Abstract
Between 1898 and 1925, Linda Bell Free Wardwell sold thirty thousand booklets entitled Plan of Study on Musical History. Designed to facilitate programming by members of the National Federation of Music Clubs, Wardwell’s pamphlets were adopted by women’s organizations from Magnolia, Arkansas, to Silver City, New Mexico. Her offerings contributed to the canonization of European composers in the United States, but they also supported the Federation’s advocacy of American music. This talk positions Wardwell’s publications within contemporary American musical historiography. It explores the ways in which women’s historical activities within the club movement influenced—and yet were overshadowed by—more mainstream publications authored by men.