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Title: Gamut Club Collection
Dates: 1906-1947
Bulk Dates: 1906-1932
Collection number: MS.548
Creator:
Gamut Club (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Creator:
Lummis, Charles Fletcher, 1859-1928
Collection Size:
25 folders, 4 guest registers
Repository:
Autry National Center. Institute for the Study of the American West
Los Angeles, CA 90065
Abstract: The collection consists of ephemera, institutional records, and Gamut Club guest registers.
Physical location: Braun Research Library Manuscript Archives.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research. Appointments to view materials are required. To make an appointment please visit http://www.autrynationalcenter.org/research_application.php
or contact library staff at (323).221-2164.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Braun Research Library, Autry National Center. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Library Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the Braun Research Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the
copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
[Item identification] Gamut Club Collection, MS.548. Braun Research Library, Autry National Center, Los Angeles, CA
Some material in this collection originally came from the manuscript collections of Charles F. Lummis (MS.1) and the Newspaper
Clippings Collection (MS.100) held at the Braun Research Library. It is unknown when the personal papers of Charles C. Draa
were donated to the Library.
Braun Research Library staff. Revised by James Foster and Anna Liza Posas, 2008.
Biography / Administrative History
The Gamut Club was founded in 1904 by L.E. Behymer and a group of Los Angeles musicians. The membership of this musical society
was exclusively male and its objective, as described by their librarian Ben F. Field in 1918, was "brotherhood, assistance
to the musical fraternity, and the uplifting of the art."
Shortly afterwards, the Club broadened the scope of its activities by including other types of artists such as writers, painters,
sculptors, filmmakers, and actors.
According to the 1912 Gamut Club yearbook, the Club continued to expand its society by adding "business and professional men
of artistic tastes and talents."
The Gamet Club building was located on 1044 South Hope Street in Los Angeles and built to meet the needs of their artistic
clientele. Their building included a 668 seat theatre, music and banquet room, and artists studios.
Charles Fletcher Lummis was a member of the Gamut Club and in 1924 they held a fiesta in his honor. The Club described Lummis
as "our most distinguished member."
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of ephemera, institutional records, and Gamut Club guest registers. Much of the collection is related
to Charles Clifton Draa who served on the Gamut Club's reception committee and executive board from 1917-1932. Some of the
materials also belonged to Lummis. There is also one folder of personal papers belonging to Draa that are unrelated to Gamut
Club activities.
Ephemera material consists of invitations, announcements, and programs to Gamut Club hosted events. Events include recitals,
birthday celebrations, special dinners, plays, meetings, the Los Angeles Grand Opera Association night, and "Ladies Night"
where "every good Gamuteer is expected to bring a Lady or Ladies." There is also a program for California a "scenic allegory"
by G. Carl Bronson which doubles as the Club's 1912 yearbook providing brief information about the Club and a list of its
officers, directors, committees, and members. Another ephemera item is a booklet written on the Club's history by their librarian,
Ben F. Field, circa 1918.
Institutional records include correspondence and files of the "Citizen Auditorium Committee"; Draa correspondence; Lummis
correspondence and personal papers; list of Club members; resolutions; notes; newspaper articles; and printed lyrics and music
to the Club's anthem, "We Are the Gamuteers," written by Draa.
Within the newspaper material is The Damn It Club Occasional "published by the Wives, Sweethearts, and Sisters of the Gamut
Club Members." "Called 'Damn It' because it is what we so often think when we are not allowed to enjoy the 'Music,' 'Art,'
and 'Literature' which our Husband, Lovers and Brothers so enthusiastically extol."
The clippings include twenty-four caricatures and opinions of the Club's executive board and members, including Draa and Lummis.
Gamut club guest registers are from 1906 to 1923 and have hand written signatures, drawings, and sayings from Club members,
guests, and visitors.
Material throughout this collection includes images and names of the Club's building, members, and guest musicians (both male
and female).
The personal papers of Draa relate to his involvement to the "Al Malaikah Temple" and the "Imperial Council, Ancient Arabic
Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine," 1925-1947. They include a photograph with Draa and members of the Imperial council, membership
documents, a play manuscript, and correspondence.
The collection is arranged by type of the material. Ephemera are in folders 1-11, institutional records in folders 12-24,
and the personal papers of Charles Draa are in folder 25. The guest registers are numbered S1-S4 and arranged chronologically.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Lummis, Charles Fletcher, 1859-1928.
Draa, Charles Clifton.
Gamut Club (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Clubs--California--Los Angeles.
Music--Societies, etc.
Los Angeles (Calif.)--History.
Yearbooks.
Programs.
Letters.
Business records.
Registers.
The Huntington Library's Collection of Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1947 (ID# photPAN), The Huntington Library, Art Collections
and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Ca.
MS.1 Charles Fletcher Lummis Manuscript Collection, Braun Research Library, Autry National Center.
MS. 7 Frederick Webb Hodge Manuscript Collection, Braun Research Library, Autry National Center.
Gamut Club photographs, OP.658 and OP. 661, Braun Research Library Photographic Archives.