Captain James Cunningham Harper Collection

Collection

Identifier: DC051

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The volumes of the Lenoir High School Band Scrapbook contain the history of the Lenoir High School Band. The scrapbooks contain all programs, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, photographs of the band and subsidiary organizations, snap shots and letters commending the band and its work. Several volumes were also donated to the library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Significant letters, photographs, and other materials are found throughout the collection. VOLUME I contains letters signed by Governor of North Carolina Angus W. McLean in 1928, President of Davidson College William Joseph Martin and Governor of North Carolina O. Max Gardner in 1929. VOLUME II contains a letter from Governor of Virginia Harry Flood Byrd in 1929. VOLUME III contains pictures of the Lenoir High School Band Woodwind Ensemble, Clarinet Quartet and Brass Quartet of 1931. VOLUME IV contains a picture of J.C. Harper and his daughter and a picture of Miss Josephine Reece, harpist who was quest soloist with the Lenoir High School Band on December 18, 1931. VOLUME V contains letters from the private secretary to His Majesty King George V in 1932, and the private secretary of the President of the Czechoslovac Republic, Prague Czechoslovakia in 1932. VOLUME VI contains a photograph of the Confederate Memorial Day Exercises in Lenoir Town Square, a letter from Missionary to Persia Charles R. Pittman, letter from the private secretary to His Majesty the King of Norway in 1932, letter from the secretary to her Majesty the Queen of Holland in 1932, letter from F. Javier Gaxioloa, Jr. Secretary to the President of Mexico, and a letter from the Secretary of the Cabinet by command of His Majesty the King of Denmark. VOLUME VII contains letters from E. Schulthess, President of Switzerland in 1932, and W. Drandar Chief of the Cabinet of His Majesty the King of Bulgaria. VOLUME X contains a letter from Alvin M. Owsley, U.S. Ambassador to Rumania, and Ramon Graw Lon Martin, President of Cuba. VOLUME XI contains a letter from Grier Martin, Executive Secretary of the Davidson College Alumni Association at the time, and from M. Guiseppe Motle, former President of Switzerland. VOLUME XIII contains photographs of Lenoir High School in the 1930s. VOLUME XV contains letters from Grier Martin and from His Majesty Isar Boris III, King of Bulgaria. VOLUME XVI contains a letter from J.P. Breedlove, Librarian at Duke University, a photograph of the Davidson College band and an old document from the papers of Mr. M.E. Shell concerning the Lenoir High School band of 1847. VOLUME XVII contains a photograph of the North Carolina State University band in 1935. VOLUME XIX contains photographs of various Davidson College Musical groups, of the Lenoir High School Band's passenger bus and newspaper articles on the Davidson College Band. VOLUME XX contains photographs of the Davidson College School Camp Band, an all high school music course offered during the summer of 1936. This volume also contains a picture of Davidson President W.L. Lingle offering his congratulations to Dr. A.A. Harding and a picture of James C. Harper with A.A. Harding and James Christian Pfohl and another picture of Dr. A.A. Harding, Dr. C.A. Raymond, Dr. S.M. Tenney, Dr. W.S. Rankin and Dr. W.L. Lingle. VOLUME XXI contains the Davidson College Football program for 1936 as well as photographs of the football team. This volume also contains photographs of James C. Harper and a variety of newspaper clippings regarding Franklin D. Roosevelt. VOLUME XXII contains a photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt as greeted by the Lenior High School Band and a photograph of the Davidson College band in 1936. VOLUME XXIII contains a letter from Isar Boris III, King of Bulgaria. VOLUME XXIV contains a letter from Charles H. Crutchfield. VOLUME XXVI contains photographs and documentary on the construction of the Band Building in 1937. VOLUME XVII contains a photograph of the Davidson College Band in 1937. VOLUME XVIII contains a letter from Prince Franz Frist of Liechtenstein, several photographs of the Davidson College Band and a signed photograph of J. Garfield Chapman. VOLUME XXIX contains photographs of the Lenoir High School band faculty. VOLUME XXXIII contains photographs of the Lenoir High School Band at Davidson and of the Bandmasters at Davidson Clinic. VOLUME XXXIV contains photographs of Lenoir High School band boys eating lunch at Davidson and information on the Davidson Music Clinic. VOLUME XXXV contains a photograph of Captain James C. Harper and his Daughter in Charlotte as well as pictures of downtown Charlotte. VOLUME XXXVI contains photographs and information about the band trip to New York City. VOLUME XXXVII contains photographs and information about the New York World's Fair. VOLUME XXXVIII contains photographs of Davidson Football. VOLUME XLI contains a letter from Walter L. Lingle. VOLUME XLII contains information about West Palm Beach, where the High School Band made a trip. VOLUME XLIII contains photographs on the Davidson Football team and the Davidson band. VOLUME XLV contains a picture of Bing Crosby, Governor J.M Broughton as well as letters from Governor Broughton. VOLUME XLVII contains photographs of the John Marshall Hotel, the Richmond Mosque, and the Capital of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. VOLUME XLIX contains an invitation to attend the inauguration of John Rood Cunningham at Davidson College. VOLUME LII contains a photograph of Davidson College Orchestra. VOLUME LIII contains a letter from Governor J.M Broughton and several photographs of the University of Virginia. VOLUME LVII contains letters from Dr. Francis Bradshaw, Dean of Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1943. VOLUME LIX contains a photograph of Bob Hope, noted comedian, and of Jose Iturbi, noted orchestra conductor. VOLUME LXII contains an autographed photograph of Dorothy Kirsten, soprano as Violetta in La Traviata. VOLUME LXIII contains autographed photos of Tim Spencer, Hugh Farr, Bob Nolan. VOLUME XVI contains a photograph of the Lenior High School Band in 1945. VOLUME LXXI contains a letter from Kenneth C. Royall, Secretary of War in 1947. VOLUME LXXIII contains pictures of the Lenior High School Gymnasium. VOLUME LXXIV contains photographs and letters of Dorothy Kirsten. VOLUME LXXV contains photograph of Republican party candidate Harold Stassen in 1948. VOLUME LXXVIII contains photographs of Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's homeplace) and a letter from Governor of North Carolina W. Kerr Scott. VOLUME LXXIX contains photograph and letter of John Tyers. VOLUME LXXXII contains a photograph of the Davidson College football team and a letter from J.R. Cunningham and Robert J. Sailstad. VOLUME XCIV contains information on Camp Lejeune in North Carolina as well as a letter from George Kirsten. VOLUME CII contains information about the Davidson college Homecoming and about John Satterfield. VOLUME CIV contains information about Mrs. Leita Marrotte of Davidson and about Kenneth R. Moore. VOLUME CXLVIII contains a photograph of the Davidson College Football team. VOLUME CL contains photographs of the Lenior High School Band Alumni celebration. VOLUME CLI contains a letter from Joseph Robinson and from the Honorable James T. Broyhill of the U.S. Congress. VOLUME CLIII contains a letter from Governor of North Carolina Robert Scott. VOLUME CLXIII contains a letter from Jim Broyhill. VOLUME CLXXIII contains photographs and information from the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Lenior High School Band. VOLUME CLXXIX contains a letter and photograph of Governor of North Carolina James E. Holshouser, Jr. VOLUME CLXXX contains information about the Davidson College Homecoming of 1976 and a letter from Zachary Long. VOLUME CLXXXI contains a picture of the Harper family and a letter from Governor Jim Hunt of North Carolina. VOLUME CLXXXII contains a picture of Captain Harper at the Davidson College library and contains information about how and why Davidson College was selected to receive the Lenior High School Band Scrapbooks.

Dates

Creation: 1924 - 1995

Biographical / Historical

Captain James Cunningham Harper graduated from Davidson College in 1915. Prior to Davidson, Captain Harper attended Lenoir High School in the small town of Lenior, North Carolina. His father, a Confederate major, founded the first bank in Lenoir and his father also owned the first furniture factory. During his Davidson career, Harper was director of the College Orchestra and a member of the track and gym team. After leaving Davidson College, J.C. Harper did graduate work in economics at Chapel Hill and Columbia University to prepare for a banking career. After training troops in World War I (where he picked up the lifetime honorific Capt.) and getting started at the Wachovia Bank in Winston-Salem. He returned to Lenoir at his father's urging to learn the furniture industry. While learning the furniture business, Harper spent his spare time with the American Legion band. But over time, the American Legion band began disintegrating under the pressure of family and business obligations and the local high school band director left his job in 1921. Captain Harper quickly took over the direction of the band and managed to get the American Legion to donate 24 instruments to the local high school. Thus, the Legion's conductor, Captain James C. Harper, a wealthy scion of one of the local furniture families and Davidson graduate of 1915, agreed to give some of his time to the high school "just to get things started." The Captain stayed for fifty years and devoted his entire life and family fortune to the idea that "a handful of mountain children in North Carolina deserved to have a conservatory education absolutely free of charge." The band's music building boasted 18 practice rooms, a gigantic rehearsal room, offices and storage rooms, locker rooms for boys and girls, and a library full of music, records, and scores. The band itself had three sets of uniforms, as well as a fleet of buses and instrument trucks to transport it to events around the region, including parades, gubernatorial inaugurations, and halftimes of the Carolina-Virginia football games. The band boasted five full-time faculty members in 1954. As a result of Captain Harper's devotion, the Lenoir High School Band produced the tuba player of the Minnesota Orchestra, the principal bassoonist of the Dallas Symphony, a successful New York free-lance flutist, the composer in residence of the St. Louis Symphony, a percussionist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, a prominent North Carolina trumpeter, and a professor of clarinet at the University of North Carolina. One of Captain Harper's most outstanding band members was Joseph Lee Robinson. Mr. Robinson was solo oboist of the New York Philharmonic and prior to that he was principal oboist for the Atlanta Symphony and also taught at the North Carolina School for the Arts. He grew up in the small town of Lenoir, North Carolina and graduated from Davidson College in 1962. That same year, he was selected to receive a Fulbright grant to study government support of the arts in West Germany and to meet and study under the great 20th century oboist, Marcel Tabuteau. Harper conducted the Lenoir High School Band from 1924 until he retired in 1958. In 1978, Davidson College became the recipient of an endowment set up by Harper in 1928 for the Lenior High School Band. According to the terms of the endowment, if the high school ever ceased to exist, the money would be transferred to Davidson. Lenior High School no longer existed after school consolidation in 1974 and the $203,000 was transferred to Davidson. Harper was honored an honorary degree from Davidson College in 1964. Harper died in February 1986.