Music in Maine

Bassoon instructor Herbert L. Coleman stood with his pupils at the Eastern Music Camp in Sidney.

Students from New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and South America attended the Eastern Music Camp during their four years of existence. The Eastern Music Camp offered over 23 scholarships to campers, ages thirteen to twenty-seven.

Students from New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and South America attended the Eastern Music Camp during their four years of existence. The Eastern Music Camp offered over 23 scholarships to campers ages thirteen to twenty-seven.

Music teacher Dorothy Harlow Marden of Waterville and other educators formed an organization that purchased 190 acres on Lake Messalonskee in Sidney for a summer music camp. They provided intense music experiences to young people from the Eastern United States from 1931 to 1934, until the camp went bankrupt during the Great Depression.

The Eastern Music Camp averaged 110 co-ed campers and 20 faculty specializing in diverse instruments from voice and chorus to bassoon for eight weeks in the summer. They held annual concerts, drawing crowds of campers’ families and the public.

A piano, bassoon and flute trio made up of campers at the Eastern Music Camp on Lake Messalonskee in 1931.

The camp operated for four seasons, 1931-1934, before closing for financial reasons.

Francis Findlay of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston was the vice president and musical director of Eastern Music Camp when it opened in 1931.

Choral conductor Walter Butterfield, director of music for the Providence, Rhode Island public schools and a faculty member at Eastern Music Camp with a vocal class in 1931.

The camp was on Lake Messalonskee.

The brass section -- tubas, trombones, and trumpets -- at the Eastern Music Camp at Lake Messalonskee in Sidney in about 1932.

Second from left in the back row is Stanley G. Hassell, New England Conservatory of Music, a faculty member in brass.

The faculty and library staff at the Eastern Music Camp on Lake Messalonskee in Sidney in 1931.

Front row, from left, Gaetano J. Bertolami, clarinet and ensemble; Paul White, violin, conducting, and ensemble; Harry E. Wittemore, dean; Francis Findlay, musical director; Walter H. Butterfield, voice; Lee M. Lockhart, chamber music and instrumentation; and Simon Sternburg, tympani and percussion.

Second row, from left, Bower M. Murphy, trumpet and supervisor of bugles; Van Veachton Rogers, harp; Laura E. Zeigler, harmony; Stanlie MacCormack, program notes, music history, and literature; Zilpha Etta Butterfield, piano forte and accompanist; Esther Pierce, violoncello and ensemble; Herbert L. Coleman, bassoon and ensemble; and John D. Murray, violin, viola, and ensemble.

Third row, from left, Clarence Knudson, violin and ensemble; Chester A. Barclay, flute and ensemble; Bertram N. Haigh, horn and ensemble; Carlos W. Mullenix, oboe and ensemble; and Stanley G. Hassell, contrabass, trombone, and tuba.

Back frow, from left, William Hanley, assistant librarian; A. George Hoyen, assistant librarian; Louis Counihan, assistant librarian; and Ippocrates Pappoutsakis, librarian.

Officers of the Eastern Music Camp in Sidney, from left, David C. King, business manager; Dorothy H. Marden, secretary-registrar; George S. Williams, treasurer; and Francis Findlay, vice president and musical director.

An audience amid the trees at a concert at Eastern Music Camp on Lake Messalonskee in 1931. The musicians, out of sight, are performing in the Bowl, an outdoor concert facility.

The faculty and staff ot the Eastern Music Camp on Lake Messalonskee in Sidney. The non-profit camp was formed by music educators to provide intense music experiences to young people in the Eastern United States.

An architect's bird's eye view of the plans for Eastern Music Camp on Lake Messalonskee in Sidney. The camp opened in 1931 and operated through 1934.

The rendering of camp plans was published in a prospectus flyer.

The property acquired by the Eastern Music Camp on Lake Messalonskee in Sidney in 1931.

The property was previously the Big Moose Lodge, a Jewish summer hotel from 1920-1928, and a YMCA girls' camp from 1929-30.

Three men move a piano at a practice cabin at Eastern Music Camp on Lake Messalonskee in Sidney. The camp opened in 1931 and operated through 1934. In 1937, New England Music Camp began operations on the same site.

Several members of the faculty at the Eastern Music Camp in Sidney in 1931 are, from left, Chester Barclay, Newark Civic Symphony Orchestra, flute; Carlos Mullenix, Barrere Little Symphony Ensemble, oboe; Gaetano Bertolami, Peoples Symphony Orchestra of Boston, clarinet; Herbert Coleman, National Orchestral Association, New York City, bassoon; and Bertram Haigh, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, horn.

Paul White, a conductor at the Eastern Music School on Lake Messalonskee in Sidney. White was from the Eastman School.

The Administration Building or Main Lodge at Eastern Music Camp on Lake Messalonskee. The building was built by Frank Rumery of South Portland for Big Moose Lodge, a Jewish summer hotel that operated from 1920-1928.

Eastern Music Camp operated at the facility from 1931-1934. In 1937, the New England Music Camp took over the facility.

Students at the Eastern Music Camp on Lake Messalonskee walk up the hill from the Main Lodge with their instruments as they head for the Bowl, the outdoor performance facility.

The waterfront on Lake Messalonskee at Eastern Music Camp's first season in 1931. The camp attracted students from the eastern United States for intensive music education, practice, and performance, along with outdoor recreation.

The Girls's Lodge and clay tennis courts in foreground were part of the Eastern Music Camp in Sidney on Lake Messalonskee.

Both the lodge and the tennis courts remained from Big Moose Lodge, a kosher Jewish summer hotel that operated on the site from 1920-1928.

A camper arrives and a trunk is unloaded at Eastern Music Camp on Lake Messalonskee in Sidney in 1932. It was the camp's second season. The girl near the rear of the truck with her hand on her forehead is Frances Kosmar, whose family had a summer cottage on the lake near the camp.

Officials of the Eastern Music Camp on Lake Messalonskee in Sidney are, from left, David C. King, business manager and field representative; Adelaide Rines of Portland, trustee; Henry P. Rines of Portland, trustee; Henry F. Merrill, president; Willard H. Cummings of Skowhegan, trusteee; and Dorothy H. Marden, secretary and registrar.