Before becoming the Association of Church Musicians, this organization was known as the American Guild of Organists, which itself began as the Wisconsin Association of Church Musicians (WACM). At the suggestion of Paul Jones, organ professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, area organists gathered to form the Wisconsin Association of Church Musicians (WACM) in 1947. The organization's main function was to host meetings where local organists could meet to discuss problems they had in their work. The members of the WACM also headed projects to organize hymn and choir festivals in the Madison Area as well as establishing the Louise Fulcher Memorial Library in 1949. The library was initially established with money received by WACM members, the Wisconsin Federation of Music Clubs, and the estates of deceased Madison organists. Madison area organists benefited greatly from the resources which the Fulcher Library made available to them. Ownership of the library was turned over to the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin Madison in 1950 and was transferred in 1970 to the State Division for Library Services before it reached its current location as part of the Janesville Public Library.
The American Guild of Organists is a national organization founded in 1896 through the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York. In September of 1953, the WACM reorganized into the Madison chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) upon the suggestion of Lewis Elmer, then national president of the AGO, who had visited Madison in 1952.
The establishment of an AGO chapter in Madison was made possible by the efforts of Ruth Pilger Andrews, who had served as chair of the WACM's membership committee. Andrews was born on December 8, 1905 in Yorktown, Illinois. When she was three years old her family relocated to Milwaukee for a year before settling permanently in Ripon, where Andrews would receive her entire pre-graduate education. She completed a master's degree in French at the University of Wisconsin and taught undergraduate-level French in Kansas for six years before returning to Madison. Upon her return, Andrews began her career as an organist and teacher. She continued to train as an organist with renowned composer Leo Sowerby in Chicago. She was the principal organist at Luther Memorial Church in Madison for ten years and from 1950 to 1970 at the Unitarian Gathering House in Madison.
As founding member of the Madison chapter of AGO, Andrews also served as the organization's historian and membership chair. She also served as editor of the AGO newsletter, The Drawknob, in which she maintained a weekly column where she reviewed recently published music. In 1989 Andrews began to self-publish and underwrite her own bi-monthly publication, New Organ Issues, which circulated around the country. In it, she again reviewed newly published organ music. She continued to give private lessons until a month before her death on July 29, 1996.
In addition to the organization of the Fulcher Memorial Library, the Madison AGO also was responsible for procuring an organ for the chapel of the Wisconsin Veterans Administration Hospital in 1966. The Madison chapter's main activity was organizing hymn festivals, choir festivals, and organ recitals as a means by which to advance the cause of worthy religious music, elevate the status of church musicians, and increase the appreciation of their responsibilities, duties, and opportunities. The AGO also provided its members with opportunities to meet and discuss professional concerns. The Madison AGO is credited with organizing the first Inter-Church Hymn Festival in 1948 at First Congregational Church in Madison. The organization continued this tradition of holding an annual city-wide Church Music Festival, out of which the AGO's subsequent choir festivals grew.
AGO events were both instructional and recreational for people of all ages. High school students could be introduced to the pipe organ by taking part in the annual Pipe Organ Encounter, while professional organists could receive certification in practical organ playing, choir training, or the theory and general knowledge of music.
AGO chapters are headed by a Dean and a Sub-Dean who preside over meetings of the executive committee and at the chapter's general meetings. The chapter also has a secretary who is responsible for managing official chapter correspondence and maintains the chapter's membership information. The secretary is also given custody of the records for the chapter. The Registrar keeps a careful record of the proceedings at all meetings of the chapter. Each chapter also has a treasurer who is responsible for ensuring that membership dues are paid, and forwarding them to national headquarters, as well as remittance of bills for the chapter's expenses. The official tasks of the Madison AGO chapter are divided among the executive, nominating, and programming committees.
In 1984, the Madison chapter of AGO was integrated into the Association of Church Musicians (ACM) and currently operates under that name. The ACM functions as the Madison chapter of AGO and was formed to serve organists, cantors, liturgy coordinators, directors of adult, youth, children's, and handbell choirs, and instrumental ensembles as well as clergy and all others who are involved in the music leadership of churches of all denominations. Like the WACM and AGO, the ACM's objectives are to provide its members with opportunities for continuing education in church music and for sharing ideas and resources, and to give support and fellowship to one another.
