Selma Riemenschneider and the Berea Women’s Committee

Abstract

I t was on a spring day in mid-April 1936 that Albert Riemenschneider called together a team of roughly twenty-five women dedicated to strengthening the reputation and excellence of the Baldwin Wallace (BW) Bach Festival. From this group arose the Berea Women’s Committee, whom Albert assured during their initial assembly that “if you will do this for me, your names will be in the Library of Congress!” What exactly he meant by this, we do not know, but Lucy S. Berger—a member of the committee—stated that it was “Perhaps an early form of Women’s Lib!” While the names of these women have not been commemorated by the Library of Congress, we cannot forget their accomplishments in shaping the BW Bach Festival into what it is today. Among these women was Selma Riemenschneider, whose steadfast endeavors established her as perhaps the most impactful figure on the committee and, more broadly, the unheralded mastermind behind the Bach Festival. Archival materials related to the Berea Women’s Committee are limited, so their tremendous efforts have been left unacknowledged by researchers. However, the resources that we do possess present clear insight into the accomplishments and significance of the committee. One such item is “The Berea Women’s Committee of the Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival,” an unpublished assemblage of written materials that illuminates the committee’s affairs. This collection takes the form of a leather-bound notebook whose pages feature the writing (some manuscript, some typed) of the committee’s secretary, Lucy S. Berger. The majority of the information within these pages relates to the meeting’s minutes, some of which Berger has included in their original form; she states that “it was much more