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History of ACDA's Eastern Division
Celebrating 50+ Years of Service to the Choral Art
The American Choral Directors Association was founded in 1959 to serve the
needs of choral conductors working in professional organizations, schools,
communities, and places of worship. Following two years of
correspondence initiated by Robert Landers (US Air Force), Archie
Jones (University of Texas) and Maynard Klein (University of
Michigan), the first meeting was held on February 4, 1959 in Kansas
City, Missouri during a meeting of the Music Teachers National Association
(MTNA). At this meeting, 35 founding members passed the original
constitution and bylaws and set the yearly dues at $6.00.
The fledgling organization was originally conceived as the American
Choirmasters Association (to parallel the American Bandmasters Association),
and was designed to accept members based only upon recommendation. At the
first organizational meeting, however, the organization was renamed the
American Choral Directors Association and membership was opened to anyone
interested in choral music. Eventually, eighty-one officially designated
charter members launched what was to become one of the world's most
significant influences in choral music.
The first ACDA Executive Board was comprised of Landers and Jones, as
well as Charles Hirt (University of Southern Cal.), Harry Robert
Wilson (Teachers College, Columbia University), Warner Imig
(University of Colorado), Elwood Keister (University of Florida),
R. Wayne Hugoboom (Marshall College and University of Southern Florida),
and James Aliferis (University of Minnesota). Because of
failing health, Maynard Klein did not participate in organizing the final
committee.
ACDA’s first president, Archie Jones, oversaw the publication of
the first “Choral Journal” in May, 1959 and planned the first national
conference, held March 16-17, 1960 at the Ambassador Hotel in Atlantic City,
New Jersey. This conference, in conjunction with the national conference of
the Music Educators National Conference (MENC), consisted of concerts,
demonstrations, panel discussions, Reading Sessions and two general business
sessions. The conference was extremely successful and established momentum
for the organization’s early growth.
From the outset, ACDA worked to include both men and women in its leadership
as well as choral directors representing all choral activity. Elaine
Brown (Temple Univ. and Singing City) and Helen Hosmer (Crane
School of Music at SUNY Potsdam) took an active part in shaping the young
organization. Curtis Hansen and Mary Ruth Palmer, both
national officers, were high school choral directors.
In 1964, R. Wayne Hugoboom, who had served as the first editor of
the “Choral Journal” retired from Marshall College and began serving as
ACDA’s first Executive Secretary, working first out of his home and then
from ACDA’s first office in a tiny two-bedroom house in Tampa, FL.
ACDA’s Executive Board announced a decision in 1969 to hold national and
regional conferences independently of MENC. The first independent conference
of ACDA was held in 1971 at the Muehlebach Hotel, Kansas City, MO. The
decade of the 1970’s heralded the largest expansion of the ACDA membership.
In 1970, membership totaled 3,165 and by 1980 the number of members had
increased to 10,600. This growth brought a change of Executive
Secretary, with Gene Brooks’ appointment in 1976 and a move of the
headquarters from Tampa to Lawton, Oklahoma. The headquarters were
moved to the present location in Oklahoma City in 2003.
During the presidency of Colleen Kirk (Florida State University),
the current Repertoire & Standards structure was created and added to the
national, divisional, and state boards (1983). She was also the first
president to insist that our national conference performance ensembles
required more conducive acoustical environments than hotel ballrooms. The
national conference that she chaired (1981) was the first to use a
performance hall (New Orleans Theatre of the Performing Arts), and also the
first to contain a major work for choir and orchestra – a performance
of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Atlanta Symphony and five
collegiate choirs conducted by Robert Shaw.
The division structure of the ACDA dates back to the first meeting in
1959, but it was not implemented until 1961. At that time, the founding members
separated the country into six divisions, each electing a “state chairman”
or president. A seventh division was added in 1979 to accommodate the
ever-expanding membership. Choral composer and arranger Harry Robert
Wilson (Teachers College, Columbia University) served as the first
president of the Eastern Division. Our first division conference was held in
1961 (in conjunction with MENC). The first independently organized
division conference (Southern Division) was held in 1970.
The rich history of the American Choral Directors Association and the
Eastern Division is still being written. Today, the national organization
boasts a membership of over 18,000, and approximately 3,000 of those are
members of the Eastern Division.
Last revised
July 16, 2010