Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1906-1948 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
6 volumes and 1 file of textual records
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
The Speranza Musical Club for women musicians was founded in Toronto, Ontario in 1899 as the Practice Club by Mary Parsons (nee Hagarty), and formally established as the Speranza Musical Club in 1906. Hope Morgan, who opened a school of singing in Toronto in 1906, was the honorary president of the Club, and a formal constitution was written in 1907. By 1912, the Club had 58 members, and they set a membership limit at 60. The group, including pianists, vocalists, violinists, met regularly in members' homes, where they wrote and read papers on music and musicians, and held dress rehearsals for young artists prior to their first public appearances. During the First and Second World Wars, they held concerts to raise funds for the war effort, and volunteered and provided entertainment for patients at local Toronto hospital hospitals.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Fonds includes minute/program books (1906-1912, 1912-1922, 1922-1936, 1936-1946); cash books (1914-1928,1928-1948); file including texts of skits with parody songs, printed constitutions (1916/1917 and 1920), and typescript history of 1899-1962.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
The Speranza Musical Club fonds is stored offsite at Downsview. To consult items in this collection, please contact the Music Library at least 2 weeks prior to your visit.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
The minute and program books of the Speranza Musical Club (1906-1912, 1912-1922, 1922-1936, 1936-1946) are digitized. See the Speranza Musical Club collection on the Internet Archive.
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Previously titled "Archives Collection 26 : Speranza Musical Club." Reference code (26) removed from the title of the fonds July 30, 2019.