"Loring May Render Indian Music Here"

In 1921, Harold A. Loring began giving lecture recitals with Brave Hawk, a member of the Sioux tribe Loring met on his ethnographic field studies. Beginning with their appearance for the Camp Fire Girls in Grand Rapids, Michigan to the Decatur Public Schools in Illinois and the Chicago Geographic Society, Loring and Brave Hawk travelled across the Midwest throughout the 1920s.

Using digitized newspapers, I collected roughly fifty pieces of data chronicling Loring’s performances from 1921-29. During this time, Loring performed almost exclusively in the midwest with only a short foray into Wyoming. Loring spoke primarily at schools and social clubs. These venues ranged from the Kansas City chapter of the National League of Women Voters, to the Huntington Boy Scouts in Indiana, to the St. Joseph High School in Michigan. Close classification of venue type reveals, Loring wasn’t performing concerts, he was giving educational lecture-recitals.

The following map displays Loring's lectures, as derived from digitized newspapers, between 1921-29. Navy points indicate lecture-recitals given at a educational institution whereas teal points indicate a lecture-recital given at a social club. The pink dots in Denver indicate a radio broadcast, since that did not fit neatly into the other two categories.

Additionally, I've chosen to frame Loring's lectures against current tribal-owned land and land stolen by the United States government. Since Loring performed mostly in white educational institutions, I wanted my map to forefront the contrast Loring's ethnographic lectures about the music of a "dying race" with the geographic reality federal land grab policies.

Overwhelmingly, Loring performed at educational institutions. This included primary schools, high schools, state teacher conferences, and schools districts. A visualization of Loring's venue types is show below.

Clearly, secondary education and teacher federations/school districts were Loring's most common venues. Why was “Music of the North American Indian” considered an important, educational topic within an early twentieth century educational institution?

Loring’s focus on educational settings is also ironic when contrasted against Loring’s involvement and participation in residential schools including Chilocco Indian School and the Haskell Institute. In 1924 in between his appearances at the University of Kansas Journalism class and East High School, Loring visited the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas. Loring’s lecture recitals at white educational institutions combined with his continual involvement in residential schools and their assimilationist policies calls into question the educational validity of Loring’s ethnographical work.

Loring’s lectures perpetrated colonialist stereotypes of indigenous peoples as a dying and primitive race. In a 1925 interview with the Casper Star Tribune, Loring said “The old-time Indian had a capacity for such clear, fine childlike reasoning that he might well be taken as an example by lots of people today” (Casper Star Tribune, Casper, WY, May 12, 1925). Given these types of comments, I wonder: Were Loring’s lectures really educational or were they a way to obscure and excuse the settler colonialist policies of the federal government?

In press reviews and interviews, Loring often made the same comments about the characteristics of indigenous music. Notably that indigenous music was always in a minor mode, difficult to transcribe, used competing and changing meters, and did not ascribe to a western pitch classification system. In 1928, Loring commented “Most of the songs are in a minor key and are plaintive. The only musical instruments the Indians use are the simplest instruments of percussion, their favorite being a rather crude drum or TomTom” (St. Joseph Gazette, St. Joseph, MI, August 19, 1928). Underlying Loring’s remarks was the belief Native American music was simple, primitive, and uncivilized. Also key to Loring’s view of native music as primitive was his insistence on its homophony. In 1906, Loring commented “Indian has no knowledge of Harmony, but he renders these Melody is with a conviction as certain as if they were harmonized, the rise and fall of the cadences are very weird dramatic” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, NY, January 28, 1906). Loring found native music interesting because of its contrast to Western music, instead of finding the music interesting inherently worthy of its own accord. 

Loring’s appearances at social clubs, including children’s clubs, women’s clubs, and fraternal clubs is interesting but not wholly surprising. In the early twentieth century, many social clubs like the YMCA, Lions Club, or DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution), often hosted a variety of musical acts and informational speakers. Newspaper reviews indicate Loring’s lectures tended to be viewed with a exotic fascination. In 1922 The Rockford Morning Star reported a curious anecdote, which I’ve quoted full below, about the reception of Brave Hawk, Loring’s touring partner, at a ladies club: 

“Last season we had an engagement with a very prominent Women's Club in one of our large cities. At the close of the program a reception was held in order that the several hundred women present might talk with the Indian, look at his costume, etc. Coffee was served also some small cakes or donuts. I knew that the Indian was fond of coffee but I watched him with interest to see if he would eat the donut as I knew he had not seen or tasted any before. I noticed that each time a woman offered him a plate on which were the donuts he would invariably take one and eat it. After this happened some seven or eight times I began to be alarmed as to the possible consequences, so I made my way through the crowd to where he was surrounded by a crowd of women. Just as I arrived at his side I overheard a woman say, “ you like these very much don't you?” He replied “ no no good heap (sic) bad.” I asked him afterward why he ate them if he didn't like them and he said “ of course I ate them. That was good woman. I wouldn't hurt her feelings by refusing her food. What could I do?” (Rockford Morning Star, Rockford, IL, December 3, 1922). 

The strangeness of club ladies stuffing Brave Hawk with donuts combined with Loring’s subtle sub-human objectification of “the Indian” in this excerpt suggest Loring’s native touring companions functioned as a type of live anthropological circus creature. Even though Brave Eagle, Brave Hawk, or any of Loring’s other touring partners likely could have contributed their own views on indigenous music, it is unclear how much agency Loring’s touring companions had. 

In light of these sources, much about Loring's traveling lecture-recitals remains unclear. Who were Loring's Native American traveling companions? What was the reaction of a school child who witnessed Loring's lecture? Despite this uncertainty, Newspaper reviews and headlines can give us a glimpse into how Loring's work was perceived and represented.

Given the background information you've just read, take another look at the map below. In particular, I invite you to read the event descriptions in the tooltips on this map. For the most part, I've recorded the event title exactly as it was advertised in newspapers. Additionally, under participants, I've listed names exactly as they appear in the source newspaper.