Overview
Archibald Thompson Davison (1883-1961), composer, conductor, and educator, worked at Harvard University from 1909 until his retirement in 1954. In addition to teaching music courses, he conducted the Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society. Davison's papers document his teaching activities, choral conducting, and composing, and include scrapbooks, correspondence, sheet music and scores, ephemera and memorabilia, diaries, photographs, speeches, manuscripts, LP recordings, and Harvard teaching materials, such as lecture notes, grade books, and examinations. The collection also includes correspondence, diaries, and ephemera belonging to Davison’s wife, Alice Pratt Davison Humez (1920-2012).
Dates
- Creation: 1887-2012 and [undated]
Creator
Researcher Access
The Papers of Archibald Thompson Davison are open for research with the following exceptions: Harvard University records are restricted for 50 years. Personnel, student, and medical records are closed for 80 years. Restrictions are noted at the series and folder level. Requires further review by the archivist; please see reference staff for details.
Conditions Governing Use
Audio recordings are closed for research until use copies can be made; please see reference staff for details.
Extent
20.07 cubic feet (15 document boxes, 10 record cartons, 5 half-document boxes, 4 flat boxes, 4 pamphlet binders, 1 portfolio folder, 1 accordion folder, 1 volume)The Papers of Archibald Thompson Davison document his career as a choral conductor, composer, and professor at Harvard University, and includes some materials from his wife, Alice Pratt Davison Humez (1920-2012).
The collection includes materials from Davison’s work with the Harvard Glee Club, such as scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, photographs, programs, sheet music, diaries discussing trips taken with the group, ephemera documenting their 1921 European tour, and LP recordings. The papers contain teaching materials, particularly from Davison's Music I course, such as lecture notes, grade books, and examinations. It contains incoming and outgoing professional and personal correspondence, including letters from famous composers and conductors Gustav Holst, Arthur Fiedler, Leopold Stokowski, and Serge Koussevitzky. Other topics of correspondence include letters of congratulations, birthday cards, discussion of the History of European Music series, and book permissions.
The papers include photographs of Davison, Alice Pratt Davison, friends, and colleagues; sheet music and musical scores, including arrangements by Davison; published volumes, articles, and lectures written and edited by Davison, including his 1955 Lowell Lectures; speeches; LPs, including recordings of the Harvard Glee Club, and the Harvard University Choir, records autographed by American bandleader Leo Reisman (1897-1961); and reel to reel recordings of lectures given by Davison at WGBH.
Additionally, the collection contains diaries and calendar diaries; Harvard and Radcliffe publications; legal and financial documents, including publishing contracts and royalty statements; awards and honorary degrees; conductor’s batons; and a copy of the 1929 baccalaureate hymn which contains an anagram of obscene words and was therefore confiscated after the service. Also included are materials about Davison's life, including biographical clippings, reprints, and an essay written about his life by colleagues in Harvard's Music Department.
Alice Pratt Davison’s portion of the collection includes travel ephemera, diaries, Radcliffe memorabilia, and correspondence, including letters written by Davison to Alice before their wedding and letters sent to Alice following Davison’s death.
Biographical note on Archibald Thompson Davison
Archibald Thompson Davison (1883-1961), composer, conductor, and educator, worked at Harvard University from 1909 until his retirement in 1954. Known widely as “Doc,” he attended Harvard College with the Class of 1906, graduating with Final Honors in Music at the end of three years, received his AM degree in 1907, and his PhD in 1908, becoming only the second recipient of a Harvard PhD in music. Davison spent the next year taking organ lessons in Paris, then returned to Harvard in 1909 as a Teaching Fellow in Music. He was appointed Organist and Choirmaster in 1910; Instructor in Music in 1912; Assistant Professor in 1917; Associate Professor in 1920; Professor of Choral Music in 1929; and James Edward Ditson Professor of Music in 1940. At Harvard, Davison focused his work on ancient and modern choral music, both ecclesiastical and secular.
In addition to teaching, he conducted the Harvard Glee Club from 1912 until 1933, and was instrumental in making it an internationally renowned amateur chorus and setting a model for other colleges and universities. He also directed the Radcliffe Choral Society from 1910 to 1925. Davison was known for his arrangements and composition, and published many books on music and music education, including the co-edited Historical Anthology of Music with Willi Apel. His lectures on music appreciation were broadcasted publicly and enjoyed considerable success among radio listeners. Davison married his second wife, Alice Pratt Davison Humez (1920-2012) in 1946. He died in 1961.
Biographical note on Alice Pratt Davison Humez
Alice Pratt Davison Humez (1920-2012) received her Radcliffe AB in 1942. She married Archibald Thomson Davison in 1946. Before marrying, Alice worked as an editor on the Harvard Dictionary of Music, a role that likely overlapped with Davison’s work in the Music Department. The marriage was considered controversial and was widely discussed because of the large age difference: Davison was 63 and Alice was 26. After Davison’s death in 1961, Alice eventually remarried David Humez (Harvard AB 1946). When Humez died in 2012, she bestowed the home she once shared with Davison, located in Lincoln, Massachusetts, to Harvard.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in eighteen series:
- Calendar diaries, circa 1947-1960 (HUGFP 126.2)
- Correspondence and other papers, circa 1934-1960 (HUGFP 126.8)
- Photograph of Kendrie Cabin (HUGFP 126.8 p)
- Correspondence and other papers, circa 1969-1979 (HUGFP 126.10)
- Personal papers and memorabilia, circa 1902-1958 (HUGFP 126.31, HUGFP 126.31 F, HUGFP 126.31 dsk)
- Photograph of Hugh Allen and others, 1940 (HUGFP 126.31 p)
- Scrapbooks: Davison and Harvard Glee Club, circa 1887-1930s (HUGFP 126.33 F)
- Certificates and diplomas, circa 1902-1955 (HUGFP 126.35 F)
- Speeches, manuscripts, and related papers, circa 1917-1958 (HUGFP 126.41)
- Musical compositions, circa 1904-1956 (HUGFP 126.46 F)
- Teaching materials, circa 1912-1950s (HUGFP 126.61)
- Lecture notes and papers for Music I, circa 1938-1955 (HUGFP 126.64)
- Photographs, circa 1880s-1961 (HUGFP 126.71 p, HUGFP 126.71 p pf)
- [Personal archive of Archibald Davison and Alice Pratt Davison], 1903-2012 and [undated] (HUGFP 126.72)
- General folder (HUGFP 126.73)
- Biographical clippings, circa 1930-1959 (HUGFP 126.74)
- Essays on Music in honor of Archibald Thompson Davison by his associates, Dept. of Music, 1957 (HUGFP 126.75)
- Reprints (HUGFP 126.76)
Acquisition
Specific acquisition information, when available, is noted at the series level:
- Gift of Alice Pratt Davison Humez, January 2, 1991; Accession 12114
- Gift of Alice Pratt Davison Humez, May 30, 1991; Accession 12189
- Gift of Jack Jones, July 28, 2016; Accession 2017.024
Inventory update
This document last updated 2022 April 22.
Processing Information
This finding aid was created by Olivia Mandica-Hart in March 2021. Information in this finding aid was assembled from legacy paper inventories and container management data. The collection was not re-examined by the archivist.
Creator
- Title
- Davison, Archibald T. (Archibald Thompson), 1883-1961. Papers of Archibald Thomson Davison, 1887-2012 and [undated] : an inventory
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Harvard University Archives
- Date
- March 15, 2021
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hua21021
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard University Archives Repository
Holding nearly four centuries of materials, the Harvard University Archives is the principal repository for the institutional records of Harvard University and the personal archives of Harvard faculty, as well as collections related to students, alumni, Harvard-affiliates and other associated topics. The collections document the intellectual, cultural, administrative and social life of Harvard and the influence of the University as it emerged across the globe.
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