About the Website

History & Mission

APSchmidt.org was launched in 2025 with the goal of providing a comprehensive, public-facing resource dedicated to the life and work of American music publisher Arthur P. Schmidt (1846–1921). First and foremost, the site offers an accessible overview of Schmidt’s biography—highlighting key moments, achievements, and contributions across his career to help both casual visitors and researchers understand his historical significance in the field of American art music.

In addition to this narrative presentation, the website serves as a centralized research hub that connects users to a wide range of related Schmidt materials, including digital catalogs, external archives, and specialized collections maintained by various institutions. To support academic engagement, APSchmidt.org also maintains a growing, curated directory of recent scholarly studies that relate in various ways to Schmidt and to the music he published.

By bringing these elements together, the website is helping to foster greater historical awareness, to encourage collaboration among researchers, and to preserve Schmidt’s legacy for future generations. So if YOU have any Schmidt-related information or expertise to contribute, please get in touch below!

Project Editor

Contact

Derek R. Strykowski holds a Ph.D. in historical musicology from Brandeis University and is an associate teaching professor at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). As a scholar, Strykowski investigates the artistic impact of the music publishing business upon the work of nineteenth-century composers of art music in both Europe and, increasingly, the United States. His peer-reviewed research on this topic has appeared in various scholarly journals including Notes: The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, the International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, and American Music, which recently published “The Immigrant Journey of Arthur P. Schmidt: Tracing a Nineteenth-Century Music Publisher's Social and Cultural Capital from Hamburg to Boston” (vol. 41, no. 4).

To learn more about Strykowski’s print and digital undertakings, please visit his personal research website at https://dstrykowski.com.

Links

Historians, performers, and archivists maintain a wide range of websites relating to the composers whose music Schmidt helped to publish:

Marion Bauer: Marion Eugenie Bauer Papers (New York University), Song of America (Hamsong Foundation), Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy
Amy Beach: AmyBeach.org, Amy Cheney Beach Papers (University of New Hampshire), Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy
Gena Branscombe: The Gena Branscombe Project, Song of America (Hamsong Foundation)
George Whitefield Chadwick: Chadwick Appreciation Society, George W. Chadwick Papers (New England Conservatory), Song of America (Hamsong Foundation)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation
Mabel Daniels: Papers of Mabel Wheeler Daniels (Harvard University), Mount Auburn Cemetery (Cambridge, MA)
Arthur Foote: Arthur Foote Papers (New England Conservatory), Arthur Foote Collection (Williams College), Song of America (Hamsong Foundation)
Henry Hadley: HenryHadley150.org, Song of America (Hamsong Foundation)
Margaret Ruthven Lang: MargaretRuthvenLang.com, Song of America (Hamsong Foundation)
Edward MacDowell: Edward and Marian MacDowell Collection (Library of Congress), MacDowell Colony,
Leo Ornstein: LeoOrnstein.net, Leo Ornstein Papers (Yale University), Milken Archive of Jewish Music
John Knowles Paine: Paine Concert Hall (Harvard University)
Horatio Parker: Parker Recital Hall (Yale School of Music)
Charles Villiers Stanford: The Stanford Society