100 Years of Service: Santa Barbara Woman's Club and St. Cecilia Society

NOTICIAS

Quarterly Magazine Op The Santa Barbara Historical Society Vol. XXXVIII, No. 3

Autumn 1992

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This issue ufNOTlCIAS celebrates the looth anniversaries of two Santa Barbara institutions, the Santa Barbara Womans Club and the St. Cecilia Society. Neal Qrajfy documents thefirst forty years ofthe Womans Club, while Dr. Qeorge Higgins projiles lilise Hall, one oj the founders of the St. Cecilia Society.

The cover illustration is tafien from a Fortnightly Club postcard in the collection of Neal QraJJy. ITe design on the opposite page camefrom the cover ofthe 1925 Woman's Club yearbook. The back cover ornament is a drawing ofSt. Cecilia, patron saint of music.

All photographs are from the collection oj the Santa Barbara Flistorical Society unless otherwise indicated.

Smh^^r\)Ur(f}Hstorkd Society i)Qi]\Anniymar^J^miiT)onors of S^tcrrv'ber 1992 Ntr. &M.rs.B. Cedric Boeseke A4r. SrTArs. Charles Cleek Mr.&Mrs.Qordon Fish Mr. CrMrs. Calvin Qoodrich The Orella'Qonzdez Family ThcMericos Foundation Mr.David F.Myrick Mr.&Mrs.Paul Pidley-Tree Mr.&Mrs. Cjilberi M.W.Smith Don &Jo Beth Van Qelderen

Michael Redmon, Editor Judy Sutcliffe, Designer © 1992 The Santa Barbara Historical Society 136 E. De la Guerra Street, Santa Barbara, California 93101 Single copies S5.00

‘TH'C

s Ciw^b; >cJirllrJ^oriy ymrs

A computer consultant,7^eat Qrajfy has Lived in Santa Barbarafor overjo years.

Bleis author ofa number ofworlds on local history, including a history ofthe com munity ofNaples and ofthe Nlasini adobe in JAontecito,and has served asan<^icerforthe Santa Barbara branches offhe Westerners and B. Clampus Vitus.'Lnis article is part ofa larger work he is preparingfor the Womans Cluh.

In front of Austin and Trenwith’s

Chase are just a small sampling of the names chat have graced the pages of Santa Barbara history.

In this tradition stands the Santa Bar bara Woman’s Club, which for 100 years has been an open forum in which women have worked to better the community.

Founded primarily as a social club, in the course or the next forty years it grew into a major force in local affairs.

A forerunner of the Santa Barbara Woman's Club was the Fortnightly Club, founded in 1889. Mrs. Alfred (Mary Williams) Poett heard about a Boston women's group which met every two weeks. She approached Mrs. Barclay Hazard, who had been a member of the Boston group, for more information.

Mrs. Hazard invited Mrs. Poett, Mrs, William Eddy and Mrs, George Oliver to her house for a meeting at two o’clock on December 7, 1889. The four agreed to another meeting to which each woman would bring three friends.

grocery store on State Street yesterday, a young lady gave an excellent exhibition of horseman" ship. The saddle cloth had slipped and the bronco reared and jumped about for several minutes before he was caught. During all that time, the equestrienne sat like a statue. In any place but Santa Barbara, the lady would have fainted.” TAomingPress, January i, 1889.

Far from being shy and retiring, the women of Santa Barbara, like the eques trienne above, have often shown their mettle in the face of adversity, crisis and turmoil. Bernada Ruiz, Julia Williams, Mary Ashley, Margaret Baylor and Pearl 41

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NOTICIAS Mrs.Allred Poett, one ofthefounders ofthe Fortnighdy Club.

The first regular meeting of the Fort nightly Club was held at Mrs. Eddy's house at Mission and Castillo streets on December 27. 1889. In attendance for the subject. “What Women Have Effected in the Way of Organization, were Mmes. Charles Fernald Edwards Roberts, Barclay Hazard, George Oliver,

Sherman Scow. F. Wheelan, Rice. Mor timer E. Hare and Misses Dabney and Rebecca Moor. Membership was limited CO twenty-five and meetings were to be held on alternate Fridays at a member’s home at which a topic of interest was presented, usually by the hostess.

A review of the club’s meticulous notes from the 1890s reveal a selection of sub jects which are surprisingly topical.

These include. “Should Women Enter Politics; Not as Voters, but to Influence their Fathers, Brothers and Husbands’’— Mrs Eddy, 1891 (this was changed to "Should Women Enter Politics’’); "Im migration and Naturalization’’—Mrs. Ni cholas Wade, 1891; “Is it Possible to be Perfectly Truthful? Police Lies’’—Mrs. George Edwards, 1892; “Japan as a New Commercial Rival’’-Mrs. Frances Bax ter, 1897; and “The Uses of Waste’’Mrs. George Edwards, 1897. Mrs. Edwards had been preceded oy Mrs. A. Boyd Doremus, who spoke on “Domestic Sanitation.’’

The Fortnightly Club met unci! 1939. To Mrs. George Edwards, the oldest surviving

The William Eddy house, ”Oak.ioood,” was the site of the first meeting of the Fortnightly Club. Eddy was a banker and real estate developer.

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100 YEARS OF SERVICE

The Santa Barbara Womans Club first met on the second floor ofthe former Commercial Banl( building on the comer ofState and Victoria streets, seen here at the right ofthe photo. Note paving ofState Street, which dates this photograph ca. 1888.

member, having joined in 1892, wenc the honor of holding the last meeting at her home at 128 East Mission Street on the oc casion of the club’s 50th anniversary.

The Santa Barbara Woman’s Club 'Vdhat are the advantages and disadvantages ofa Womans Club?'

It was perhaps a result of this suggestion for a topic in a Fortnightly Club presen tation that led to the creation of the Santa Barbara Woman’s Club.

The first clubhouse was upstairs at 1235 State Street, the former sice of the Commercial Bank. A brief description of the meeting place is found in the first notice of tne club in the dooming Press for Saturday, September 6, 1892.

A Ladies Social club has been organized in Santa Barbara,andfour large,sunny rooms facing the Arlington in the upper Hawley block, are to be fitted up with all elegance possible.

At a previous meeting Mrs. FA. Baxter was elected president and Mrs. Wade of Montecito and Mrs. Dixie Thompson,com mittee on arrangements.

The committee have [sic] been actively at

ivorf{ as the preliminary arrangements show; awnings are going up to the windows,a large folding door has Been cut between two suites, which shows that the ladies will soon enjoy all the pleasures ofclulxlom that their liege brds and masters have so bngmonopolized.

Unlike the Fortnightly Club, which met in members’ homes, this new club gave women a central location in which to meet and receive mail. The latest pa pers, magazines, books and pamph ets were availiable for the women to read and discuss. By the end of the first year, 97 women had joined the club.

One of the first problems the women encountered was the lack of hitching posts for their carriages on Equestrian Avenue. A complaint was issued to the city fathers (more likely the city hus bands) and adequate posts were promptly made available.

Membership growth and the entertain ing of outside speakers led the club to seek larger quarters. They moved two blocks west CO Dr. Harriet Belcher’s former home (built in 1886, it is now the parking lot of the Louise Lowry Davis Center). The pre vious tenant of the house, the Arlington Jockey Club, had left because they felt the house was haunted.

In October 1896, the club moved again,

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NOTICIAS lived for a time in New York and Mrs.

Frances Baxter,first president of the Santa Barbara's Woman's Club. Courtesy Santa Barbara Woman's Club. Photo by William B. Dewey.

this time to 6 Arlington Avenue, This new clubhouse, built tor them by a Mrs. Hoberg, contained a desperately needed auditorium chat sac 150 people. Membership was now limited to 100 permanent members, 25 temporary anci 25 half members (for chose who lived here only for the season). Dues were S6.00 per year.

The club year ran from October through May. Frances Baxter—First President The first president of the club, Mrs. Frances A, Baxter, served from 1892 to 1899. While the majority of the women In the club were wives of the leading bankers, lawyers and capitalists of the town, she was always listed as Mrs. Frances A. or Frances F. Baxter.

Frances Amourette Farnsworth was born April 3, 1833, into a well-known New England family with a lineal de scent from Governor William Bradford of Massachusetts. She married A, Sydney Baxter, member of a prominent Vermont family, who served on Ulysses S. Grant's staff during the Civil War. The couple

Baxter apparently cook an interest in as tronomy and physical science. After she was widowed. Mrs. Baxter came to San ta Barbara in 1887.

In 1890 she joined the Fortnightly Club.

Her first topic was, "Henrik Ibsen—His Principal Ideas.” In the 1893 cicy directo ry, she is listed at Baxter Terrace, a rooming house she had built at 302 West Micheltorena Street (the lot backed up to her home at 1511 Bach Street), Both structures still stand.

A son. Duke Farnsworth Baxter, was one of the original members of the Ar lington Jockey Club. Her daughter, Flor ence, married Charles F. Eaton of Moncecico. In the 1910s and 1920s, Mrs. Baxter alternated her residences between her son-in-law’s homes and her Bach Street house.

Frances Baxter died in her son-in-law’s Moncecico home at 3:30 a.m., October 20. 1925. She was 92 years old, although the Teaming Press listed her age as 78.

She died from hypostatic pneumonia, contracted soon after she fel, breaking her hip.

The format of the club changed as the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth. Up to tnis time, the club had been primarily a social organization, now they became a study group. "De partments’' were formed for the study of California history, music, arc. Shakes peare, current books, civics, and drama.

Twice a month Mrs. Chapin, a woman from Los Angeles, discussed current events. Each month a country was stud ied and discussed. Another topic of interesc was Reminiscences of Old Santa Barbara.” The entire club year of 19071908 was devoted to the study of Japan.

Eventually, lecturers and artists were brought in weekly.

Kight: E. l^sel Ray,taken shortly before he re ceived the commission to design the Anacapa Street clubhouse. Other buildings he worked on included die Y.?4.C.A. building at Carrillo and Chapala streets (with Windsor Soule) and the second Los Banos del Mar bathhouse.

100 YEARS OF SERVICE The Fourth Clubhouse 14i9 Anacapa Street By 1906. the Woman's Club had 86 permanent members (membership was imiced to 200 permanent members), 25 temporary and 25 half-members. Dues were $7.00 per year. Growing member ship again caused the club to consider bui ding a new clubhouse. To raise money for a building fund, the club held a "Loan Exhibition" February 25-28, 1908, at their Arlington Avenue clubhouse. The catalogue of the exhibition lists over 700 items of "Ye Treasures of Ye Olden Times” loaned by members. Fifty-eight local businesses (including all the banks) bought advertising space in the catalogue to help raise money.

By June of 1910 the club had $828,52. A vacant lot, listing for $2000 in the 1400 block of Anacapa street, was chosen as the site for the new clubhouse. Frank j.

Maquire (Mrs. Maquire was club presi dent, 1904-1909 and 1910-1912) was one of the agents holding the property. He donated naif of his agent’s fee towards the purchase of the lot and the club’s building fund. The club put down $1000 and were given 90 days to raise the re mainder. Art loans, jelly and jam sales, fairs, teas and benefits raised $620.65 within 20 days. A member loaned $300

45 at low interest and by October, the club held the site free and clear.

Plans for the new clubhouse by archi tect E. Russel Ray were shown on De cember 6, 1910, and described in the Morning Press, ". . . the tea room (24'x20') is in the front of the building and can be thrown into the main room (40'x30’). At one end is a large fire place.

The entrance is on the south side, and forms a large court where members may sit and listen to the band concerts as it fronts the Alameda [Park]. A pergola ex tends over the court. There are attractive dressing rooms and a kitchen, and the building will be heated with gas. The floors will be of maple."

J. C. F. Miller was given the $5000 contract and ground was broken Decem ber 11, although the building permit was issued December 13, According to the contract, the work had to be done in 70 days. Progress of the construction was given much press coverage. The Morning Press for February 9, 1911, noted, ". . . only second in interest to the opening of the New Arlington Hotel will be the opening of the new clubhouse. . . .’’

A month behind schedule, the club house formally opened to 104 members and 350 guests on March 18, 1911. Cesare La Monaca’s band provided the music and La Monaca presented the club with a

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NOTICIAS

iMndscape painters[Emilia aivi Thaddeus Welch at their Santa Barbara home. Her paintings oflocal adobes,commissioned by the Woman s Club,constitute an invaluable historical record.

plate bearing the kalian coat of arms.

While in the midst of the fund raising for the clubhouse, the women had raised sSi200 of the $20,000 needed to keep La Monaca’s Band in Santa Barbara.

One of the assets of the new clubhouse was its proximity to the Alameda Park bandstand across the street, Mrs. Max Schott recalled in 1938 how the club raised money for the construction loan, "They used to serve tea in Alameda Park following the band concerts, carrying tea and cups across the street and serving and doing all the work themselves, all for 15 cents a cup.”

Inco the Roaring Twenties Our grand business is, not to see. what lies dimly at a distance, l)ut to do what lies clearly at hand. Anna H. Conant (president, 19191922)

Though the club had previously donat-

ed money and time to various city pro even more injects, it started volved in civic affairs around 1910 That year the club sent a letter to the city council expressing concern about the de cency of motion pictures being shown in the city. The following year the club stated, "We will take a more active hand in civic affairs, particularly in the mat ter of the waterfront and its beautifying.”

The California History Section of the club invited the "old-timers” to meetings to talk about the early days of Santa Barbara. They also engaged an "artist friend" to paint the old adobes "so that the pictures may be before the members, whi e they hear from the lips of those that knew them, the history of these old homes that are fast falling into ruins.”

The.se pictures, painted by Ludmilla Pilat (,Mrs. Thaddi'us) Welch in 1915, are now ]Mll of the Santa Barbara Historical So ciety collection.

The First World War had a large im-

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100 YEARS OF SERVICE pace on the club and marked a turning point for women's full involvement in community affairs. Mrs. Michel (Alma) C. Levy in her president’s address in 1918 stated, "The demands upon women are growing greater each day...She must take the man’s place as he is called out, and more and more there is need of the volunteer worker. There can be no leisure women, and it is the duty of the trained worker to inspire the slacker amongst us —for there are slackers—to do her share.”

Mrs. Hilmer O. Koefod (president, 1922) in a later interview gave credit to Mrs Levy, "She changed the character of the club during the twenties from a social club to a club with an active interest in community betterment.”

During the war, the Woman’s Club raised ^9,000 for the Liberty Loan Drive. This was the largest amount raised by any group in Santa Barbara.

The meetings now dealt with Red Cross work, patriotism, vegetable drives, fund raisers and defense work. The influenza epidemic at the end of the war caused a ban on public meetings and the club closed twice as a result.

Following the war, the club added a new department, the Public Affairs Com mittee, headed by Mrs. C. A. Storke. The PAC eventually included sub-committees such as Legislation, Public Health, Child Welfare, Americanization, Roadside and

Outdoor, Conservation and Advisory.

The Advisory Council Committee had representatives to the American Associa tion of University Women, the Eastside Social Center. Native Daughters of the Golden West, the American Legion, Par ent-Teacher Association, County Coun cil of Social Agencies, the Community Art Association, the Girl Scouts, and many other organizations. PAC members attended city council and county board of supervisors meetings.

Networking with such a variety of lo cal agencies allowed the Woman’s Club to exercise a strong influence in many is sues affecting the community. When a lack of street signs became a problem, the club engaged city firemen to paint and post signs. The club’s PAC peti tioned to protect the tidelands from oil drilling, protested the expansion of the Mesa Oil District and was responsible for an ordinance preventing oil drilling in Mission Canyon; all of this some 40 years before the birth of Get Oil Out (GOO)in 1969, In 1964, First Lady Lady f3ird Johnson began a campaign to remove unsightly billboards from the nation’s highways.

Four decades prior to her efforts, the Roadside and Outdoors Committee of the Woman's Club were appealing to the Board of Supervisors for an ordinance to control billboards along the highway.

TTxis scene along the 2900-3000 blocks ofStale Street was the type ofadvertising blight against which the Woman’s Club campaigned in the 19205.

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'fhe club s Anacapa Sinet clubhouse sLill stands, now kjT-own as the Dolores Center. Illustration taken from the club's 1915 yearbook- Courtesy Santa Bar bara Woman’s Club.

working with ad agencies on removing unsightly billboards, contributing money to a test case on billboard restrictions in Massachusetts and obtaining permission from the telephone and telegraph compa nies to tear off signs tacked to their poles.

The Public Health Committee was also busy. Working with Dr. Ida Stambach they brought about an effective milk in spection program and worked to get passed a aw for the pasteurization of milk. In 1918, they undertook as their special project, "the cleaning of the waste places and dumping grounds of the city. One of the most unsightly, at Car rillo and Garden, has been thoroughly cleaned into a sanitary and seemly condi tion." The following year they pressed for the closing of dumps on private prop erty and noted their success with closing and sanitizing a dump on Cota Street be tween Canal (now Olive) and Laguna streets. They also campaigned for legisla tion concerning the keeping of domestic animals within the city.

The Child Welfare Committee assisted in establishing and operating pre-school clinics, was responsible for the city coun cil creating a Commission on Recreation and Playgrounds and raised money to

transport children to and from health school. Due to the committee's efforts.

Vera Cruz Plaza was converted into a park with benches, bathrooms and a drinking fountain, so that, according to the club's yearbook of 1918-19,“motners and children in the lower part of town could enjoy the privileges as those in the upper part of the city.”

(Toncerned that women who ran afoul of the law had no separate showers or baths at the jail and no females to super vise them, the club requested women be hired for the city police force. Their per sistent lobbying, which included exam ples of other cities’ endeavors, finally led to the appointment of twelve deputy p0licewomen and a Woman Protective Of ficer. Ultimately, separate bathing facili ties were built at the jail.

The club also concerned itself with the community's less fortunate members.

Problems with the mentally ill were often solved by taking them to jail. The club stressed the neea for a ward for the proper care of these individuals. Eventually a ward was added to the General Hospital.

The club also made good on their 1911 promise to protect ana beautify the wa terfront. The 1926 bond measure for the breakwater and harbor was successful, in

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100 YEARS OF SERVICE pare thanks to the women who cam paigned, phoned voters and arranged for transportation to the polls. When the lumber company at the foot of Stearns Wharf was abandoned, a proposal to turn the area into an amusement park was fought vigorously by the club. Several leading citizens bought up the property and then offered it to the city at no profit. Bond measures for the purchase of this property also passed, again with the leavy involvement of the club. The re sult of these endeavors is the publiclyowned beachfront and harbor we enjoy today, encompassing the whole of East and West Beach.

The ground had barely stopped shak in from the 1925 earthquake and the c was in full motion. They raised $6500 (the largest contribution to the Earth quake Relief Fund from any single organ ization), aided in church rebuilding and took to the streets to raise money for the Old Mission Restoration Fund. They lent their support to the new building code and raised their voice in protest to the council over the abolition of the Archi-

tectural Board of Review in 1926.

This review of the club's activities dur ing the first four decades of this century can only hint at the wide range of their political and social activism. The club fought to prevent the cutting down of trees in the city and the abandonment of the street railway system. Club members worked to help establish the Mission Canyon Fire District and sent letters to national leaders in favor of equal rights for women. Members were active in the Community Chest, Eastside Social Cen ter, the Santa Barbara Art League, the Better Homes Campaign and a host of other agencies.

On the Move Again By 1924, the club had grown to 437 members and the need for Isarger quarters was again felt. The Anacapa Street club house was now utilized for study groups and small meetings. The Lobero Theatre, the Recreation Center and, somewhat later, La Fonda Restaurant served as al-

The lipck^oood Inn in Mission Canyon. Us destruction by Jire in presented the Woman’s Club with a golden opportunity.

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tdrnace meeting places, while the club de cided on a course of action.

Two disasters played important roles in the club’s next steps. As Mrs. Levy put it on October 8, 1925. . the earthquake changed club plans, all idea of rebui ding the old clubhouse has been abandoned, un til there is sufficient money to build a large and safely constructed one suitable for the growing membership,” During the winter of 1925, the newspapers rumored that an offer had been made for the club’s Anacapa Street property by the Bishop of Los Angeles (Our Lady of Sorrows Church was next door). Initially, all par ties involved denied the stories, but at a meeting at the Masonic Temple on Janu ary 27, 1926, the club voted to sell the property for $22,500 and on April 1, 1926. the Archdiocese approved the purchase.

Still owned by the Catholic Church, the old clubhouse at 1419 Anacapa Street is known today as Do ores Center.

Rockwood The Club now had $22,500 and 516 members, of which as many as 225 could be counted on to attend the weekly lun cheons. The search was on for a suitable building or lot to accommodate the needs of the club- Building restrictions within

city limits were strict, which raised con struction costs. Months were spent by Mrs. Roy P. Churchill and the building committee to find an appropriate loca tion. The Lobero Theatre offered to build a tea room for the club as an enticement to stay there, but the club declined.

Then the second "fortunate” disaster struck. On February 8. 1927, the Rockwood Inn in Mission Canyon burned.

The main building and two of five cot tages were lost with an estimated value of $60,000. None of the twelve guests staying there at the time were injured.

The morning after the fire, Mr. and Mrs. Max Schott drove past the ruins.

Mrs. Schott thought this was the ideal location for the new clubhouse. She im mediately put down $100 as an option so the club might have first rights. Mrs, C. A. Storke added further fundirm. In April, the club moved to purchase Rockwood Inn for $17,000. Although the club had campaigned hard for building restric tions in Santa Barbara following the 1925 earthquake, one of the arguments given for buying the Rockwood property was that it was in the county and not subject to the restrictions or the city code. The vote to purchase the property passed 450 votes to three votes.

The building committee went to Enoch

a Smiii! Iltlllll !

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100 YEARS OF SERVICE J. Marsh, owner of che property. Marsh sold the sice to che club for $17,000, al though he had hoped for $22,000. then promptly turned around and loaned che club che $17,000 back plus an additional $6,000 to allow them to begin construc tion of che new clubhouse.

There were some problems in clearing che title to the property, but by October they were resolved. The architectural firm of Edwards, Plunkett and Howell had been retained and their plans accept ed. Ground was broken December 19.

The club turned to its members to raise che needed $40,000 for construction.

Within two weeks, $10,000 came in.

The final cost for che property, con struction, furnishings, equipment and grounds came to $71,478.53. The club let it be known that if architects and merchants charged minimum prices, pay ment would be immediate. Two of che cottages chat survived che fire are today known as Sycamore Hall and Periwinkle Lodge.

The club's influence in che community was now used to their own advantage.

They persuaded che Santa Barbara and Suburban Railway to move their scop closer CO Rockwood, convinced the Board of Supervisors to approve a footbridge over Mission Creek and a sidewalk on county property in front of Rockwood, They asked che Mission fathers for a shortcut through their property and got It,

On May 16, 1928, che Rockwood club house had its formal opening. Over 1,000 members and friends attended. The fol lowing week, an open house for che com munity brought out an additional 1,000 visitors. That summer, Mrs. Sam Scanwood initiated che annual La Merienda celebration at Rockwood and 2,000 were served refreshments at this gala Fiesta af fair. The club continued to grow and by 1930 che membership was in excess of 1,000 members.

Left: The Woman's Club Spanish Colonial lievival'StyLe clubhouse has been a Mission Canyon fixture for 65 years. Courtesy Santa Barbara Woman’s Club.

Presentations In addition to its civic achievements, che club has had a fascinating array of actors, musicians, writers, and politleans give presentations over che years. These lectures were especially important in edu cating the community in che days before radio and television.

Early on, entertainment cook che form of music recitals, readings and lectures of ten provided by a member, a member’s spouse.or a noted local citizen, but eventu ally invitations were extended to others, such as suffragettes Carrie Chapman Cate and Susan 13. Anthony in 1895 and David Starr Jordan in 1900. In March 1914 che Woman's Club had che honor of hosting the first Pacific Coast appearance of He len Keller, at che Potter Theatre.

Miss Alinie Greenwood became a regu lar before the club in 1925, speaking on Current Topics." She would spen six months or so traveling che worfd, meet ing with leading authors, politicians and businessmen anci come back to report all.

She is not only remembered for her top ics, but for her entrances and attire. Mrs. Margaret Cato Wood recalled, "She was something. She was very dressy and was always in a hurry. She would arrive out of breach and she’d come in pulling off her gloves, taking her jacket off, tossing it on a chair, while calking all che time.

People would just hold their breach, wait ing for her entrance."

Political controversy swirled around che club in November 1925. when candi dates for city council were invited to speak. The candidates had originally been cold they had ten minutes to speak, but noting che number of candidates the club limited che time period to five min utes. The candidates balked, saying five minutes was too short. The next day the time was changed back to ten minutes and che candidates now claimed they did not have enough time to prepare. In re buttal che Woman’s Club noted chat dur ing the war their Liberty Loan captains presented and responded to many vital facts in as little as three minutes and raised $49,000 in che process. Thomas Scorke, publisher of the Daily News, fol-

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lowed up wich an editorial praising the civic efforts of the club and blasting the qualifications and integrity of half the candidates.

NOTES

Others who have spoken before the club include Alan Hancock, Lockwood de For est. Bernhard Hoffmann, Carl Sandburg, Lincoln Steffens, and Margaret Sanger, During World War II, Edward R. Murrow and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt were guests of the club. Among the entertainers who have appeared are Vincent Price, Marilyn Monroe and Lena Horne.

In 1923, Santa Barbara attorney Wil liam Griffith spoke on good government.

His closing remarks could stand as the creed of the Santa Barbara Woman’s Club:“Here is your city: you can do one of three things wich it—if you do not like it you can leave; if you approve of it, re member it will not improve of itself; and if you love it. you can make it the city of which you have dreamed, a bigger and better Santa Barbara.”

From their modest beginning as a social

Much of the information for this article was drawn from the archives of the Santa Barbara Woman’s Club. Especially useful were the club's yearbooks, 1908-1991. Also in the ar chives were the papers of the Fortnightly Club, including notes written by Mrs. Wil liam Eddy on the activities of chat organiza tion.

I wish to thank Mrs. Edward Lewis, Mrs. R. Warde Smith. Mrs. Margaret Cato Wood, Mrs. Helen Pedotti and Mrs. Channing Peake for sharing with me their memories of club ac tivities. The reminiscences of Hannah C. Moor, published in NOTICIAS. Volume XXXI, No. 1 (Spring 1985) and the letters of Dr. Harriet Belcher, published in NOTICIAS, Volume XXV, No. 2(Summer 1979), were especially helpful detailing the early history of the club.

Finally, much information was gleaned from the pages of three local newspapers, the Santa Barbara Daily Independent, the Morning Press and the Santa Barbara Daily T^cu/s.

club to a civic organization or over 1.000 members, the Santa Barbara Woman’s Club has for the past 100 years demon strated its caring and committment to "the bigger and better” Santa Barbara.

A gathering at lipcku/ood, sometime in the t^jos.

Mrs. Max Schottfaces the camera in the right foreground. She is talking to Mrs. Francis Price.

Courtesy Santa Barbara WoTTian’s Club.

Si. Ccc(lt4 5ociciy

mh

(^Qorg c

ins,

Dr. Qeorge A. Hi .'ns has, since i g8^, held the position Oj Hrector ofSurgical Education at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, ble is the author ofthe book.

Hall of Coccage. a biography ofsurgi cal pioneer, Dr. Eichararlall.

her husband. Richard, a brilliant and successful young New York surgeon.

Born Elizabem Boyer Coolidge in 1853 sojourn in Paris, France, during a of her parents in Europe, Elise (the dimin utive s le later adopted)spent her early life in Paris and Boston. She was descended on both sides of her family from the New England Coolidges, an extensive and pow erfully close-knit and socially distin guished merchant family whose ancestors arrived in Boston from England in 1630.

Elise was educated with the daughters of other proper Bostonians in local schools and spent extended periods with the fami ly in France. Education of young women in that period concentratecl on the social amenities, literature and the arts and Miss Coolidge displayed an interest and apti tude in music, acquiring familiarity with the piano, organ, cello and violin.

While visiting her grandparents in New York City she met Dr. Richard John Hall, a handsome young surgeon who was then in surgical residency train ing at the recently opened Roosevelt Hospital. Dr. Hall’s father, the Reverend John Hall, was pastor of the 5ch Avenue

Once described by Claude Debussy, the noted French composer, as "that saxo phone lady . . . with the patience of a redskin,” Elise Hall was a young wife and the mother of two small daughters when she arrived in Santa Barbara from New York City in the winter of 1889. Santa Barbara was a small, quiet seaside town, the first railroad having arrived only two years before, and modern conveniences such as electricity, street paving and the telephone just being introduced. Much of the town still had unimproved streets plagued by blinding swirls of dust in the summer and quagmires of mud during the rainy season. This was in sharp contrast to New York City, where the years be tween 1880 and 1890 were known as the “Elegant Eighties."

Manhattan was rapidly emerging as a commercial and financial center of the world - money was king and the country was booming. For Elise Hall, transloca tion from the glittering social whirl of Manhattan to the frontier life of Santa Barbara must have been a rude and frightening experience, all brought about by the devastating disability suffered by 53

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●A

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Dr. Rj.chard Hall, who overcame a serious co caine addiction to become a successful surgeon and Santa Barbara civic leader.

Presbyterian Church and one of the na tion’s most prominent clergymen. His congregation was well represented by the affluent and socially prominent families of Manhattan.

The relationship between Richard Hall and Elise Coolidge ripened into romance and they were united in marriage on October 14, 1879. The marriage ceremo ny was held at the Trinity Church of Boston, where Elise was a parishioner.

Reverend Phillips Brooks, pastor of the Trinity Church, performed the ceremo ny and the October 18th issue of the Boston Qlobe noted that the blessing was given by the Reverend Dr. John Hall of New York, the groom's father. Appar ently, having a minister of another de nomination speak in the pulpit of Tri nity Church was generally not permitted and it was noted later that Dr. Brooks received a private reprimand by the Church Bishop for allowing Dr. Hall to give the blessing for the young couple.

Shortly after the wedding, the newly weds sailed for Europe for a combined honeymoon and study period at various European medical clinics. Although most of their time was spent in Vienna, the

leading medical center of the world at that time, they also visited Paris, with which Elise was well acquainted from her many visits there. Professional trips to European clinics was a common prac tice then and the Halls encountered many of his medical friends, permitting many happy social occasions.

In September 1880, the Halls returned to New York and the 24-year'Old surgeon began his practice. He received an ap pointment at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons (later Columbia) and on the staff of Roosevelt Hospital.

The Halls resided at 17 East 49th Street in a house owned by Elise’s Grandfather Coolidge. and their first child, Elise Riche, was born in 1883.

Young Dr. Hall rapidly became recog nized as one of New York’s promising surgeons and social contacts through the medical profession as well as the church provided many interesting and stimulat ing activities for the young mother. In 1882, Elise’s younger sister, Roge, married Dr. William McRim, a New York phy sician, adding further to the richness of life in the city.

On October 11, 1884,just three days be fore the Hall’s fifth wedding anniversary, a report appeared in the TAtclical Uncord, which was destined to have a profound effect on the lives and future of this hapPY couple. The report related an experi ence or a German physician who had demonstrated anesthesia of the cornea and conjunctiva of the eye with a solu tion of cocaine hydrochloride. Dr. Hall was working with his close friend, Dr. William S. Halsted, (later to become America’s most famous surgeon) and al most immediately the two oegan active experiments with this drug, hoping that it might prove of use in general surgery.

Using themselves, their colleagues and medical students as experimental sub jects, they set about to determine the proper dosage, not only for local anesthe sia, but also for regional nerve block. On November 26, 1884, Dr. Hall became the first person ever to have dental work done with anesthesia produced by injec tion of the mandibular nerve with a local anesthetic solution.

55

100 YEARS OF SERVICE

In 1889, the Halls travelled across coun try CO Santa Barbara hoping somehow to throw off this overwhelming burden and start life anew, For Elise Hall, observing the effects of this diabolical drug on her husband, destroying his brilliant career and threatening his very existence, must have been a frightening and depressing experience. She was now forced to forego the warmth and security of home, fami ly, friends and an altogether halcyon life in Paris, Boston and Manhattan for a distant and alien town lying at the far edge of the continent.

Why Santa Barbara

Blise Halt holding her first child, EUse Riche Hall. The Halls were living in Tdew Yorh City during this period. Courtesy Arthur Pier.

Use of cocaine to produce local anesthe sia for surgical procedures increased rap idly and in addition it was observed that if the drug were snuffed up the nostril by chose who had a cold they breached more easily. Also it became rather the fashion to snuff cocaine at the cheater to add in creased realism to the production, but there was little or no appreciation of the dangerous effects resulting from the use of this double-edged medication.

Both Hall and Halsted, being unaware of cocaine’s addictive properties, became seriously entwined in the grasp of this demonic drug. Dr. Halsced’s decline due to cocaine addiction occurred with alarming rapidity and within six months follow ing the first experiments with the drug, he disappeared from the scene in New York ana was admitted to a hospital car ing for patients with substance abuse.

Dr. Hall apparently was able to cope better with his addiction, possibly due to strong family support. He remained ac tive in the affairs of the medical school and hospital and in 1887 a second daugh ter, Mary Coolidge, was born, but the ravages of cocaine addiction continued.

As early as 1790, settlers had been di rected by the Indians to mineral springs near Arroyo Burro Beach, reporting me dicinal benefits derived from the spark ling water. These springs were named for Sc. Veronica and subsequently were known as Veronica Springs, where wa ter was bottled and sold until recent years. In addition, the early sailors who made port in Santa Barbara were aware of bubbling mud baths near what is now Nacoma and Chapala Streets and word of their curative properties spread wide ly. The town’s reputation as a health spa became greatly enhanced with develop ment of a hotel and health resort adja cent CO the four hoc springs in Hoc Springs Canyon above Moncecico. Fame of this spa brought health seekers to the area despite the lack of a railroad link to the area until 1887. This heavy influx of wealthy health-seekers stimulated con struction of the ninety-room luxury Ar lington Hotel, and many prosperous citi zens from the East Coast and Midwest made the crip to spend their winters in Santa Barbara.

One of these was Rowland Hazard, owner of textile plants in Rhode Island, who acquired property behind the Old Mission and constructed a home, now Sc. Mary’s Retreat House. The Hazards were related to the Coolidge family and gra ciously allowed the Hall family use of their home during chat winter of 1889.

The geographic and cultural shock for the young wife and mother who had lived

56

NOTICIAS

A^o doubi there was a period ofadjustmentfor the Halls their movefrom the East Coast to Santa Barbara. Dr. Hall (in bowler hat) and his wife pose in front of El Cuartel in the early 1890s.

Daughter Mary is in cart to left, while daughter Elise sits on the ground next to Stephen Valenzuela.

only in Paris, Boscon and New York City must have been close to overwhelming.

During that winter, work was underway on construction of Cottage Hospital, a

eff'roject from the orts of resulting a group of ladies ofdetermined Santa Barbara to bring a health care facility to accom modate local citizens and health seekers alike. Two of the leaders. Mary Ashley and Lucy Brinkerhoff, had both been mar ried to physicians who died here without benefit of hospital care. Additionally, Dr. 'SlHarriet Belcher, a young woman cian, who arrived from Philadelphia in the early 1880s and soon became a great favorite with the ladies of the communi ty, had died in 1886, again without hospi tal care. Little imagination is required to understand the determination of the wom en to correct this deficiency, even though the men of the community were appar ently too involved in other pursuits to place much priority on this project Elise Hall joined the effort to raise funds for the completion of Cottage Hos pital. where the first patients were ad mitted in December of 1891. At one of the first meetings of the hospital board, she was elected a vice president and contin ued to participate in hospital activities.

Minutes of a board meeting in November.

1896, contain a motion extending thanks to Mrs. Hall for the papering and refur bishing of the reception halls and parlor of the hospital.

Dr. Hall, apparently recovering from his problem with cocaine, saw an opportunity to resume surgical practice and opened an office at 1504 Oaarden Street opposite the present A ice Keck Park Memorial Gardens which was a vacant lot at that time. The Halls then leased a house on upper Garden Street beyond Mission Street to begin life anew in this blossoming little city.

Elise Hall continued her interest in mu sic and. following an illness, perhaps ty phoid fever, she aeveloped a modest hear ing defect. It was suggested, probably by her husband, that playing a wind instru ment might benefit this condition and subsequently she acquired and began play ing the saxophone, which had only been invented in the 1850s in Germany and had seen limited use, mostly in military bands.

Elise Hall became highly enthusiastic about the possibilities of the saxophone as a concert and orchestral instrument and devoted much of the remainder of her life to the development of this instrument through study, performance and the com missioning of compositions.

The Amateurs and St. Cecilia Although Cottage Hospital made steady progress, largely due to the grow ing reputation of Dr. Hall as one of the leading physicians and surgeons on the West Coast, fund-raising efforts contin-

57

100 YEARS OF SERVICE ued, especially to provide hospital care for the needy. Elise Hall, possibly chink ing of the amateur Orchestral Society of Boston, sought out ocher musically in clined ladies to join her in group piaying.

This led to the formation ol a group known as “The Amateurs” consisting of Elise Hall (saxophone), Jane MacLaren (violin) and Miss Jean Waterman (piano).

They were soon joined by ocher interested ladies and fund-raising recitals were held at the I.O.O.F hall at 15 East Anapamu Street and at the Arlington Hotel. Other musicians included Mrs. A.D. Bellmany and Mrs. Norchcoce, both of whom sang, Florence Fernald, Mrs. Louis G. Dreyfus, Myra Nickerson and the Morgan sisters from Summerland, It was also noted chat Henry Howard played flute. It was from this group chat the idea of the Sc. Cecilia Society in Santa Barbara began. The ?4orning Press of April 8, 1892 contains the following item: The St. Cecilia Club recendy organized in this atyfor the purpose ofsupporting afree room in the hospital has selected the following officers: Pres.

Miss Eaton,Vice-Pres Mrs. F. M. Whitney, Treas. Miss MacLaren. Secy. Miss E. Nixon, BoardofDirectors:Mrs. Qeo. Edwards,Mrs.W W.Hollister,Miss Redington,Mrs. Henry Stambach.Miss Those.

Thefollowing members have already joined the Club: Miss Biglow, Mrs Elise Ha(l, Mrs. Walther Otto, Mrs Whitney, Mrs. Putnam, Mrs.Stambach,Mrs. Qeo. Edwards,Mrs.Alfred

Q-

Edwards, The Misses de ta Querra, The Misses Dibblee, Mrs. Nail Bacon, Mrs. Winchester, Miss Hease,Miss E. Macl-arai, Miss ]'. MacLxiren, Miss Wick<^rson, Mrs. H. Lincoln,Miss I{edington, Mrs. Wheeian, Miss EjundalL, Misses Alexander, Miss Iva Tdixon, Miss E. Tdixon, Miss Dorermis, Miss Low, Miss Hem~ son.Miss McElroy,Misses Knight,Mrs. Kingman,Miss Easton,Mrs. Ogilvy,Mrs.Stoddam, Mrs.W.W. Hollister, Misses Hawley, Mrs. Colt, Mrs. Howard, Miss Bouton, Mrs. R.L.

Chamberlain, Miss Douglass, Miss Q.Hicherson, Miss Doeg,Miss Elia Noble,Miss Waugh, Miss Femald^Miss Rice, andMiss Baxter.

Shortly after this, Richard Hall be came the driving force in organizing the Santa Barbara Medical Association, now the Santa Barbara County Medical Soci ety, and in both instances the Halls cook the wi.se and diplomatic course as young newcomers to forego holding office in deference to older established members of the community.

The legend of Sc. Cecilia daces back to second-century Rome, a time of Christian persecution, when Cecilia, a member of a patrician family, was martyred because of her steadfast Christian convictions.

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales notes that during her ordeals she “sang to God in her heart” and as the legend grew, she became known as the patron saint of music.

From humble beginnings, the St. Cecil ia Club grew and the amateurs gave fre quent performances to raise funds for the

Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, soon after construction.

58

NOTICIAS

sick and poor. Ac one point the goal of the club was CO raise che sum of five hundred dollars co suppor: a bed ac che hospital for those unable co pay. In later years, che so ciety sponsorea fairs which became an important pare of che social life of Santa Barbara. Today, loo years later, the Sc. Cecilia Society continues co grant sub stantial funds co help defray the cost of medical care for chose in financial need.

Life in Santa Barbara The Halls soon became involved in a wide variety of activities in Santa Barba ra. Dr. Hall, now fully recovered from che cocaine problem, developed a large and thriving surgical practice ac Cottage Hos pital and his reputation spread as a leading surgeon in California. In addition co help ing found che Medical Society in 1894, le was a charter member of che Santa Barba ra Club, founded in 1892, and he and Elise were also active members of che Country Club, Dr. Hall serving as president.

During che 1890s, one of the more nota ble community events was che annual Festival of the Flowers. Dr. Hall entered enthusiastically into this important civic event and in 1894 elected president, succeeding Roland Hazard.

In addition co sharing in these activi ties, Elise Hall continued co pursue her musical activities with "The Amateurs" and also in che development of che town band. These activities along with in volvement with the Sc. Cecilia Club and affairs of che Cottage Hospital board as well as providing guidance and care for her two growing daughters made for a very busy schedule. The 1893 annual report of Cottage Hospital recounts a visit CO che city by Elise’s mother, who paid for conversion of hospital space into a "large, commodious and well lighted operacing room”, supplemented by a gift from Dr. Hail. Visits by other family members, such as the Hazards, and friends from Boston, New York and che New England area made life in Santa Barbara more endurable and although thoughts of returning to New York became less fre quent, they did not disappear.

The Halls continued co lease their home

One ofthefirst members ofthe St. Cecilia Club was Florence Femald, daughter of Judge Charles Femald. After a career as a concert pianist in Europe, she returned to Santa Bar bara, where she taught piano and music.

on upper Garden Street, and purchased a lot in che Mission Hills addition with che thought of building a home there. Never theless yearnings for what might have been continued and although he recounted many of the good things about his new life and career in an 1895 letter co his friend, William Halsced, Dr. Hall wrote that he often felt, "like an artist ba nished from Paris.” He also stated, "I shall never accomplish what I dared co hope for in surgery and am perhaps not so ambitious as I was, but perhaps may really do more good as a sort of mission ary in che Wild West.”

Suddenly their life was shattered. The January 25, 1897 edition of che ^ntaBarbetra i Year had been plagued by unusually cold, wet and generally unpleasant weather, word had circulated about che community concerning che illness of che young sur geon who had become such an important figure in che community life che brief per iod he had lived in che city. Concern deepened into apprehension as no favora ble word was forthcoming and then the

100 YEARS OF SERVICE ukimace gloom descended.” Richard Hall died of a ruptured appendix on January 2^, 1897, just sixteen days short of his 41st birthday. His death from appendicitis was a double mockery, since only ten years earlier he had done the first successoperation on a patient with a ruptured appendix and peritonitis. Although he and his medical associates had made the diagnosis there was no other surgeon in Santa Barbara to do the operation and when a surgeon friend from San Francis co finally arrived, it was too late.

Dr. Hall had become one of Santa Barba ra’s most popular and best-known citizens and his death was widely regarded as a ca tastrophe for the city, not only by the af fluent but also by the city’s poor. Only a few months before his death, he had intro duced the newly discovered x-ray machine to Santa Barbara and gave a public exhibi tion at the hospital with the proceeds be ing devoted to a new children’s ward.

After Dr. Hall’s death, Miss Anna Cabot Blake, who was a close friend of the Halls, provided an endowment of ten thousand dollars for the "Richard Hall Bed”, the in come to be devoted to furnishing a free bed at the hospital. This fund consisted of five thousand dollars invested in Sunset Tele phone and Telegraph Company bonds and ive thousand in Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe general bonds. The current accu mulative value of such an investment would have been tremendous.

The Hall funeral was described as one of the most imposing ever held in Santa Bar bara and final burial service took place at the Santa Barbara Cemetery. In recount ing the role of the Santa Barbara Military Band in the ceremony, El Barbareno of January 27, 1897, reported, "Mrs. Hall, who is universally loved and admired as her husband was, is a musician of great talent, and has done much for the band.

The boys put their whole soul into the music as if breathing with each the sym pathy they felt for their benefactress in this the hour of her great bereavement”.

For Elise Hall this turn of events must have been totally devastating. To have gradually emerged from the dismal depths that had so disrupted her life in New York and precipitated the move west, only to be

59 victimized by this ultimate tragedy, was almost too much to endure. Certainly Santa Barbara had little to offer for the young mother and her two daughters and arrangements were made to return to Bos ton to reside with her mother in a large Beacon Street townliouse.

Soon after the return to Boston, she re sumed her musical interests with renewed vigor, improving : her performance on the saxopho lone and beginning a lifelong cru sade to establish this instrument in the area of concert and orchestral music. To this end she organized the Orchestral Club of Boston which like "The Ama teurs" of Santa Barbara was dedicated to providing experience for amateur musi cians. She secured as director the French oboist. Georges Longy, recently appointed principal oboist with the Boston Sym phony Orchestra. The first concert took place at Copley Hall in February of 1900.

Over the next 20 years, 28 public con certs, many featuring Mrs. Hall, were given. In an effort to stimulate greater interest in and wider acceptance of the saxophone, she also commissioned 22 original concert works as well as many adaptations of standard works for the saxophone.

Most notable of these compositions was "Rapsodie for Saxophone and Or chestra” by French composer, Claude De bussy, Apparently Mrs. Hall approached Debussy by letter about this commission and even though he had great misgivings about the saxophone, referring to it as an "aquatic instrument,” "an animal with a reed," and "an ungraceful instrument,” he was sufficiently attracted by the fee to accept the commission. The gestational period of Debussy’s “Rapsodie” was long and arduous; the final manuscript although dated 1903, did not appear until 1919, the year after Debussy’s death. The period of composition was punctuated by numerous nudges from Mrs. Hall who appeared in concert at Nouveau Theatre in Paris in 1904 with Debussy and other French composers in attendance. Appar ently her performance was well received and she appeared in concert at the Salle Pleyel in Paris the following year. News paper accounts of these concerts over the

60

years praise Mrs. Hall’s skillful mastery of the saxophone; however, there is no record of her having performed the De bussy "Rapsodie” in concert.

As a result of her efforts, Mrs. Hall be came America’s first notable saxophonist and her name is well-known and highly regarded by serious saxophone performers and scholars both in America and abroad.

This instrument was a latecomer to the musical instrument family, and the jazz idiom for which it was later to become so well suited was just beginning. Public per formances by women of her social back ground during that era were viewed with skepticism and dismay, and Elise Hall was regarded as daring and eccentric by Boston society. Her activities were some what at variance with acceptable con duct for a Boston matriarch and she be came a mild embarrassment to a family of eminent social and political status. A son-in-law was speaker of the Massachu setts House and a cousin, Calvin Coolidge, was shortly to become President of the United States.

A strong Spanish motif can be traced consistently through the many composi tions and adaptations commissioned by Elise Hall. It is possible that this resulted from fond memories of Santa Barbara and that this medium served as a memorial to her husband and their happy years in Cal ifornia. With increasing years the deaf ness which had originally stimulated her interest in the saxophone increased and her last public performance was in 1920, at age sixty-seven. She retained her high spirits and interest in furthering the saxo phone as an orchestral instrument as well as playing the instrument for her 0V.T1 en joyment. Although remaining energetic and exuberant, her health gradually de clined and Elise Hall died on Thanksgiv ing Day, 1924, at the age of seventy-one.

After Mrs. Hall’s return to Boston, she was apparently unhappy with the thought of her husband buried in far-off California, and consequently, Richard Hall’s body was disinterred and reburied in the Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, in the Coolidge family plot. Although his grave has two large markers, Elise Hall chose cremation

NOTICIAS

and her ashes rest in an unmarked grave adjacent to chat of her husband.

Elise Hall could scarcely have imagined chat the St. Cecilia Club with its humble beginnings as an offshoot of the small musical group "The Amateurs” would grow and thrive for lOO years with a large membership dedicated to helpin; those unable to pay for needed medica care. Perhaps as we hear the often rau cous groans eminating from the modern saxophone we can think kindly of its humble role in the beginning of today’s St. Cecilia Society with its commendable and noble social cause.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Books: 1. Coolidge, Emma D. Descendants of John and Mary Coolidge of Watertown, Massa chusetts. boscon: Wright and Potter Print ing Co., 1930.

2. Hall, Thomas C. John Hall, Pastor and Preacher. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1901.

3. Higgin.s, George A. Plall of Cottage. Santa Barbara: Chiron Books, 1989.

4. Tompkins, Walker A. Santa Barbara HisS:in, Mahers.

1982. Santa Barbara; McNally and 5, Peck, George T. ANobleLandmark^New Yorh:The hifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, i8o8'ig$8. New York: The Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, 1960.

6. The Roosevelt Hospital, i8yi'ig5J. New York: The Roosevelt Hospital, 1957.

Articles: Street, William H. "Elise Bowr Hall: Grand Amateur de Musique," Saxophone, Vol ume 10 (1990).

Newspapers; 1. Bl Barbareno, January 30, 1897.

2. Morning Press, April 8, 1892, January 26, 1897, 3. 5anta Barbara Daily News. January 25, 1897, January 26, 1897, February 3.

1897.

Unpublished Material; 1. Fenton, Jean. "The Archeology of a Leg end.” Manuscript, 1991.

2. Street, William H. "Elise Boyer Hall: America's First Female Saxophonist." Ph.D diss,, Northwestern University, 1983.

Personal Communication i. Pier, Arthur S. 2. Salisbury, Charlotte Young.

SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES President

Mrs. Jean Goodrich , . .

Mr. Leland Crawford . . , Mr. David Gledhill . . . .

. . First Vice President

Mrs, Susan B. Simpson .

Mr. John C. Woodward

Secretary Treasurer

Second Vice President

Mrs. Helene Beaver Mr. Cedric Boeseke

Dr. C. Seybert Kinsell Mr. David F. Myrick Mr. Remi Nadeau Mr. Frank ODonnell

Mr. Oswald J. Da Ros Mr. C. John Douglas, III Mrs. Leslie Hovey

Mr. Roger Phillips

Mr. DonnTognazzini Mr. William F. Luton, Jr., Executive Director LIFE MEMBERS Mr. Stephen A. Acronico Mr. and Mrs. William B. Azbell Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Beaver

Mr. Richard C. Harpham Mrs. Natalie B. Clark-Harpham Mrs. Glenn D. Hillebrand Mr. Eric P. Hvolboll

Mr. and Mrs. Danily Bell Mr. Marvin J. Branch Dr. and Mrs. Ashleigh Brilliant Mr. H. R. de la Cuesta Burkhart Mrs. Virginia Castagnola-Hunter Mr. and Mrs. Pierre P. Claeyssens Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cleek Mrs. M. C. Conkey Mrs. Rorence Corder-Witter Mr.J. V. Crawford Mr. Richard G. Croft, Jr.

Dr. C. Seybert Kinsell Mr. and Mrs. William F. Luton, Jr. Mrs. Jane Rich Mueller Mr. Spencer L. Murfey, Jr. Mr. William W. Murfey Mr. David F. Myrick Mr. and Mrs. GalwinJ. Pelissero Miss Frederica D. Poett Mrs. Rena Redmon Mr. and Mrs. Paul Ridley-Tree Mrs. Alma R. Ritchie Mr. and Mrs. Wade Rubottom

Marla Daily Mrs. R. E. Danielson, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Oswald J. Da Ros Mrs. Albert de L'Arbre

Mrs. Russell A. Ruiz

Mr. Wilson Forbes

Mrs. Melville Sahyun Mr. and Mrs. Peter J. Samuelson Mrs. Nina Sandrich

Mrs. Helen W.Foyer Master John Galvin Mr. Michael Galvin

Mr. and Mrs. J. Terry Schwartz Mrs. David Shoudy Mr. Walter G. Silva

Miss Sally Gane Mr. and Mrs, Keith Gledhill

Mr. and Mrs. Burke H. Simpson Mr. Ivano Paolo Vit

Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Fish

Mr. and Mrs. John C. Woodward BENEFACTORS: Santa Cruz Island Foundation, Northern Trust of California, and Two Anonymous Categories of membership; Life/Benefactor, $5,000 or more; President s Circle, $i,ooo; Patron, ^oo; Associate. $250; Sustaining, $100; Supporting. $50; Regular, $30.

Contributions to the Society are tax-exempt.

Museum & Library: 136 East De la Guerra St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101 ● Telephone; 805/966-1601

Non-Profit Organization U-S. l^ostage PAID Santa Barbara California Permit No.534

NOTICIAS Quarterly Magazine of the Santa Barbara Historical Society P.O. Box 578 Santa Barbara, California 93102-0578

Address Correction Requested Forwarding Postage Guaranteed

CONTENTS Pg. 41: SB Woman's Club First 40 Pg. 53: St. Cecelia Society & "That Saxophone Lady”