Foster Chronology from 1900

 

Abbreviations

  • ca: circa
  • nd: no date
  • CE = Steven Saunders and Deane L. Root, The Music of Stephen C. Foster: A Critical Edition (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990)
  • EFM = Evelyn Foster Morneweck, Chronicles of Stephen Foster's Family (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, 1944)
  • JTH = John Tasker Howard, Stephen Foster: America's Troubadour, 2nd edn. (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1954)
  • WA = William W. Austin, "Susanna," "Jeanie," and "The Old Folks at Home": The Songs of Stephen C. Foster from His Time to Ours, 2nd edn. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987)

 

1900

 

nd Thomas J. Keenan, editor of the Pittsburgh Press, organizes fundraising for Stephen's statue, created by Guiseppe Moretti, for Highland Park. Hands modeled from Morrison's. Unveiled Sept. 12 by Maybelle Welsh, Stephen's granddaughter. Victor Herbert conducted bands. EFM suggests it was attended by Jane (Mrs. Matthew Wiley), Morrison, and other "actual old friends and relatives of Stephen's youth" (EFM 593)

1902

May George Cooper describes Stephen Foster in Piano Music Magazine (EFM 534). George Cooper, "Stephen C. Foster," J.W. Pepper Piano Magazine 4/20 (May 1902) [66] relates the composing of "Willie has gone to the war."

 

1904

Feb Morrison sold Olver Place in Edgeworth, and moved to Grove City in Mercer County, PA, (EFM 580ff)

Ca. May 1 Morrison kept his family papers in a "duffel box" under his desk, and he and his children spend a long evening going through them all for the first time with the children (EFM 582-4)

May 14 Morrison dies (EFM 584)

1913

nd Group of citizens start to raise a subscription to preserve the brick building at site of the White Cottage as a memorial. James H. Park purchased the house from its owner, Mrs. Samuel McKee, and it became the Stephen C. Foster Memorial Home, maintained by the city of Pittsburgh (EFM 593f)

1916

Sept. Mrs. E.A. Parkhurst Duer, "Personal Recollections of the Last Days of Stephen Collins Foster," Etude 34/9 (Sept. 1916) 626, in a special issue of the magazine devoted to Foster. She worked for Horace Waters.

Nov. Harry Houdini, "Last Days of Stephen Foster," Etude 34/11 (Nov. 1916) 772, reports recollections of Brikett Clarke who claimed to have shared rooms with Foster until November 1863 (probably spurious).

1930

nd Josiah Kirby Lilly begins his Foster Hall Collection (EFM 594)

1934

May John Mahon, "Last Years of Stephen C. Foster," Foster Hall Bulletin 10 (May 1934) 2, 4-6 (reprinted from New York Clipper of Mar.17 or 24, 1877). Mahon was a companion of Foster in 1861-4; recounts relationships with publishers.

1935

Jan 13 Groundbreaking for the Stephen Foster Memorial at the University of Pittsburgh (EFM 596)

June 3 Cornerstone laid for Stephen Foster Memorial at the University (EFM 596)

 

July 9 Marion Foster Welch dies at the Stephen C. Foster Memorial Home, 3600 Penn Avenue. Her son, Matthew, and her daughter Mrs. Jessie Rose and Mrs. Rose's family continue to occupy the house into the early 1940s (EFM 594)

1937

June 2 Dedication of the Stephen Foster Memorial at the University of Pittsburgh (EFM 596)

nd, John Tasker Howard's biography, America's Troubadour, is published.

1938

July 4 The banjo and pencil are restored to Stephen's statue in Highland Park and a rededication takes place organized by the Civic Club of Allegheny County (EFM 593)

  Foster's statue is moved from Highland Park to the entrance of Schenley Park, near the Carnegie museum.
1939 Swanee River, a bio-pic of Foster starring Don Ameche debuts.
1940

Foster becomes the first composer inducted into the Hall of Fame of Great Americans.

Foster is honored with a one cent postage stamp.

   
1944

Evelyn Foster Morneweck, Morrison's daughter, publishes The Chronicles of Stephen Foster's Family, a two volume biography of her famous uncle.

 

1953 Jan. 12 Bust of Stephen Foster created by Stephen Wigmore dedicated at the Library of Congress.

1970

nd Samuel J. Rogal, "Gospel Hymns of Stephen Collins Foster," Hymn 27 (1970) 7-11, gives background on Waters and poets set by Foster, and reasons Foster wrote hymns.

nd. Stephen Foster is inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame

 

January 13th is offically declared "Stephen Foster Day"

1997

The first biography of Foster in almost 60 years, Doo-Dah! Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture is published

 

PBS American Experience documentary, "Stephen Foster" premieres

2005

The all-Stephen Foster album, Beautiful Dreamer, wins a grammy for best traditional album, the first time a Foster recording has received such an honor.

 


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Last updated January 16, 2014