Anne Shaw Faulkner Oberndorfer (1877–1948): Music Educator for the Homemakers of America

The more affluent homemakers of America in the 1920s were middle- to upper-class women who attended concerts and lectures, owned and listened to the radio, and had time to read the popular magazines of the day. Three of these magazines are still published today: Better Homes and Gardens, The Ladies' Home Journal, and Child Life. From their inception, Better Homes and Gardens and The Ladies' Home Journal contained tips for home decor, child raising, gardening, food preparation, and crafts. Child Life contained stories, plays and poetry, crafts, and puzzles intended for children approximately eight to eleven years of age. Women who were concerned that their children were reading quality magazines subscribed to Child Life for their families, and often read the stories aloud to their younger children. In the 1920s these magazines regularly carried articles about music and music appreciation. Anne Shaw Faulkner Oberndorfer (hereafter referred to as "Faulkner") wrote most of them. Anne Shaw Faulkner Oberndorfer Born in Chicago in 1877, Anne Shaw Faulkner spent her entire life living and working in her home city. Her father was a partner in Wells and Faulkner, a "well-known wholesale grocery house" in Chicago. (1) The family lived in Hyde Park, where her father was a village trustee and an elder in the Presbyterian Church. (2) Although the family was not "old money," they were fairly well off and much of the information about Anne Faulkner's activities can be found in the society pages of the Chicago newspapers. Faulkner attended the Chicago Conservatory of Music and the Caruthers Normal School of Music. (3) She was on staff and taught music history at the Columbia Conservatory, and gave lectures for the University of Chicago. (4) However, most of her teaching was in the form of public lectures, frequently on topics drawn from music history. From 1897 to at least 1935, she gave pre-concert lectures the day before Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) concerts. (5) These were first hosted in private homes, later held in the Fine Arts Building, and finally given in the Marshall Fields department store's Wedgewood Room downtown, under the aegis of the Women's Committee of the CSO. (6) In 1913 Faulkner married Marx E. Oberndorfer, a concert pianist who was her long time friend and musical collaborator. He had frequently accompanied her lectures with examples at the piano, and the two continued to work in this manner following their marriage. (7) Together they offered piano lessons and music appreciation classes "especially for the adult beginner," and even hosted a cruise to Europe for a grand opera tour with accompanying lectures. (8) Although Faulkner was a member of the Music Supervisors National Conference (MSNC; now MENC: The National Association for Music Education), she apparently never taught in the public schools. She did, however, give several papers on music appreciation at MSNC national conventions. (9) She also presented her music appreciation lecture-recitals on the radio (WMAQ Chicago), often on such topics as musical geography and the opera. (10) Ann Shaw Faulkner Oberndorfer was a prolific writer. (11) She authored a music appreciation text, What We Hear In Music, which was published in thirteen editions over thirty years. (12) As the national chair of the Music Division for the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC) from 1920 to 1926, she wrote for the GFWC newsletter, gave conference presentations, and wrote yearly reports. (13) She also wrote the program notes for the first Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Children's Concerts, and over fifty articles published in such magazines as The Ladies Home Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, and Child Life. Faulkner in Historical Context Chicago was an exciting, artistic place during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. One could attend performances of chamber music or theater, the CSO, or the opera. …