30 December 1930, 1 t.l.s., 1 program


Box 1

Ryan, Millie Prospectus for her studios, [n.p.], [n.d.]

[Laid in her What every singer should know]


Box 1

Smith, Harry Bache To Isidore Witmark, New York City, 1931-1935, 3 a.l.s., 2 t.l.s.

[Laid in his First nights and first editions, his Lyrics and sonnets, and his Stage lyrics]


Box 1

Sonneck, O.G. To Isidore Witmark, [n.p.], 26 Feb 1927, 1 t.l.s., 1 clipping

[Laid in his Beethoven letters in America]


Box 1

Sousa, John Philip To Isidore Witmark, [n.p.], 30 Nov 1945, 1 a.l.s.

[Laid in his Pipetown Sandy]


Box 1

Springer, Thomas Grant To Isidore Witmark, [n.p.], 1938-1939, 1 t.l.s. from Herman Heydt, 1 typed poem signed, 1 p.c.

[Laid in his Rodeo, and his The Red Cord]


Box 1

Taylor, Deems The Kings Henchmen, [n.p.], 1927 & 1931, 1 libretto, 1 program, several clippings

[Laid in his The kings henchman]


Box 1

Thomas, Lowell Clippings, [n.p.], 1930

[Laid in his Count Luckner, the sea devil]


Box 1

Tyler, George C. To Isidore Witmark, [n.p.], 13 March 1934, 1 t.l.s

[Laid in his Whatever goes up]


Box 1

Valeria, Julie, and James Young To Isidore Witmark, [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 a.p.c.s., 1 program, 1 clipping


Box 1

Weber, Joe and Lew Fields Clipping, [n.p.], 4 September 1938

[Laid in Isman's Weber and Fields]


Box 1

Weeks, Edward This trade of writing, [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 review

[Laid in his This trade of writing]


Box 1

Wilder, Marshall Pinckney To Isidore Witmark, New York City, [n.d.] & 15 Jan 1909, 2 a.l.s.

[Laid in his The people I've smiled with]


Box 1

Wilson, Francis Clipping, [n.p.], 1 November 1925

[Laid in his Joseph Jefferson]


Box 1

Wilstach, Paul To Isidore Witmark, Ginston, VA & New York, 1909-1912, 3 a.l.s.

[Laid in his Richard Mansfield, the man and the actor]


Box 1

Wister, Owen Clipping, [n.p.], 21 June 1935

[Laid in his The Virginian]


Box 1

Columbia University Libraries Catalog of the Isidore Witmark Collection of Autographed Books and Musical Scores, New York, March 1942

Series II: Autograph Musical Scores


Box 2

Ball, Ernest R. To the end of the world with you, [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 a.ms.s.


Box 2

Edwards, Julian Love's harmony, [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 a.ms.s.


Box 2

Herbert, Victor Wedding music composed for Witmark and Viola Cahn, [n.p.], 24 December 1908, 1 a.ms.s.


Box 2

Klein, Manuel Serenade to Viola, New York, 14 Dec 1908, 1 a.ms.s.


Box 2

Klein, Manuel The proud prince, [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 a.ms.s.


Box 2

Luders, Gustav Waltz, wedding bells, [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 a.ms.s.


Box 2

Mann, Nathaniel D. The bride's dream waltz, [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 a.ms.s.


Box 2

Northrup, Theodore March canopy, Omaha, Nebraska, 18 Januray 1909, 1 a.ms.s.


Box 2

Witmark, Isidore Little woman of the west, [n.p.], [n.d.], 1 a.ms.s.