Blanche K. Thomas papers

1905-1979 [bulk 1934-1979]

African American music teacher and composer Blanche K. Thomas was the founder of the Thomas Music Study Club. Thomas graduated from the Juilliard School of Music (1928) and studied choral conducting at the Westminster Choir School. In 1932, she organized a mixed ensemble of youth to study and perform the music of African American composers. Annual recitals were presented at a variety of New York venues including Carnegie Hall and the New York World's Fair. Thomas arranged a number of the songs performed by the group. Originally called the Thomas Negro Composers Study Group, the organization became affiliated with the National Association of Negro Musicians in 1940, and continued under the name of the Thomas Music Study Group. During this period and through the 1960s, Thomas conducted lessons in piano, singing, and related subjects at her studio, the Thomas Music Studio, at her home at 409 Edgecombe Avenue in Harlem. Thomas also served as the director of church school music at New York's St. Philip's Church and was supervisor of church school music at St. James Presbyterian Church.

In 1909, she married Joseph A. Thomas, who later became the business manager of the Study Group. Blanche Thomas died in 1977 at age ninety-two.