Archives Collection

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RAGLAND, MARGARET GROOMS (1927-1941)                 91-011
PAPERS.

Physical description:

.5 linear feet including 1 volume

Dates:

1927-1943

Provenance:

Gift of Robley Ragland, Murfreesboro TN, the grandson of Margaret (Grooms) Ragland through his father Bob Ragland, also of Murfreesboro.

Biographical sketch:

Margaret Grooms moved from Michigan to Tennessee to attend the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. There she met Allen Ragland through her roommate who was Ragland's sister. After their marriage in 1927 the couple lived in Nashville TN where Mrs. Ragland was active in the Nashville and Tennessee chapters of the National Federation of Music Clubs and in the establishment of the Harpeth Valley Garden Club.

Scope and content:

As received this group included two series of papers, one related to the Past Presidents Assembly of the Tennessee Federation of Music Clubs and one to the Harpeth Valley Garden Club.

Each series is described below.

Location:

Series I is filed by accession number with other manuscript groups except that the volume is oversize and is therefore filed separately on an adjacent shelf. Series II has been transferred to the Special Collections Department of the Heard Library, Vanderbilt University, Nashville.

Related materials:

Two pieces of manuscript sheet music in Margaret Ragland's hand were transferred to and are described with the Miscellaneous Manuscript Music group. One hundred thirty-five pieces of sheet music of popular songs were filed in the sheet music collection; a list of specific locations is filed with the accession record. Twenty-two popular scores were transferred to the Center scores collection; a list of these titles is also filed with the accession record. Classical sheet music and scores were transferred to the music library. Sacred choral music and religious books were returned to the donor. Five piano and record company catalogs were transferred to the vertical files.

Sound recordings were merged into the Center audio disc collections.

Series description:

Series I. Past Presidents Assembly. Tennessee Federation of Music Clubs. 1931-1943.

This series appears to be the papers of Mrs. J. J. Travenick of Nashville TN, president of the state assembly, 1939-1940, including materials given to her by Mrs. A.A. Coult, also of Nashville, who was founding president of the Assembly, 1932-1935, and national chairman, 1939-1940.

Among the loose papers, which are arranged chronologically, are receipts for dues and other financial records; carbons and near-print club rosters 1931-1939; reports and speeches; blank forms and other communications from the national assembly; slight, scattered correspondence, 1931-1940; and five undated biographical forms completed by assembly members. There are also scattered materials for the Nashville chapter of the Past Presidents Assembly.

Printed materials are filed following the loose papers and include a first edition (1927) of the Blue Book of the Past Presidents Assembly, National Federation of Music Clubs; a 1941 Tennessee Federation of Music Clubs Year Book; and several local and district convention programs.

A scrapbook, titled "Past Presidents Assembly--Its History, Its Activities, and Its Members", consists primarily of biographical sketches and photos of officers of the Tennessee assembly, some clipped from an unidentified printed source. Also included is the state assembly charter from the National Federation of Music Clubs and a button, program, menu and photograph from the 1940 state convention. (N.B. This volume is oversized and is filed separately from the folders of loose papers and printed material.)

Series II. Harpeth Valley Garden Club. 1930-1937.

Three volumes of minutes of the Harpeth Valley Garden Club, Nashville TN from its founding in 1930 to 1937. Volume I, 1930-1932, also includes the constitution and by-laws of the club and a undated record of dues payments. Volume II, 1933-1935, includes a dated record of dues payments. Material removed from Volume I including a few clippings and letters, a photograph, a ribbon and the minutes of the 1930 annual meeting of the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs are filed with the papers.

Two small notebooks listing entries in various classes of a flower show, probably 1939 or 1940. Mimeographed correspondence, 1939, from the state federation about the bill regulating billboards enacted that year and a copy of the bill. Printed club programs, 1936/37 and 1937/38 which include meeting dates and topics as well as lists of officers, committee members and club members.

This series has been transferred to the Special Collections Department, Heard Library, Vanderbilt University.