Indiana native and author Byron James Cartwright will present a discussion of Columbus’ rich musical history on March 20.
Based on his latest book “Amazing Sounds in a Midwestern Town: Columbus, Indiana: Small City with a Big Musical Heritage,” the Bartholomew County Historical Society will begin this year’s Evelyn Seward Speaker series with “Roots and Rabbit Holes: A History of Music in Columbus,” presented by Cartwright.
The discussion will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Helen Haddad Hall on March 20. Admission is free.
Cartwright has written and published three books and published his latest book last fall. Though he is not from Columbus, he became acquainted with the town through its architecture and had learned that his music professor at Cincinnati Bible Seminary, E. Wayne Berry, was the organist at First Christian Church for over 40 years.
“So I heard lots of stories about Columbus that took place during his lifetime, but then I got more and more interested because the more I dug into it, I went down rabbit holes, everything else and I discovered all this history before he ever knew anything that had happened there,” Cartwright said.
His latest book that the talk is based on came from a doctorate dissertation he wrote on Columbus’ music ministry history. After leaving it unpublished for over 30 years, he decided to rework it and center it around Columbus’ musical history from 1846 to 1966.
During that time period, he noticed several influential people from Columbus were also setting ideals for it to be a musical community, from Joseph Irwin coming to town in 1846 and leading music at a local church even while becoming a local visionary in the community to Benjamin Hutchins helping to start a music conservatory in the area even before Indiana University opened theirs.
“And the more I began to research, I thought, ‘oh my goodness, Columbus people had a lot to do with the founding of Butler University where I went to many concerts,’” Cartwright said. “They had a lot to do with building Clowes Hall where I went to hear the symphony and where I saw my first Metropolitan Opera performances and those were made possible by Elsie Sweeney, so there were just all kinds of ties that came together and I just thoroughly enjoyed researching everything in Columbus.”
Cartwright’s talk will concentrate on musical history from 1846 to the early part of the 20th century. According to the Bartholomew County Historical Society, he will also share insights and stories surrounding famous Columbus leaders and influential, but little known, musical movers and shakers of the era.
“I’m a lover of history, I’m a lover of architecture, I’m a lover of music, and so all those came together and I hope to capture the imagination of people who love history, music in that way,” Cartwright said. “And I think Columbus has a rich, rich musical history.”
He had become involved with the Bartholomew County Historical Society when they helped him with research for his original dissertation. When he came to them with wanting to get his book published, he said they also connected him with people including Viewpoint Books owner Beth Stroh to help get that published.
“And she said, ‘I think you need to get in touch with (PathBinder Publishing LLC owner) Paul Hoffman.’ I got in touch with Paul Hoffman and he became my editor and publisher and he’s the one that helped me bring the book to its fruition,” Cartwright said. “Together we worked with (the) Historical Society and everything like that, Paul got a lot of pictures and everything from the Historical Society to put in the book.”
Following his talk at Helen Haddad Hall, Cartwright will be visiting First Christian Church the next day to lead a similar discussion on E. Wayne Berry, his life and his legacy. This talk, titled “A Legacy of Music: First Christian Church 1909-1966,” will be held at 11 a.m. and is also free to attend.
