About This Collection
This digitized volume contains the meeting minutes of the Liberty Cornet Band dating from 1920-1932 and 1937, and includes the names of appointed officers and members of the band. The Liberty Cornet Band was an African-American musical group established in 1867 in West Chester, Pa. The band enjoyed a lofty profile in Chester County and the surrounding counties where they headlined concerts, performed at parades and sporting events, serenaded residents in surrounding communities, and played at Republican Party rallies and other political gatherings. Three prominent restaurateurs, Moses Hepburn, 1832-1897 (Magnolia House), Charles Burns, 1855/56-1917 (Burns’ Great Oyster House), and James Spence, 1843?-1925 (Spence’s Restaurant), were early band leaders. At its high point in January 1912, the band counted 50 members. In addition, the band performed farther afield, including Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, and the Mid-Atlantic states. In 1897, the band was invited to take part in William McKinley’s presidential inauguration ceremony, and in 1901, it played at Theodore Roosevelt’s inauguration. The band also gave benefit concerts, such as one in 1880 for the widow Abbey Smith of Media, Pa. In 1901, showing its patriotism, the band played at two events celebrating the return of American soldiers, including three African-Americans, from the Philippines and Cuba following the Spanish-American War. Not unexpectedly, the band enjoyed a banner reputation among West Chester’s African-American community. In an 1888 newspaper article, a reporter wrote, “West Chester yesterday belonged to the colored people, it being the date of the Liberty Band’s picnic.” The Liberty Cornet Band was active from its founding in 1867 to at least 1931. As with many organizations, the band had its ups and downs, adding members in good years and losing members in challenging times. For example, in August 1889, a significant number of members left to follow a religious revival; the band subsequently had to reorganize. In the 1920s, membership dropped from fifty to number in the thirties. The organization’s records reveal that there were no concerts or other activities, except practice sessions, after 1931. Undoubtedly, the depression of the 1930s contributed to the band’s collapse, as one member noted in 1931 that “we need to do something worthwhile immediately because of the critical condition of the band.” By 1937, the band in all likelihood folded. In February of that year, due to lack of funds, its officers authorized the disposal of its property at West Chester’s Masonic Hall. In addition to documenting specific motions and actions taken by band members, the volume records paid membership dues/fees, voting results, plans for future performances, mention of committee reports, personnel issues (i.e. fines to band members), administrative costs, performance venues, and concert ticket sales/costs. An index to the band’s cash accounts is listed on the verso of the front cover, and these cash account inventories include the band’s monthly receipts and expenses. Noted band members in this volume include the following three Presidents: Alfred Bowman (1923), Jacob Milby (1924-1930), and Herman Ray (1930-1932). William H. Burton, a teacher at West Chester’s Gay Street School and later a professor at Cheney University, served as the band’s Secretary from 1927 to 1932.
