Percy Jewett Burrell
Encyclopedia
Percy Jewett Burrell was an author and director of historical and civic pageant
s, or dramas, and was known for his skills in oratory
and elocution
, (both of which are now more commonly referred to as public speaking
). He also taught public speaking and drama, and was known as a "public reciter". A native and lifelong resident of the greater Boston area, he was described by Time magazine as a "professional director of civic and patriotic shows". As of the mid 1920s, Burrell had developed a nationwide reputation for his work, having had 75,000 participants in his productions, which had collectively been performed in front of over 900,000 people. According to a printed program used at a service in his memory, "His mastery of the spoken and written word led him to be a well known public speaker with an enviable reputation as a teacher of oratory, and later as an author and director of national distinction"
Burrell served as the sixth supreme (national) president of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity from 1907 to 1914, and along with Fraternity founder Ossian E. Mills has been credited by Fraternity historians with encouraging the early expansion of and formulating the basic philosophies and spiritual values espoused by the Fraternity. Thus, he has been described as the Thomas Jefferson figure of the Fraternity. Much of this fundamental philosophy is encapsulated in his presidential messages that appeared in the Sinfonia Yearbooks between 1908 and 1910. Today, these writings are regularly used to instruct the fraternity's probationary members about the obligations and expectations of fraternity membership.
on February 10, 1877. He attended the Phillips Grammar School in Boston from which he graduated in 1891 and the English High School of Boston
, from which he graduated in 1894.
He studied oratory at the New England Conservatory of Music
in Boston
, from which he graduated with a Diploma in Elocution in 1896. He later received the post-graduate degree of Bachelor of Oratory (B.O.) degree from Boston University
, where he later took coursework in Methodist theology, and was initiated into Boston University's chapter of Beta Theta Pi
fraternity. According to former Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia national historian John Mongiovi, "[a]lthough Burrell achieved high marks in his course work in theology at Boston University, he left in 1902 without graduating. It is possible that this departure can be attributed to his increasing spiritual and philosophical involvement in the Sinfonia and the influence of Masonic principles which strongly characterized the organization during this time".
Burrell was initiated into Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia's Alpha Chapter at New England Conservatory in 1899, where he soon thereafter was elected as the chapter's second president in January 1900. His leadership was significant as the now nationwide Fraternity had just recently been founded at the Conservatory during the previous school year in October 1898, and it would not be until two years later that a national or "supreme" president would be elected. Thus, he was in a position to influence the direction of the Fraternity as it grew from the campus of the conservatory to other campuses, initially to Pennsylvania and New York in the fall of 1900. During the years of his supreme presidency from 1907 to 1914, the Fraternity expanded to include chapters in Missouri, Illinois, Maryland, Indiana, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Kansas. For more specific information on the specific chapters and campuses involved, see {Chapters of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
}.
Burrell also wrote the lyrics to two fraternity songs included in early editions of the fraternity's songbook, one of which the music was composed by American composer George Whitefield Chadwick
, who served as director of the New England Conservatory from 1897 to 1930 and was the second honorary member of the fraternity.
Burrell was called upon to serve as commencement speaker at the Conservatory in 1908, and was published several times in the New England Conservatory Quarterly. His writings at that time reflected an advocacy for the promotion of oratory in the public schools. As of 1910, Burrell was serving as a trustee of the conservatory [(The Directory of Directors in the City of Boston and Vicinity, p. 67)].In 1897, he had published a sixteen page work titled Oratory in the Public Schools.
From approximately 1917 to 1945, Burrell was in high demand throughout the United States and, and according to Mongiovi, "stood preeminent in his profession as a consultant, author, organizer and director of historical and patriotic pageants and community and religious drama" by the 1930s ([Jewett family newsletter article by John Mongiovi]). Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart
, Professor-Emeritus of History at Harvard University
called Burrell “the master pageant-master,” and fellow American dramatist Percy MacKaye
said of Burrell, “I know of no other person who combines his mastery of minutiae with the kind of human idealism necessary for projecting such phases of community art.”
Burrell's historically themed pageants were often performed outdoors in stadiums, football fields, and even on battlefields. The topic was usually related to a significant historical milestone of the city or region in which the pageant was produced. His works might be considered predecessors to the outdoor dramas that Kermit Hunter
, author of Unto These Hills
and Horn in the West
, and Paul Green, author of The Lost Colony
, were later known for. Although his work took him throughout the country, much of his work was centered in New England and surrounding states. According to David Walbert, Burrell's works utilized "classical allusion and poetry to edify as well as entertain audiences" ([Walbert, p, 42 - Garden Spot]). Walbert further described Burrell's pageants as productions that should "transform a 'city of strangers' into a 'community of neighbors' - a genteel alternative to the '100% Americanism' of the early 1920s that sparked divisiveness and xenophobia in the wake of the First World War. Instead of warding off dangerous outsiders, historical pageants stressed unity and identification with community by building pride in common achievement".
One of Burrell's first works was Hope Valley, which was described as a "rural musical play" and a "charming musical comedy" set in a New England country village, was premiered at the New England Conservatory in April 1910 ([ibid.]).
According to Glassberg, Burrell began to gain a reputation in the 1910s directing pageants of a religious nature (Glassberg, p. 235). Burrell collaborated with Oliver Huckel in 1913 on Four Epochs of World Conquest, a work designed to support participants in the pageant "The Pageant of Darkness and Light.".
Among his early works are The Pioneer Pageant: How the West Was Won (1924), which was a collaboration with Stephen B. L. Penrose (who was then serviing as the president of Whitman College
), and was produced in Walla Walla, Washington The Pageant of Saratoga, produced on October 8, 1927 on the Saratoga, New York battlefield, had 6,500 participants and 125,000 spectators making it ""the largest historical spectacle of its type ever given in the country at the time"" ([Jewett Family newsletter]). The Pageant of Wyoming Valley was produced in 1928 to commemorate the one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary of the battle of Wyoming Valley. The Pageant of New Brunswick: the Drama on the Highway was produced at Rutgers University
in October 1930
Burrell produced Pageant of Colorado, a work with music composed by Charles Wakefield Cadman
, in Denver, Colorado in May 1927 (http://www.mtgothictomes.com/recent_acquisitions_page_6.htm). Also that year, he produced The York Pageant: How the American Federation Was Founded, in collaboration with Lillian White Spencer and Alice Kraft
Burrell produced two pageants during the 1920s at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Pageant of Liberty: Commemorating Lancaster Pennsylvania in the American Revolution was produced in July 1926 on the one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Described as a “stupendous historical spectacle”, the work depicted Lancaster’s role in the fight for independence. The York Pageant was produced in York, Pennsylvania in 1927. The Pageant of Gratitude: For two hundred years of blessing upon Lancaster County was a ten act work produced in June 1929. The production, written and directed by Burrell in collaboration with Alice Kraft and Harry A. Sykes, included over 3,000 participants and included drama, dance, and music The pageant is described in detail in David Walbert's book Garden Spot: Lancaster County, the Old Order Amish, and the Settling of Rural America. In 1929, Burrell served as the general director of New York State's one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary Sullivan Expedition pageants.
By the 1930s, over 100,000 persons had come under his guidance as pageant participants and committee members, and over 1,200,000 spectators had seen his productions ([Jewett Family newsletter article by J. Mongiovi]). During the 1930s, he authored Pageant of Time: An Adventure of Education in the Realm of Leisure; an allegory (1930). In 1930, he served as pageantry advisor for the Massachusetts Bay Tercentenary. In 1932, he served as a pageant consultant to the United States Commission on the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of George Washington. In 1934, he adapted Matthew Page Andrews' Soul of Maryland:Pageant of the Founding for performance in Baltimore Stadium (Library of Congress Catalog). The work was a celebration of the "sesqui-centennial of Methodism". In 1935 he authored America’s Making in Connecticut (the more complete title of which is The Connecticut Tercentenary Commission offers America's making in Connecticut: A pageant of the races), and The Pageant of Hingham, a work that celebrated the three-hundredth anniversary of Hingham, Massachusetts (Library of Congress Catalog).
A pageant that perhaps received the most widespread attention in the national media was his Glory of the Light: The Drama of Missions, a production sponsored by the Episcopal Church which utilized the talents of 1,300 actors, was produced in Philadelphia in 1937, and received coverage in Time magazine. Following its initial production in Philadelphia, it was produced in Cincinnati as part of the triennial Episcopal General Convention. The Cincinnati cast included Charles Phelps Taft II
, son of former U.S. President William Howard Taft
Towards the close of World War II, he produced Watchers of the World, which was described as "a dramatic ritual in honor of the living who serve and in tribute to the fallen in the cause of the United nations, a ceremonial for dedication of service flag, honor roll and for [M]emorial [D]ay" in 1944([Library of Congress Catalog]). This was followed in 1945 with For Freedom’s Sake! which was described as "a pageant of the people in three actions: In celebration of victory; In gratitude for peace; In consecration to freedom" ([Library of Congress catalog]).
A photograph in a Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia magazine showed Burrell at the 1948 national fraternity convention assisting in the presentation of a commemorative gavel made from wood taken from the . The gavel continues to be used today during the Fraternity's triennial national conventions and is stored at the Fraternity's headquarters, Lyrecrest, in Evansville, Indiana when not in use. He also spoke at the 1952 national convention in Cinncinnati, Ohio, which is believed to be his last visit to a national fraternity event. A photograph in the Fraternity's archives was taken at the convention, which shows Burrell presenting a photograph of the first National Convention held in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1901. The photograph is possibly the last known picture of Burrell at a national Fraternity event. While the archives contain no official explanation of his intentions in presenting the picture, some believe that he did so as a reminder of the Fraternity's early days, of which he was an integral part. The photograph is on display at Lyrecrest, the Fraternity's national headquarters in Evansville, Indiana.
As of 1951, Burrell was serving as an associate editor of Alumni Opus, a publication of the New England Conservatory Alumni Association.
, on the outskirts of Boston.
Throughout most of the twentieth century, his role in the early development of the philosophies of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity was largely sidelined in Fraternity publications and in the fraternity's ongoing philosophical dialogue. However, as the centennial of the Fraternity approached in 1998, there was a revival of interest in the original philosophies and values of the Fraternity, much of which originated with Burrell as evidenced by his writings. After a long and complicated search by Fraternity officials in the late 1990s, his gravesite was located and a fundraising effort was undertaken by the fraternity's national historian to provide a monument for the Burrell burial site. The monument was dedicated by national fraternity leaders in a graveside ceremony on the morning of Saturday, October 2, 2004 as part of the Fraternity's annual Founders Day observance. On the stone is inscribed the phrase Hart used to describe Burrell "Master Pageant Master."
Burrell has also been memorialized by the Fraternity through the Burrell Award for Province Interaction, which is presented to Fraternity chapters in the state of Virginia
In addition, The Percy is a traveling wooden trophy which one Fraternity chapter retrieves from another chapter from time to time. The trophy is named in honor of Burrell because of his influence in the early expansion of the Fraternity. It was established in February 1996 by the Fraternity's Province 28 (made up of chapters in northern and central Indiana). Since then, it has traveled to over forty campuses throughout the nation.
"It is a truism that as long as man loves but himself and his art he can never attain to the full measure of manhood or reach the sublimest heights of his art. He must seek to love men as brothers and art, not for the sake of art itself, but art as a means toward bringing all men up to that verdant plateau where their souls may be fed in very rejoicing in all that is true, beautiful, and abiding." (April 1, 1908)
"Let us tune ourselves up to the highest key of brotherhood and so make a veritable Symphony Orchestra of the minds and hearts of America’s musicians and her lovers of music, and then shall we drown the old world’s sharps and flats.” (1909)
List of Sinfonians
Pageant
A medieval pageant is a form of procession traditionally associated with both secular and religious rituals, often with a narrative structure. Pageantry was an important aspect of medieval European seasonal festivals, in particular around the celebration of Corpus Christi, which began after the...
s, or dramas, and was known for his skills in oratory
Oratory
Oratory is a type of public speaking.Oratory may also refer to:* Oratory , a power metal band* Oratory , a place of worship* a religious order such as** Oratory of Saint Philip Neri ** Oratory of Jesus...
and elocution
Elocution
Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone.-History:In Western classical rhetoric, elocution was one of the five core disciplines of pronunciation, which was the art of delivering speeches. Orators were trained not only on proper diction, but on the proper...
, (both of which are now more commonly referred to as public speaking
Public speaking
Public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners...
). He also taught public speaking and drama, and was known as a "public reciter". A native and lifelong resident of the greater Boston area, he was described by Time magazine as a "professional director of civic and patriotic shows". As of the mid 1920s, Burrell had developed a nationwide reputation for his work, having had 75,000 participants in his productions, which had collectively been performed in front of over 900,000 people. According to a printed program used at a service in his memory, "His mastery of the spoken and written word led him to be a well known public speaker with an enviable reputation as a teacher of oratory, and later as an author and director of national distinction"
Burrell served as the sixth supreme (national) president of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity from 1907 to 1914, and along with Fraternity founder Ossian E. Mills has been credited by Fraternity historians with encouraging the early expansion of and formulating the basic philosophies and spiritual values espoused by the Fraternity. Thus, he has been described as the Thomas Jefferson figure of the Fraternity. Much of this fundamental philosophy is encapsulated in his presidential messages that appeared in the Sinfonia Yearbooks between 1908 and 1910. Today, these writings are regularly used to instruct the fraternity's probationary members about the obligations and expectations of fraternity membership.
Early Life, Education, and Early Role in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Burrell was born to Joseph and Alice Burrell of the Beacon Hill area of BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
on February 10, 1877. He attended the Phillips Grammar School in Boston from which he graduated in 1891 and the English High School of Boston
English High School of Boston
The English High School of Boston, Massachusetts is the first public high school in America, founded in 1821. Originally called The English Classical School, it was renamed The English High School upon its first relocation in 1824. The current building is located in Jamaica Plain.-History:Since its...
, from which he graduated in 1894.
He studied oratory at the New England Conservatory of Music
New England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent school of music in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, from which he graduated with a Diploma in Elocution in 1896. He later received the post-graduate degree of Bachelor of Oratory (B.O.) degree from Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, where he later took coursework in Methodist theology, and was initiated into Boston University's chapter of Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi , often just called Beta, is a social collegiate fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA, where it is part of the Miami Triad which includes Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi. It has over 138 active chapters and colonies in the United States and Canada...
fraternity. According to former Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia national historian John Mongiovi, "[a]lthough Burrell achieved high marks in his course work in theology at Boston University, he left in 1902 without graduating. It is possible that this departure can be attributed to his increasing spiritual and philosophical involvement in the Sinfonia and the influence of Masonic principles which strongly characterized the organization during this time".
Burrell was initiated into Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia's Alpha Chapter at New England Conservatory in 1899, where he soon thereafter was elected as the chapter's second president in January 1900. His leadership was significant as the now nationwide Fraternity had just recently been founded at the Conservatory during the previous school year in October 1898, and it would not be until two years later that a national or "supreme" president would be elected. Thus, he was in a position to influence the direction of the Fraternity as it grew from the campus of the conservatory to other campuses, initially to Pennsylvania and New York in the fall of 1900. During the years of his supreme presidency from 1907 to 1914, the Fraternity expanded to include chapters in Missouri, Illinois, Maryland, Indiana, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Kansas. For more specific information on the specific chapters and campuses involved, see {Chapters of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Chapters of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
In the history of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity there have been three types of local units referred to as chapters: alumni, professional, and collegiate...
}.
Burrell also wrote the lyrics to two fraternity songs included in early editions of the fraternity's songbook, one of which the music was composed by American composer George Whitefield Chadwick
George Whitefield Chadwick
George Whitefield Chadwick was an American composer. Along with Horatio Parker, Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and Edward MacDowell, he was a representative composer of what can be called the New England School of American composers of the late 19th century—the generation before Charles Ives...
, who served as director of the New England Conservatory from 1897 to 1930 and was the second honorary member of the fraternity.
Burrell was called upon to serve as commencement speaker at the Conservatory in 1908, and was published several times in the New England Conservatory Quarterly. His writings at that time reflected an advocacy for the promotion of oratory in the public schools. As of 1910, Burrell was serving as a trustee of the conservatory [(The Directory of Directors in the City of Boston and Vicinity, p. 67)].In 1897, he had published a sixteen page work titled Oratory in the Public Schools.
Professional accomplishments
In his book American Historical Pageantry: The Uses of Tradition in the Early Twentieth Century, David Glassberg notes that Burrell was one of thirteen dramatists that were employed as field workers by the Department of Community Drama of a program called Community Service, Inc. Such field workers helped local Community Service "chapters establish amateur dramatic programs". Burrell was affiliated with this program as of 1921. According to Martha Candler's book Drama in Religious Service (1922), Burrell helped conduct six week drama institutes in Boston and New York for those involved in church related dramaFrom approximately 1917 to 1945, Burrell was in high demand throughout the United States and, and according to Mongiovi, "stood preeminent in his profession as a consultant, author, organizer and director of historical and patriotic pageants and community and religious drama" by the 1930s ([Jewett family newsletter article by John Mongiovi]). Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart
Albert Bushnell Hart
Albert Bushnell Hart, Ph.D. , was an American historian, writer, and teacher. One of the first generation of professionally trained historians in the United States, a prolific author and editor of historical works, Albert Bushnell Hart became, as Samuel Eliot Morison described him, "The Grand Old...
, Professor-Emeritus of History at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
called Burrell “the master pageant-master,” and fellow American dramatist Percy MacKaye
Percy MacKaye
Percy MacKaye was an American dramatist and poet.-Biography:MacKaye was born in New York City, New York. After graduating from Harvard in 1897, he traveled in Europe for three years, residing in Rome, Switzerland and London, studying at the University of Leipzig in 1899–1900...
said of Burrell, “I know of no other person who combines his mastery of minutiae with the kind of human idealism necessary for projecting such phases of community art.”
Burrell's historically themed pageants were often performed outdoors in stadiums, football fields, and even on battlefields. The topic was usually related to a significant historical milestone of the city or region in which the pageant was produced. His works might be considered predecessors to the outdoor dramas that Kermit Hunter
Kermit Hunter
Kermit Houston Hunter American playwright known primarily for writing outdoor historical dramas.Born in McDowell County, West Virginia in 1910, Hunter went on to Ohio State University where he graduated in 1931. After graduation, he held a number of jobs and joined the U.S. Army in 1940...
, author of Unto These Hills
Unto These Hills
Unto These Hills is an outdoor historical drama staged annually at the 2800-seat Mountainside Theatre in Cherokee, North Carolina. It is the second oldest outdoor historical drama in the United States, after The Lost Colony in Manteo, North Carolina...
and Horn in the West
Horn in the West
Horn in the West, by Kermit Hunter, is an outdoor drama produced every summer since 1952 in the Daniel Boone Amphitheatre in Boone, North Carolina . The show, the oldest revolutionary war drama in the United States, is about the life and times of the first people to settle the mountains of western...
, and Paul Green, author of The Lost Colony
Lost Colony (play)
The Lost Colony is a historical play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Green about Roanoke, the first English colony in North America. The play is based on the historical accounts of Sir Walter Raleigh's failed attempts to establish a permanent settlement in the 1580s in part of what was...
, were later known for. Although his work took him throughout the country, much of his work was centered in New England and surrounding states. According to David Walbert, Burrell's works utilized "classical allusion and poetry to edify as well as entertain audiences" ([Walbert, p, 42 - Garden Spot]). Walbert further described Burrell's pageants as productions that should "transform a 'city of strangers' into a 'community of neighbors' - a genteel alternative to the '100% Americanism' of the early 1920s that sparked divisiveness and xenophobia in the wake of the First World War. Instead of warding off dangerous outsiders, historical pageants stressed unity and identification with community by building pride in common achievement".
One of Burrell's first works was Hope Valley, which was described as a "rural musical play" and a "charming musical comedy" set in a New England country village, was premiered at the New England Conservatory in April 1910 ([ibid.]).
According to Glassberg, Burrell began to gain a reputation in the 1910s directing pageants of a religious nature (Glassberg, p. 235). Burrell collaborated with Oliver Huckel in 1913 on Four Epochs of World Conquest, a work designed to support participants in the pageant "The Pageant of Darkness and Light.".
Among his early works are The Pioneer Pageant: How the West Was Won (1924), which was a collaboration with Stephen B. L. Penrose (who was then serviing as the president of Whitman College
Whitman College
Whitman College is a private, co-educational, non-sectarian, residential undergraduate liberal arts college located in Walla Walla, Washington. Initially founded as a seminary by a territorial legislative charter in 1859, the school became a four year degree granting institution in 1883...
), and was produced in Walla Walla, Washington The Pageant of Saratoga, produced on October 8, 1927 on the Saratoga, New York battlefield, had 6,500 participants and 125,000 spectators making it ""the largest historical spectacle of its type ever given in the country at the time"" ([Jewett Family newsletter]). The Pageant of Wyoming Valley was produced in 1928 to commemorate the one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary of the battle of Wyoming Valley. The Pageant of New Brunswick: the Drama on the Highway was produced at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in October 1930
Burrell produced Pageant of Colorado, a work with music composed by Charles Wakefield Cadman
Charles Wakefield Cadman
Charles Wakefield Cadman was an American composer.Cadman’s musical education, unlike that of most of his American contemporaries, was completely American. Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he began piano lessons at 13...
, in Denver, Colorado in May 1927 (http://www.mtgothictomes.com/recent_acquisitions_page_6.htm). Also that year, he produced The York Pageant: How the American Federation Was Founded, in collaboration with Lillian White Spencer and Alice Kraft
Burrell produced two pageants during the 1920s at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Pageant of Liberty: Commemorating Lancaster Pennsylvania in the American Revolution was produced in July 1926 on the one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Described as a “stupendous historical spectacle”, the work depicted Lancaster’s role in the fight for independence. The York Pageant was produced in York, Pennsylvania in 1927. The Pageant of Gratitude: For two hundred years of blessing upon Lancaster County was a ten act work produced in June 1929. The production, written and directed by Burrell in collaboration with Alice Kraft and Harry A. Sykes, included over 3,000 participants and included drama, dance, and music The pageant is described in detail in David Walbert's book Garden Spot: Lancaster County, the Old Order Amish, and the Settling of Rural America. In 1929, Burrell served as the general director of New York State's one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary Sullivan Expedition pageants.
By the 1930s, over 100,000 persons had come under his guidance as pageant participants and committee members, and over 1,200,000 spectators had seen his productions ([Jewett Family newsletter article by J. Mongiovi]). During the 1930s, he authored Pageant of Time: An Adventure of Education in the Realm of Leisure; an allegory (1930). In 1930, he served as pageantry advisor for the Massachusetts Bay Tercentenary. In 1932, he served as a pageant consultant to the United States Commission on the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of George Washington. In 1934, he adapted Matthew Page Andrews' Soul of Maryland:Pageant of the Founding for performance in Baltimore Stadium (Library of Congress Catalog). The work was a celebration of the "sesqui-centennial of Methodism". In 1935 he authored America’s Making in Connecticut (the more complete title of which is The Connecticut Tercentenary Commission offers America's making in Connecticut: A pageant of the races), and The Pageant of Hingham, a work that celebrated the three-hundredth anniversary of Hingham, Massachusetts (Library of Congress Catalog).
A pageant that perhaps received the most widespread attention in the national media was his Glory of the Light: The Drama of Missions, a production sponsored by the Episcopal Church which utilized the talents of 1,300 actors, was produced in Philadelphia in 1937, and received coverage in Time magazine. Following its initial production in Philadelphia, it was produced in Cincinnati as part of the triennial Episcopal General Convention. The Cincinnati cast included Charles Phelps Taft II
Charles Phelps Taft II
Charles Phelps Taft II was a U.S. Republican Party politician and member of the Taft family. From 1955 to 1957, he served as Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. Like other members of his family, Taft was a Republican for the purposes of state-wide elections. However, when running for municipal office in...
, son of former U.S. President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
Towards the close of World War II, he produced Watchers of the World, which was described as "a dramatic ritual in honor of the living who serve and in tribute to the fallen in the cause of the United nations, a ceremonial for dedication of service flag, honor roll and for [M]emorial [D]ay" in 1944([Library of Congress Catalog]). This was followed in 1945 with For Freedom’s Sake! which was described as "a pageant of the people in three actions: In celebration of victory; In gratitude for peace; In consecration to freedom" ([Library of Congress catalog]).
Later years
To help commemorate Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia's 50th anniversary in 1948, Burrell authored Sinfonia Birthday which was described as "An Historical Play based upon facts of the founding of Phi Mu Alpha Fraternity". Although the work had a somewhat humorous tone, and although it is possible that the author took dramatic licence with this work, the play has been used to help form an understanding of the Fraternity's earliest years by Fraternity historians, and was a source for the Fraternity's Centennial History authored by Dr. T. Jervis Underwood.A photograph in a Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia magazine showed Burrell at the 1948 national fraternity convention assisting in the presentation of a commemorative gavel made from wood taken from the . The gavel continues to be used today during the Fraternity's triennial national conventions and is stored at the Fraternity's headquarters, Lyrecrest, in Evansville, Indiana when not in use. He also spoke at the 1952 national convention in Cinncinnati, Ohio, which is believed to be his last visit to a national fraternity event. A photograph in the Fraternity's archives was taken at the convention, which shows Burrell presenting a photograph of the first National Convention held in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1901. The photograph is possibly the last known picture of Burrell at a national Fraternity event. While the archives contain no official explanation of his intentions in presenting the picture, some believe that he did so as a reminder of the Fraternity's early days, of which he was an integral part. The photograph is on display at Lyrecrest, the Fraternity's national headquarters in Evansville, Indiana.
As of 1951, Burrell was serving as an associate editor of Alumni Opus, a publication of the New England Conservatory Alumni Association.
Death & Posthumous Honors
Burrell died in poverty and without descendants or other immediate family at age 87 in 1964, and was buried in what would for many years be an unmarked grave in Watertown, MassachusettsWatertown, Massachusetts
The Town of Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,915 at the 2010 census.- History :Archeological evidence suggests that Watertown was inhabited for thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from England...
, on the outskirts of Boston.
Throughout most of the twentieth century, his role in the early development of the philosophies of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity was largely sidelined in Fraternity publications and in the fraternity's ongoing philosophical dialogue. However, as the centennial of the Fraternity approached in 1998, there was a revival of interest in the original philosophies and values of the Fraternity, much of which originated with Burrell as evidenced by his writings. After a long and complicated search by Fraternity officials in the late 1990s, his gravesite was located and a fundraising effort was undertaken by the fraternity's national historian to provide a monument for the Burrell burial site. The monument was dedicated by national fraternity leaders in a graveside ceremony on the morning of Saturday, October 2, 2004 as part of the Fraternity's annual Founders Day observance. On the stone is inscribed the phrase Hart used to describe Burrell "Master Pageant Master."
Burrell has also been memorialized by the Fraternity through the Burrell Award for Province Interaction, which is presented to Fraternity chapters in the state of Virginia
In addition, The Percy is a traveling wooden trophy which one Fraternity chapter retrieves from another chapter from time to time. The trophy is named in honor of Burrell because of his influence in the early expansion of the Fraternity. It was established in February 1996 by the Fraternity's Province 28 (made up of chapters in northern and central Indiana). Since then, it has traveled to over forty campuses throughout the nation.
Quotes
"He has not truly lived who has not lived for others, in sympathy and in harmony with his fellows.""It is a truism that as long as man loves but himself and his art he can never attain to the full measure of manhood or reach the sublimest heights of his art. He must seek to love men as brothers and art, not for the sake of art itself, but art as a means toward bringing all men up to that verdant plateau where their souls may be fed in very rejoicing in all that is true, beautiful, and abiding." (April 1, 1908)
"Let us tune ourselves up to the highest key of brotherhood and so make a veritable Symphony Orchestra of the minds and hearts of America’s musicians and her lovers of music, and then shall we drown the old world’s sharps and flats.” (1909)
Productions and/or Works Published
- Hope Valley" -(1910) Boston, MA
- The Pioneer Pageant: How the West Was Won (1924)
- The Pageant of Liberty(1926) Lancaster, PA
- The Pageant of Colorado (1927)
- The Pageant of Saratoga (1927)
- The York Pageant: How the American Federation Was Founded (1927) York, PA
- The Pageant of Wyoming Valley(1928) Wilkes-Barre, PA
- The Pageant of Gratitude(1929) Lancaster, PA
- The Pageant of New Brunswick (1930)
- The Pageant of Time (1930)
- The Soul of Maryland: Pageant of the Founding (1934)
- America's Making in Connecticut (1935)
- The Pageant of Hingham (1935)
- The Drama of Missions (1937)
- Watchers of the World (1944)
- For Freedom's Sake (1945)
- Sinfonia Birthday (December 1948) (Chicago, IL - Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity National Convention)
See also
List of Boston University peopleList of Sinfonians