THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
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Although independent of the University, the University Musical Society (UMS) had grown substantially since its founding in 1880. It saw the arrangement of orchestral concerts and recitals as its main duty. There was no School of Music in the University in those years. But when in 1881 a university instructor was granted permission to give music lessons to private pupils, the Ann Arbor School of Music opened its doors—as a department of UMS.
Kelsey served as president of UMS from 1891 to 1927. When Henry Frieze, one of the founders of UMS and Kelsey's predecessor as head of the Latin Department, died, it fell to Kelsey and Albert Stanley, the professor of music, to provide a fitting memorial. This they did by raising the money to acquire the great organ from the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and moving it to Ann Arbor. Formally dedicated in University Hall, it was later moved to Hill Auditorium.
As a member of the campus planning committee Kelsey lobbied for a series of buildings on campus to serve the arts and humanities: a museum of art, a school of music, and an auditorium. By the terms of his will Regent Arthur Hill left $200,000 to build such an auditorium. Albert Kahn was chosen as the architect and Kelsey authorized to confer with Kahn about the auditorium's location and construction.
Another building project in which Kelsey played a leading role was the Pendleton Library, a memorial for Edward Waldo Pendleton, a Michigan graduate and Detroit lawyer who had been a good friend of the Latin Department.
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Ann Arbor School of Music at 325 Maynard Street From A. Duderstadt, The University of Michigan: A Photographic Saga (Ann Arbor, 2006)
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Hill Auditorium From A. Duderstadt, The University of Michigan: A Photographic Saga (Ann Arbor, 2006)
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Program for the dedication of the Frieze Organ in 1894 Bentley Historical Library, Kelsey Museum Papers
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Newspaper article on the dedication of the Frieze Organ in 1894 Bentley Historical Library, Kelsey Museum Papers
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Program for the first concert (the May Festival) held in Hill Auditorium, on May 14, 1913 Archives of UMS
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Carbon copy of a letter from Kelsey to the architect of Hill Auditorium, Albert Kahn, after the first concert congratulating Kahn on the building's design and excellent acoustics and remarking on a problem with the extension of the stage Bentley Historical Library, Kelsey Museum Papers
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Diary of 1923 with program of the commencement exercises of the Ann Arbor School of Music (then called the University School of Music, though it was not part of the University of Michigan) Bentley Historical Library, Kelsey Museum Papers
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Newspaper article on the 4th annual School of Music graduation at which Kelsey delivered the commencement address Bentley Historical Library, Patricia Arthur/Ruth Kelsey Diel Collection
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The Pendleton Library in the Michigan Union From the Michigan Alumnus 31, no. 21 (March 12, 1925)
