WANTED: Helen May Butler descendant, blood-relative, cousin or relative by marriage to write a "Pictorial Biography" of Helen May Butler's life.  May use material from this site!  Contact Sue Butler

             I’ve had a fabulous life. I lived during fabulous times. I met incredibly fabulous people and did amazingly fabulous things. Wow! It still keeps my tootsies tingling. Let me tell you what I’ve done and where I’ve been.

            My roots are in New Hampshire. My great-grand father, Josiah Butler, had joined a group under a man by the name of Willard who was granted a township in New Hampshire in 1736 but “Indian Problems” kept them from moving up there from Lancaster, Massachusetts until 1747. My father, grandfather and great-grand father were all born in Hinsdale, New Hampshire. My birth took place in the county seat of Keene, just a few miles away, on May 17, 1867.

            My mother told me that we had stayed with my uncle in Keene for about a month then my father drove over in his buggy and took us home to Hinsdale. When I got bigger father would drive me to town and my, was it comfortable transportation. ( what was it called?) It had nice thickly padded seats and an old mare that never went too fast.

I developed a love for music since I was old enough to walk and of all the tunes I heard as I aged, John Philips Sousa captured my heart the most. Early on, I pledged to myself that I would study and work hard so as to some day play his music to crowds of people

early years

grade school

elementary school

high school

college

further education

schools of music

            By the time I reached 21 I knew that my life’s work would be anchored in the music field. Bernard Listerman, concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was a real dear. He spent the longest hours helping me perfect my abilities in both the violin and the cornet. (where.. when..??

            In 1898 I began to conduct a group of talented young ladies who in 1891 became the core players of the twenty-five to thirty-five member U. S. Talma Ladies Orchestra (or Military Band). We dressed in sharp military-like uniforms and played a lot of military march type music. I just loved John Philips Sousa and his music. Our band played at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in 1901 and in 1902 we played at Madison Square Gardens for the Women’s Exposition of 1902. By this time we had adopted our new name, “American Ladies Grand Concert Band”, and we were off and running. Our Playbill advertised us:

 The Pride of All America

40 American Best Lady Musicians 40

including

8 Great Soloists 8

Vocal and Instrument

This Great Feature Band is without question the most attractive and at the same time the most artistic Ladies Band now before the public. Composed of the pick of the best lady musicians available.

Young, bright, handsome and Attractive.

Beautifully Uniformed both On and Off The Stage

+++++++++++++++++++++++=

Late in 1902 we performed at the South Carolina Interstate and West Indian Exposition. In 1903 sometimes we played twice a day as we toured the East Coast and the South. This time we were on the road for a total of thirteen months. Our motto "Music for the American People, by American Composers, Played by American Girls" went over big. We worked hard to present crowd-pleasing concerts. Often we would draw crowds of up to 20,000 people. Here’s a picture of me ready to go to work.

            How did they travel??? Train.??

C. G. CONN  was one of America’s best instrument makers and I was able to reach an agreement with them wherein I and many of my soloists would endorse their instruments whenever we could and C. G. CONN would provide all of the members of the band CONN instruments at their performance at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. Ever since we started playing, we would bump into John Sousa at large events. I liked his music and as time wore on, we played more and more of his music. I also wrote a variety of marches that turned out to be quite popular. In 1904 Ingram published some of my music that had been arranged by Richter. As a matter of fact, one tune that Richter arranged and published in 1904, my Cosmopolitan America March became so popular that it became the official march of the National Republican Party during Theodore Roosevelt’s Presidential Campaign of 1904. More about Mr. Roosevelt later.

During the summer concerts in Willow Grove, often we shared the stage with Conway, Creatore, Clarke, and Sousa. Mr Sousa was my inspiration and over time became a very close personal friend.

meet Teddy Roosevelt

 Diamond Jim Brady

Susan B. Anthony,

Lora Reiter.. cornet

HMB  cornet

William Jennings Bryant

John P. Sousa. Mr. Sousa invited her to conduct his great band. Since he rarely allowed other men to lead his band, it is quite remarkable that Helen May Butler was invited to conduct the Sousa Band.

 After the band broke up in 1912, I settled in the Cincinnati area, and remained the rest of my life in Covington, Kentucky.

Marriages

Helen and Leslie

 Run for U.S. Senate seat in 1936

The Flood of 1937" section of the Cincinnati Post, February 13, 1937

Member of the Eastern Star, the Auxiliary of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,

White Shrine of Jerusalem,

 August Willich Relief Corps.

 Member of the Mt. Auburn Methodist Church in Cincinnati,  

Continued to teach and play solos on my cornet (Hazen and Hazen 1987, 186-9). .

In later years, Helen May Butler ran a boarding house 

She is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, and her uniforms and other memorabilia were given to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C..  

John Philips Sousa was a real dear. Imagine, he never ever allowed anyone to direct his orchestra except for me. What a great guy. He was 25 and just married the year I was born. We met 20 years later and forged everlasting friendship. He drew me into military band music and it was his father, Antonio, a trombone player in the U.S. Marine Band that had led him in the same direction. By the time he was six, his father had him studying voice, violin, piano, flute, cornet, baritone, trombone and alto horn. But, he was a real little devil too. When he as 13 he tried to run away to join a circus band. His father caught him and enlisted him in the Marines!

At age 18 he published first composition, "Moonlight on the Potomac Waltzes", a beautiful tune I played quite often. Once he got out of the marines he began performing with violin, touring and eventually conducting theater orchestras. He conducted Gilbert & Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore on Broadway. Soon after we met and I can’t remember how often we shared a band stand. Besides a professional musician of the highest caliber, he was thoughtful, helpful, and inspirational. What a dear person!

He died in 1932 after conducting a rehearsal of the Ringgold Band in Reading, Pennsylvania. The last piece he conducted was "The Stars and Stripes Forever". I cried for almost an entire week.

The concept of an all ladies band drew towards us all sorts of people who felt that it was not proper to treat women as second class citizens. At a concert in 1902, Susan B. Anthony came up to me after the show. I really enjoyed keen mind and her great ability to inspire We chatted for the longest while about her campaign to abolish slavery and women’s rights. As an agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society, she arranged meetings, made speeches, put up posters, and distributed leaflets. Hostile, armed mobs threatened her. She was hung in effigy, and in Syracuse her image was dragged through the streets. Though she was quite a bit older, I enjoyed her stories. We’d do our best to meet every time we had a chance, which was about twice a year. Until the day she died in March 1906, Susan was on the go.

An interesting article:

Helen May Butler and her Ladies' Military Band: Gender and Image
J. Michele Edwards, Macalester College

Using hundreds of primary documents from the Smithsonian Institution and numerous other collections, I have explored the activities of Helen May Butler (1867-1957) and her Ladies' Military Band with special attention to issues of gender. Butler's Ladies' Military Band was highly successful and especially active from 1899 until 1911, with many parallels to Sousa's band. Under the direction of Butler, one of the first women band leaders in the U.S., the band played hundreds of concerts across the country (theaters, parks, Chautauqua circuit, fairs) and performed at such visible events as the Pan-American Exposition (Buffalo, 1901), the Women's Exhibition at Madison Square Garden (1902), and the St. Louis World's Fair (1904). Among her compositions is Cosmopolitan America, the official campaign march for the Republican Convention in 1904.

The paper with accompanying slides of archival photographs will summarize the activities of Butler and her Ladies' Military Band; analyze the significance of this women's band within the context of turn-of-the-century musical and cultural life in the U.S.; and examine the impact of gender on audience reception and journalists' evaluations as well as the image Butler and the band projected through publicity materials and photographs. Butler's persona reinforced America's patriotic mood and conformed to expectations about women's propriety; however, the very existence of her ensemble defied the masculine character of the band world. Marketing as well as musicianship contributed to Butler's success, as the band connected with audiences through the representation of shared values, especially gender ideology and national identity.

Helen May Butler may well be referred to as America's foremost lady bandmaster. She began her all-female concert band in 1898 and it toured successfully for over 20 years. Butler was called the "female Sousa" because of the great quality of her band, her conducting style, the marches she wrote, and her ability to present crowd pleasing concerts. It was common for the band to draw crowds of up to 20,000 people.

Butler was the friend of many famous people including Teddy Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony, William Jennings Bryant, Diamond Jim Brady and John Philip Sousa. At on time, Mr. Sousa invited her to conduct his great band. Since he rarely allowed other men to lead his band, it is quite remarkable that Helen May Butler was invited to conduct the Sousa Band.

In her later years, Helen May Butler ran a boarding house and became involved in politics. In 1936 she ran for a seat in the United States Senate in the state of Kentucky.

This scholarship is sponsored by WBDI President Dr. Patricia Backhaus.

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