Dates: 1940-1975

Collection Number: MS 732

Physical Location: Archive Room Shelves

Extent: 1 archival box (.1 cubic ft.)

Creators/Collectors: H. Gaylen Strunce

Access Restrictions: Collection is open for research

User Restrictions: No restrictions

Preferred Citation: H. Gaylen Strunce - Lane High School Band Collection, MS 732, Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information: This small collection of memorabilia and some correspondence was donated to ACHS by Kelly Morikawa, granddaughter of H. Gaylen Strunce, first director of the Lane High School Band, in May of 2024.

Biographical/Historical Information: Mr. Strunce was born in Iowa in 1915. He studied at the University of Iowa and got his Master of Music Degree from the University of Michigan. In 1940, he came to Charlottesville and founded the Lane High School Band, a position that he held for one year. Throughout his life, he was an advocate of music programs in public schools in the state of Virginia. He died in Winchester, VA in 1997. (See: Handley Notables: Harry Gaylen Strunce, faculty | Winchester Star | winchesterstar.com)

Scope and Content: This collection consists of memorabilia related to the creation of the Lane High School Band.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged alphabetically and chronologically.

Box 1

f. 1: Accession folder

f. 2: Historical Supplement to McGuffey Reader, 1940 [pamphlet]

f. 3: Lane High School Band First Annual Spring Concert Program, April 21, 1941

f. 4: Lane High School Music Program – correspondence between A. G. Balz (Chairman of City of Charlottesville School Board) and L. H. Peterson (President, Charlottesville Lions Club), 1939- 1940

f. 5: Lane High School Band Photographs, 1940-1941

f. 6: The Midway Student, Lane High School Student Newspaper, Vol. XIX, Nos. 5, 8, 9, 10; 1940-1941

f. 7: Strunce, H. Gaylen – Certificate, n.d.

f. 8: News-clippings re: Lane High School Band, 1941,1975, n.d.

Printed Materials:

The Bumblebee, Lane High School (student publication), Vol. 29, No. 1: May 1941; Vol. 36, Nos. 1-2: 1948

Gay Nineties Minstrel Revue, Lane High School, Charlottesville, Virginia, March 31 and April 1, 1941 (Program)

Lane High Band Anniversary Concerts: 15th, 20th, 30th, 35th, 50th (programs)

UVA (Mini) Postcards, n.d.

Oversized materials:

Lane High School and Charlottesville High School [alumni?] Band Photograph, n.d.

National Bureau for the Advancement of Music Award to Lane High School Certificate, 1941 [on the shelf]

Persons: Strunce, H. Gaylen

Subjects:

  • Lane High School (Charlottesville, Va.)--Bands (Music)
  • Bands (Music)--Virginia–Charlottesville
  • Concert programs

Record Types:

  • Correspondence.
  • News-clippings.
  • Photographs.
  • Yearbooks.