Lucy Lee Lewis Papers

Lucy Lee Lewis, Professor of Harp at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music from 1937-1971, was born on 27 March 1905 in Seymour, Indiana. Her parents were Agnes (Fleming) and Ulysses F. Lewis, a lawyer. She spent her childhood in Redlands, California, and as a child was selected to be a candidate in the Terman Study of the Gifted. After briefly attending the University of Redlands, she went to on earn her bachelors degree cum laude from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1929. Lewis was an honors graduate in English and completed several courses in music history and theory. Following graduation she toured with another harpist, Gertrude Hustana Peterson, traveling far and wide in their car, the only transportation they could afford, and giving harp duo recitals from coast to coast.

Lewis studied harp with Alfred Kastner (1924-1929) and Carlos Salzedo (1933-1937). In 1936-1937 she completed graduate work at the Julliard School of Music and the music department of Columbia University. During these years she performed as a soloist, played in several orchestras, and taught private harp lessons. In 1937 Lewis was appointed to the Oberlin Conservatory as Instructor of Harp, filling the position after William Kilgore Breckenridge (d. 1956) left it vacant in 1934. During World War II Lewis joined various faculty members (including Joseph Hungate, Assistant Professor of Piano, and John Frazer, Associate Professor of Violoncello and Ensemble) teaching physics to the Navy V-12 Unit stationed on the Oberlin College campus. Lewis's musical interests extended to musicology, and she taught music theory at Oberlin for over 15 years; she taught music theory as well as harp until 1954, when she became Associate Professor of Harp. Lewis directed the Oberlin Harp Ensemble for over two decades, and in 1966 she was promoted to Professor of Harp.

Lewis edited Harp News Magazine (1954-1956) and contributed to American Harp Journal. She was a member of the board of directors of the American Harp Society and a past president of Pi Kappa Lambda (Theta chapter). In 1952 Lewis took a year's sabbatical leave, studying with Salzedo a second time in New York and working on research projects dealing with harp. During the spring of 1953 she traveled in Europe and was the first American harpist to serve as a member of the jury for the Harp Concours of the National Conservatory of Music in Paris; the postcards she wrote from Europe to friends in Oberlin not only document the places she visited but also demonstrate her clever sense of humor. While at Oberlin, Lewis served on the Special Awards Committee (1955-1968) and the Social Occasions Committee (1949-1965).

During her career Lewis toured the country with the Oberlin Harp Ensemble and participated in several harp festivals held on various college campuses. In 1955 Lewis arranged the Oberlin Harp Festival, a three-day event bringing 54 harps to the Finney Chapel stage; Lewis performed as soloist and Carlos Salzedo was guest conductor.

Lewis retired in 1971 but was professionally active for many years. She taught as a faculty replacement at Boston University and served on the jury of the International Harp Competition in Tel Aviv in 1976 and 1979.

Lucy Lewis developed Alzheimer's disease and moved from her Elm Street home to Oberlin's Welcome Nursing Home in the mid-1980s. She resided there for three years, until her death on 22 September 1989; Lewis was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Redlands, California. Many of her students performed in a memorial concert exactly one year after her death. She gave $25,000 to Allen Memorial Hospital and $1.2 million to a scholarship fund for conservatory students. Lucy Lewis never married, and she had no surviving relatives.

Note written by Stacy A. Nowicki.