A.K. DeLemos Scrapbooks

Collection

Identifier: MG DeLemos-(Main)

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The five scrapbooks, compiled by Henry F. Mutschler, contain newspaper clippings (including many obituaries), flyers, programs, correspondence, and articles relating to A. K. DeLemos and Co. and to musical news and events in Newark and New York; also included are notes and published articles by and about Mutschler. The contents are arranged roughly chronologically within the volumes, but there is considerable overlap in dates between volumes. The contents are as follows:

Vol. 1 (1929-1941), includes material on Newark music critic Walter Flanigan, on Samuel A. Ward, on WPA music programs in Newark, etc.

Vol. 2 (1887-1940), includes Mutschler correspondence from musicians and customers; Newark concert programs and reviews; a clipping on Newark tenor Nathan Philip Sabin; Griffith Music Foundation publicity materials, etc.

Vol. 3 (1938-1946), includes correspondence congratulating Mutschler on the opening of the Company's new store at 16 Central Ave. (1938); clippings on Thomas Dunn English and Ralph Rainger; material on Bach Society of New Jersey concerts in Newark an obituary of Charles Biederman, Newark police band leader (1937); publicity materials on Newark pianist Jules Katchen; an obituary of Louise Westwood, director of music in Newark schools (1939), etc.

Vol. 4 (1949-1955), contains correspondence, greeting cards, and articles on the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the DeLemos Music Company, 1949; a photograph of Mutschler with floral tribute; an article and obituary on Alfred Ottomano, violin maker at 827 Broad St. (1952); material on the dedication of Paul Oliver auditorium at West Side HS (1950); material on the 50th anniversary of the Orpheus Club (1937), etc

Vol. 5 (1948-1956), contains obituaries of J. L. Minier, organist at South Park Presbyterian Church and Temple Oheb Shalom, T. F. Hamilton, organist at First Presbyterian Church, and music teachers Marcello Pietrangelo, Paul H. Oliver, and Otto K. Schill; Newark Opera House and Newark Alumni Chorus programs; correspondence and greeting cards congratulating Mutschler on fifty years in the music business and on his retirement in 1952, etc.

NOTE: The scrapbooks are in extremely brittle and fragile condition; consult staff for access.

Dates

1887 - 1948

Creator

A.K. DeLemos and Company Store (Organization)

Conditions Governing Use

Photocopying of materials is limited and no materials may be photocopied without permission from library staff. Researchers wishing to publish, reproduce, or reprint materials from this collection must obtain permission.

Biographical / Historical

Adolfo Kay (or Adolphe Karl) DeLemos (1850-Aug 1937), who was born in Birmingham, Alabama, traveled to Germany with his father, an opponent of slavery and of the Confederacy, at age eleven. He attended school in Germany and served an apprenticeship in a music business there. Returning to the U.S. in 1874, he worked for some years for Gustave Schirmer and Co. music publishers of New York. He married Augusta Saunders of Newark, a music teacher, and opened his own business at 215 Washington St. in 1879. At the time there were already some fourteen music businesses in Newark, but DeLemos prospered and eventually bought out several of his rivals. The firm specialized in classical music and in supplying the City's many music teachers.

DeLemos lived in his later years in East Orange and was active in the First Baptist Church there and in the First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church in downtown Newark, serving as a deacon in both churches..

Newark-born Henry Mutschler attended the German-English School on Green Street, and left school at fourteen to work in the jewelry business of an uncle. He was soon recommended to Mr. DeLemos and took up work in the rapidly expanding music business. The demand for classical sheet music in Newark was so great that Mutschler or another clerk traveled to New York daily to fill special orders. The business eventually moved to premises at 30 Halsey St. and Mutschler took over proprietorship of the company in 1929 when DeLemos retired.

After his retirement in 1952, Mutschler composed a memoir of his more than 50 years involvement with music in Newark.