Chatham Music and Arts Summer Camp Records

Collection

Identifier: 2022.001

Staff Only

Content Description

This collection documents activities of the Chatham Music and Arts Summer Day Camp from its founding in 1956 through 2010. The materials include information generated during administration of the camp, including registrations, counselor interview notes, records of expenses and scholarships, camp schedules, fundraising efforts, and biographical information about the camp founders. Correspondence includes letters written to the camp directors from student campers. Promotional material used to advertise the camp and finale performance programs representing the culmination of each term range in date from the founding through 2010. The collection also includes information about reunions organized for former campers and camp staff, documented through photographs, audio visual recordings of the reunions, and planning records.

The collection includes a large number of photographs, ranging in date from the 1950s through 2005 and including several large images captured by Ben Spiegel. Recordings document a wide variety of camp activities including recreation, performance, birthday celebrations held during the camp term, and the setting of the camp on the campus of Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA.

Dates

Creation: 1956-2010

Creator

Chatham Music and Arts Summer Day Camp (Organization)
Stolarevsky, Mihail, 1893-1974 (Person)
Stolarevsky, Kay (Kathryn), 1914-2015 (Person)

Biographical / Historical

The Chatham Music and Arts Summer Day Camp was founded in 1956 by Mihail Stolarevsky and Kathryn Fell Stolarevsky to develop an appreciation for music and the arts in children and to enrich their lives. Based on the campus of Chatham University (then Pennsylvania College for Women) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvanian, the Music and Arts Summer Day Camp extended the efforts of the Laboratory School of Music –which was founded by Mihail Stolarevsky in 1949 and offered classes to pre-college students– to a six-week annual format that combined opportunities for instruction in music and art alongside recreation. With approximately 300 students per summer, the camp provided scholarships to ensure all interested students could have an opportunity to attend.

Mihail Stolarevsky served as Camp Director from its founding until his death, whereupon Kathryn (Kay) Stolarevsky served as Camp Director until 1991. Camp faculty and staff included members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and faculty from Chatham University’s Music Department.

Initially a distinct organization, the Music and Arts Summer Day Camp reimbursed Chatham for use of the campus grounds and administrative support and shared some faculty fees with the University of Pittsburgh. Eventually, the Music and Arts Summer Day Camp became part of Chatham University’s community programs and headed by Jim Ferla and later Larissa Young.