The records of the Association of Church Musicians document its foundation, activities, official policies, and membership data. The collection is made up of administrative meeting minutes, official correspondence, monthly newsletters, official protocol literature, event programs, and membership directories which date from 1947 to 2003. 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 and to provide members with opportunities for meeting for the discussion of professional topics.
Although the organization's meeting minutes and membership information are the collection's most abundant record types, the collection's emphasis is on its programming activities. Meeting minutes often deal with planning or organizing a recital or other organ performance event. The correspondence reflects this same function and the publications help to publicize the events and describe this programming activity at greater lengths.
After the AGO was integrated into the ACM in 1984 there is a significant change in the types of records that are kept and how they are kept. Most evident among these are the meeting minutes, which begin to appear in a more systematic format and are filed in conjunction with supporting financial information. The newsletter AGO Drawknob is replaced by Church Music Notes. Although AGO membership was now acquired by applying to the ACM directly, the AGO maintained separate membership records because not all ACM members were AGO members.
The collection is divided into six series: RUTH PILGER ANDREWS PAPERS AND FOUNDING HISTORY; ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS; EVENTS, PROGRAMS, AND PROJECTS; MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIBER INFORMATION; PROTOCOL, GUIDELINE, AND GENERAL INFORMATION; and PUBLICATIONS.
The RUTH PILGER ANDREWS PAPERS AND FOUNDING HISTORY series consist of both her papers as founder and also as the organization's historian. Her correspondence illustrates her role as founding member and documents later administrative functions within the organization. This series also includes the material she used in her reviews of new organ music as well as material she used for private organ instruction. The organization's founding documents such as the correspondence documenting the establishment and recognition of an AGO chapter in Madison by the National organization and the certificate of incorporation are also found in this series. The correspondence between Andrews and S. Lewis Elmer, then national president of the AGO, illustrate the process by which the Madison chapter of the AGO came into existence. Before the Madison chapter was established there was a larger Wisconsin chapter of the AGO and included in Andrews' correspondence is a group of letters from Andrews to other Wisconsin chapter deans. One of the highlights of this series is a scrapbook of newspaper clippings (1943-1966) documenting the activities of the organization when it operated as the WACM. The scrapbook also contains biographical information about Louise Fulcher, for whom the Fulcher Library was named. Also in this series is a pamphlet about the AGO's history before its inception into the ACM, covering a period from 1953 to 1981.
The ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS series consists of meeting minutes, correspondence, and financial records of the ACM and its predecessor organizations. The organization's meeting minutes begin with notes taken at the first WACM meeting on July 15, 1947, and continue through the various incarnations of the organization. The bulk of the ACM's financial records appear within the context of individual meeting minutes or folders labeled meeting materials. The financial information corresponding to the period when the organization operated as the Madison Chapter of the AGO (1953-1984) appears in an oversize ledger in box 13. The organization's correspondence is scant and there is very little of it during the 1980s and 1990s.
The EVENTS, PROGRAMS, AND PROJECTS series documents the various activities of the organization and consists of correspondence with organ recitalists with whom the ACM or predecessor organizations in Madison signed contracts, programs, and publicity materials (which is often found interfiled within the recitalist correspondence). The series also contains information about the Fulcher Library and the process involved in procuring a chapel organ for the Veterans Administration Hospital which includes the contract used to acquire the organ and a blueprint of the organ.
The MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIBER INFORMATION series is arranged chronologically and is comprised primarily of membership forms. The data presented in these membership forms, lists, and directories consist of contact information for each member as it was gathered for each fiscal year and a record of the membership level of each member and whether they were newsletter subscribers.
The PROTOCOL, GUIDELINE, AND GENERAL INFORMATION series contains all official protocol and policy information for AGO chapters nationwide as well as the organization's national constitution and correspondence with the Madison Chapter. These materials demonstrate how the AGO helped establish salary standards and ensured health care and compensation benefits for organists. Also included are pamphlets distributed by the national organization.
The PUBLICATIONS series is arranged chronologically and contains the newsletters of the ACM and its predecessors in Madison.
