LAURA JANE MUSSER:

An Inventory of Her Family Papers

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BIOGRAPHIES OF THE MUSSER FAMILY

Laura Jane Musser

Laura Jane Musser was born in Minneapolis, June 4, 1916, to Richard Drew and Sarah Walker Musser of Little Falls, Minnesota. She was educated at home until her seventh year, then attended a private school, and later graduated from Central High School, Little Falls in 1933. She attended Hartridge School in Plainfield, New Jersey, and Monticello College, Godfrey in Illinois (1934-1937). Musically talented, she lived, off and on, in New York City from 1937 until the death of her mother in 1953. She attended the Julliard School of Music, and took private lessons from prominent pianists. While in New York City she lived for a while at International House, where she met many foreign students and became interested in racial tolerance and equality.

Laura Jane had a wide variety of friends, among them the singer Marian Anderson and her nephew James DePreist Anderson, the young African American pianist Philippa Duke Schuyler and her parents, Hilda McCoy of the historically black Rust College (Holly Spring, Arkansas), actress Margaret Hamilton, and pianist Van Cliburn.

Returning to Little Falls permanently, she became involved in all aspects of the city's life. She taught piano, served on the school board (1975-1976), worked on historic preservation projects, and was a member of many civic organizations. She also participated in the work of the Minnesota Historical Society, Minneapolis/ Minnesota Orchestra, the Minnesota Arts Board, and similar groups. She died in Little Falls on November 12, 1989.

Richard Drew Musser

The son of Peter and Tamson (Rhodes) Musser of Muscatine, Iowa, Richard Drew Musser was born in Chinese Camp, Stockton, California, November 14, 1865. At the time Peter was engaged in a number of mining ventures in the area. He returned to Muscatine in the 1870s, where he organized the Musser Lumber Company. Richard D. was educated in the Muscatine public schools, and graduated from the University of Iowa in 1888 with a degree in civil engineering. While at the University he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, and of Company "C" of the University National Guard. Following graduation he worked as a tanner and in mines in the South, and finally entered the lumber business in the early 1890s. He worked first in the Musser Lumber Company's office in St. Paul, Minnesota and then moved to Little Falls, Minnesota where, with Charles A. Weyerhaeuser, he formed the Pine Tree Lumber Company. He held many offices in the company until his death, and was also associated with the Immigration Land Company, the Crow Wing Land Company, the Morrison County Lumber Company, and a number of other lumber and paper manufacturing firms.

Musser was also active in many other organizations in Little Falls: hospitals, the Little Falls Country Club, the Masons, the First Congregational Church, and other civic organizations. He was also a trustee of Carleton College for many years.

Sarah Walker Musser

The daughter of Thaddeus and Margaret (Otis) Walker, Sarah Walker Musser was born in Glens Falls, New York in 1879, and married Richard Musser in Cloquet, Minnesota, June 3, 1903. From 1897 to 1899 she lived in Berlin, Germany, where she studied German language and literature. In 1902 she came to visit her sister, Jane Walker Taylor, whose husband Huntington was a foreman in the Cloquet (Minn.) Lumber Company. At this time she met Richard Musser. After their marriage the couple moved to Little Falls, Minnesota.

Sarah Musser was active in Little Falls community life. She helped organize the Civic League, and was active in the Musical Arts Club, the Child Interest Club, and the First Congregational Church. She also served on the Minnesota State Board of Education in the 1920s and 1930s.

Sarah and Richard's first child, Peter, died at birth in 1910. They adopted a daughter, Mary, in 1915, and in 1916 Laura Jane was born. At some time before 1915, the Mussers became legal guardians of Alice Deppman, who lived with the family until her marriage to Edward Clark Davidson in 1921. Although she took the Musser name, it is not clear whether she was formally adopted by the Mussers.

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SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION

The collection consists of correspondence; biographical and autobiographical materials; wills; financial records; newspaper clippings; diaries, scrapbooks and other volumes; school records; and related materials documenting the careers and interests of Laura Jane Musser, her parents Richard Drew and Sarah Walker Musser, her sisters Alice and Mary, and related families (Dudley, Dwelle, Huttig, Otis, Taylor, and Walker). A small collection of records of the Pine Tree Lumber Company and its successor, the Pine tree Manufacturing Company is also in the collection.

Extensive correspondence files of Laura Jane, her parents, and sisters give much information on family life, relationships among the members of the Musser and related families and information on births, deaths, marriages, and other data on all branches of the family. Diaries, especially those of Sarah Walker Musser, contain details of trips to Europe and other places. Also included in the collection are household receipts and similar materials relating to the Musser home in Little Falls, Minnesota, as well as correspondence files arranged by subject and individual.

Other papers of interest include four scrapbooks kept by Laura Jane documenting the careers of African American artists, including Marian Anderson, Dorothy Maynor, Philippa Duke Schuyler, and others (1938-1944), and correspondence and miscellany relating to pianists Van Cliburn and Philippa Duke Schuyler. The collection also includes Laura Jane's school papers (1928-1940) and correspondence and other papers relating to the Frank L. Baum family and the "Wizard of Oz books" (1914-1989).

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Note to Researchers: To request materials, please note both the location and box numbers shown below.

LAURA JANE MUSSER PAPERS

Laura Jane Musser's extensive correspondence, carried on throughout her life, forms the bulk of her personal papers. Correspondents include many relatives, friends, and prominent people whom she had met while living in New York, and Hawaii, and in her travels. She also maintained close contact with many individuals, organizations, and activities in Little Falls.

In the aggregate, the correspondence reveals many facets of Musser's personality, including her generosity to family, friends, and young artists; her gradual change in philosophy relating to religion, environmental concerns, and race relations; and tensions between her and her parents. Although these tensions are veiled in the correspondence, they are revealed, to some extent, in her correspondence with friends, and are alluded to in an incomplete manuscript autobiography, which she wrote for Mu Phi Epsilon (see box 1).

Correspondence and other documentation concerning Musser's support of young artists is of particular interest. She was well known for her encouragement of Van Cliburn, whom she met while living in The International House in New York, and brought to Minnesota for many appearances. Another pianist, Laura Jane Kargul of Detroit, daughter of Bernadine Zak, formerly of Little Falls, played for many musical ensembles in Detroit, graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and attended the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan, all with some financial support from Laura Jane Musser. The correspondence with Kargul traces her educational experiences, and her performances in Europe and the United States with chamber and other small musical organizations. Another major correspondent was pianist Judith Savage Ulug, daughter of Everett and Alice Savage and a fellow Little Falls resident. Her letters describe Ulug's marriage to a Turkish businessman, her career teaching music at the University of Istanbul, and her performances throughout Europe with music groups, as well as giving interesting insights on life in Turkey. Golda Rosoff, a young Minneapolis pianist, became a close friend of Laura Jane. Musser visited Rosoff's North Minneapolis home many times, and became acquainted with her parents. Through this friendship Musser became more aware of Jewish life and religion and aspects of religious prejudice. She maintained her friendship with the Rosoffs after the death of Golda in 1936.

Her papers also reveal Musser's interests in many environmental and public service groups, among them Common Cause, Environmental Action, the Calypso Society, and the American Civil Liberties Union. She also maintained close contacts with individuals and organizations in Little Falls, including schools; a number of Catholic institutions, including St. Gabriel's Hospital and St. Francis Convent; the police and fire departments, including her donations to purchase equipment; and, in general, entering into the life and activities of Little Falls.

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Sarah Walker Musser Papers

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Richard Drew Musser Papers