This collection consists of materials relating to the careers of musicians and music
teachers Julius Klauser and Adeline T. Ricker. They were involved in classical
instrumental music performance and education in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, between the
late 1870s and the late 1920s. The bulk of the items in the collection are music
recital programs for public performances throughout the careers of Klauser and
Ricker. Also included are materials relating to their teaching careers, programs for
recitals by Milwaukee music performance organizations Euphonia and the MacDowell
Club, and memorial items relating to Klauser’s death in 1907. The collection is
organized into two areas: Julius A. Klauser, 1876-1907 and Adeline T. Ricker,
1882-1939.
The Klauser materials relate to the musical performances and teaching career of
Julius Klauser and the collection consists of a mounted picture of Julius Klauser,
(not dated); engraved documents relating to the creation of Euphonia and recital
programs for Euphonia’s thirteen “Soiree Musicale” programs held between 1876 and
1881; programs for recitals by the faculty and pupils of the Klauser Music
Institute, including additional announcements and documents related to the
Institute, (1892-1896); programs for recitals by the pupils of Julius Klauser from
the first period during which Klauser offered individual musical instruction in
Milwaukee, including the program for a recital given by Klauser himself in 1885,
(1882-1895); and programs for recitals by the pupils of Julius Klauser from the
second period during which Klauser offered individual organized musical instruction
(ending with his death in 1907), including a few additional programs for recitals
not directly related to Klauser’s pupils, (1899-1907).
The Adeline T. Ricker collection contains materials from her musical performances and
teaching career, however, because Ricker was first a student and later a teaching
colleague of Klauser’s, there is some duplication of materials between the two
collections. The contents of the Ricker collection include programs for recitals by
the pupils of Julius Klauser, similar to those in the Klauser collection,
(1882-1892); programs for recitals, similar to those in the Klauser collection, by
the faculty and pupils of the Klauser Music Institute, of which Ricker was a faculty
member, (1892-1896); programs for recitals by the pupils of Julius Klauser from the
last period of his career, similar to those in the Klauser collection, (1899-1907);
Julius Klauser Memorial Items, including eulogies, condolence letters, and items
relating to a 1908 memorial recital given by some of Klauser’s former students
(including Ricker), (1907-1908); and programs for recitals by the pupils of Adeline
T. Ricker; advertising and informational materials for Ricker’s music instruction
services, and additional assorted recital programs, (1916-1928), as well as programs
for recitals held under the auspices of the MacDowell Club, several of which
featured Adeline Ricker as a musician, (1913-1925). In addition to the recital
programmes, other materials included in the Ricker collection are Klauser Music
Institute historical materials, Klauser biographical information, and a letter
written by Ricker to Klauser’s wife, Lizzie Eldred Klauser, attached to a recital
programme referring to the performance of a musical piece that she and Klauser had
performed in a Euphonia recital in 1881.
