THSO in the Great Depression, Part 2 (1934-1941)
David Chapman | April 3, 2026 | history@thso.org
This post is the second of two parts. Click here to read Part 1.
Update to Part I:
The posts on this blog reflect history that is actively being researched and documented up to the very minute of publication. The ink, as it were, is barely dry! Research on the THSO in the Great Depression continued in the two weeks since Part I posted, and this author has learned new things since then! I begin today’s post with an important update. In effect, you get to see the historical picture come into focus almost as it is happening.
I speculated in Part I of this history that the THSO survived the Great Depression by becoming invisible: in the absence of direct evidence of any THSO activity, it seemed plausible that Bryant consolidated his civic and college orchestras in 1930-1933, keeping both programs alive in the process. Percy Grainger’s performances with that combined group helped to sustain them both in very hard times.
This past week, I found new evidence in the microfilm archives of the Terre Haute Star! In March 1932 and May 1933, the Star published articles reporting on Percy Grainger’s visits to Indiana State, and these include personnel lists for the orchestra. The lists can be compared to lists from the THSO before and after the Depression. Out of 114 named musicians for the two concerts, 63 were indeed musicians who performed in the THSO! Of the remaining 51 performers, some were Indiana state students and others were members of the local community. This seems to confirm that the THSO combined forces with the Indiana State orchestra in the early years of the Great Depression. Our orchestra survived thanks to the strategic leadership of Will Bryant and a vital partnership with the college.
So now, let’s begin part 2…
The Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra survived the worst years of the Great Depression by retreating from public view. Then, after its reemergence, it had to face new questions about what it meant to thrive as an arts institution. This second part traces how the orchestra gradually revived and reorganized itself, setting new precedents that continue to define the THSO today.
Following a period of quiet survival, the Terre Haute Symphony once again performed under its own name in 1934. The season bookended the Great Depression by emphasizing continuities with the pre-crisis era. Soprano Elsa Silverstein returned on January 17, 1934, to reprise her performance of the very same Charpentier aria she had sung five years before. Pianist Vivien Bard appeared once again on March 17, this time as performer and composer of her own concerto. [Author’s note: despite my best efforts, I could not locate a score or parts for Bard’s piano concerto. If someone has one, please let me know!] The Hippodrome, where Bryant had been bandleader in years past and where early THSO rehearsals had been held, became a regular concert venue for the orchestra. Additional concerts came in April and June, with a runout to St.-Mary-of-the-Woods in May. The THSO was back!
Program for the January 17, 1934, THSO concert, from the THSO archive at the Vigo County Public Library.
In late February of that revival season, the local community came together to set the orchestra on a sustainable path for the future. Representatives from its original partners – the Woman’s Department Club and the musicians’ union – were joined by members of the public school system, the Chamber of Commerce, the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs, and others, and together they helped create a new governing organization to replace the former Symphony Society. The newly formed Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra Association elected a new board and slate of officers. The THSOA immediately set about organizing new ticketing and fundraising programs that they hoped would support and grow the orchestra in the coming years. This new business model for the orchestra so thoroughly revitalized the orchestra that newspapers plausibly (though incorrectly) proclaimed that “Terre Haute has a new Symphony orchestra!” It was not new, but renewed, thanks to the efforts of its community partners. Today’s Terre Haute Symphony Association stands as an enduring legacy of this effort.
Source: Vigo County Community Collection, Vigo County Public Library
The THSO continued venue-hopping throughout the mid-1930s before settling into a more permanent home on the Indiana State campus. Dr. Ralph Tirey, then president of the college, was a key figure in this move, agreeing to let the orchestra use its rehearsal rooms, musical instruments, and performing spaces. The orchestra’s first campus venue starting in its 12th season (1937–1938) was the Sycamore Theatre in the Laboratory School building (now University Hall Theater). In its 15th season (1940–1941), the orchestra began performing in the auditorium of the newly completed Student Union Building. This building was later renamed Tirey Hall in honor of the college president. It has been the performing venue of the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra ever since. You can still see “Student Union Building” above the entrance of Tirey Hall when you attend THSO concerts today — 85 seasons later!
Entrance to Tirey Hall, the THSO performing venue, as it appeared at the most recent THSO concert on March 28, 2026; photo by Barb Hagerman, Past President of the THSA Board of Directors.
Since its earliest days, local newspapers had occasionally referred to our orchestra as the “Terre Haute Civic Symphony Orchestra.” The name was never used internally by the THSO, but it was nevertheless a meaningful mistake because it noted the group’s city and community orientation and that it was not directly associated with a theater or school: it was an orchestra by and for the people of Terre Haute.
“[Terre Haute] Civic Symphony Orchestra Will Play Saturday”
But then, beginning with its 14th season (1939-1940), the THSO officially changed its name to the “Terre Haute Civic and Teachers College Symphony Orchestra.” The new moniker was a mouthful, to be sure, but it took great pains to declare the close partnership and blended interests of the city and the school. And this continued to be the name of our orchestra through the next sixteen seasons! We might also understand it as a public acknowledgement of those private arrangements of the darkest years of the Depression, when consolidation had ensured that the orchestra would endure to celebrate a century of future anniversaries!
Program cover for the 20th Anniversary Concert, March 26, 1946, from the THSO archive at the Vigo County Public Library.
Postscript:
The THSO — or, rather, the THCTCSO — celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1946, having overcome the extraordinary challenges of both the Great Depression and the Second World War (stay tuned for a WWII post coming soon!). Percy Grainger returned for a celebratory concert in March 1946 on the anniversary of the orchestra’s first rehearsals. On that occasion, conductor Will Bryant wrote a special program note acknowledging those who were most responsible for the orchestra’s survival and success over the previous two decades. He credited the president of the local Rotary club for having overseen the formation of the Terre Haute Symphony Association. He thanked President Tirey for making the resources of the college available to the orchestra and providing it a performing home. But he began by acknowledging special guest Percy Grainger for his visits in the early Thirties, noting that “his encouragement carried the orchestra through and over several difficulties.” This indicates, once again, that his orchestra of the early Thirties had been the Terre Haute Civic and Teachers College Symphony Orchestra in all but name.
Program note for the 20th Anniversary Concert, March 26, 1946, from the THSO archive at the Vigo County Public Library.
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New sources on Percy Grainger’s visits in 1932 and 1933:
“Grainger to Arrive Today for Concert,” Terre Haute Star, March 23, 1932, page 2.
“Grainger Will Direct and Play With Massed Orchestra Tonight,” Terre Haute Star, March 24, 1932, page 7.
“Grainger Well Received by Big Audience as Performer-Director,” Terre Haute Star, March 25, 1932, page 19.
“Percy Grainger, Noted Composer and Pianist, to be Heard Tonight,” Terre Haute Star, May 4, 1933, page 10.
“Grainger, as Soloist, Conductor, Holds His Audience Spellbound,” Terre Haute Star, May 5, 1933, page 7.
Sources on the THSO’s renewal season (1933-1934):
“T. H. Symphony,” Terre Haute Saturday Spectator, January 13, 1934, page 20.
“Terre Haute’s New Symphony Orchestra Plays January 17,” unknown publication and publication date.
Frederick Black, “The Terre Haute Symphony,” Terre Haute Saturday Spectator, page 23.
“The Symphony,” Terre Haute Saturday Spectator, March 3, 1934, page 10.
“T. H. Symphony Concert,” Terre Haute Saturday Spectator, March 10, 1934, page 20.
“Symphony Orchestra Concert,” Terre Haute Saturday Spectator, March 17, 1934, page 10.
“Symphony Orchestra Concert,” Terre Haute Saturday Spectator, April 28, 1934, page 18.