Alice C. Inskeep
(1875-1942)
Courtesy of the Cedar Rapids,
Iowa School District
Bibliography
of Sources on This Member
Ms. Inskeep attending the first conference of the Music Supervisors National Conference. She would prove to be an influential member of the newly formed Conference and wrote several articles which were published for the organization.
Ms. Inskeep was one of those outstanding teachers of music that really inspired a love a music in her pupils because she generated a love of that music and radiated a love of her students.
Her Obituary in the Cedar Rapids Gazette was recorded on February 24, 1942 and was printed on the first page:
Alice Carey Inskeep, one of the most beloved figures ever associated with Cedar Rapids educational institutions died at 11:30 p.m. Monday in the Ottumwa hospital after a lingering illness. She was 66 years old.
Miss Inskeep had left her home, 2000 Twenty-second street NE, a week ago to go to Ottumwa, her family home. She entered the hospital on her arrival there.
Supervisor of music in the public schools from 1903 to June 1941, and director of public school music at Coe college since 1907, Miss inskeep is credited more than any other person with developing a love and understanding of music which has often gained this city national recognition.
Always good-humored and of high spirits, she love nothing better than to direct mass choral groups. Music was more than her business, it was her passion. It was this feeling that she so successfully, for more than 40 years, instilled in the boys and girls, the men and women of Cedar Rapids.
Miss Inskeep was born in Ottumwa on April 1, 1875. She attended grade school there and was graduated from Ottumwa High School. She received private instruction in piano, voice and harmony in Chicago before attending Northwestern University and the American Institute of National Methods.
During the first school year of this century she was assistant supervisor of music in the Cedar Rapids public schools. The following year she served as supervisor in Sioux Falls, S.D. before returning as supervisor in Cedar Rapids, a position she held until she announced her retirement last year.
Miss Inskeep had been ill for four months when she informed the board of education she would not return for the current year. Indicative of her optimism toward life and her almost religious devotion to her profession is a part of her not to the board:
I feel it would be unwise for me to attempt to continue my work next year, even though I expect to regain my health. After 40 years of continuous service I am looking forward to freedom from civic responsibility.
She was a founder and for many years a director of the National Music Educators conference. For 33 years she taught in the summer school of the Northwestern university school of music.
She was one of the original members of the Music Education Research council on which she served for more than 10 years. The first national course of music study was compiled during her term on the council.
Miss Inskeep is survived by two sisters, Marie and Louisa, and a brother T. J. Inskeep, all of Ottumwa. Funeral arrangements are pending. Curial will be at Ottumwa.
Appropriate now is the following Current Comment paragraph, written of Miss Inskeep at the time of her retirement:
A pioneer in the field of modern music education, Miss Inskeep perhaps has done more than any one person to make good music an integral part of life in Cedar Rapids. She has left her mark on the cultural insight not only of most of the children who have grown up here during the last 40 years, but also on thousands of others throughout the country. She has more than earned the rest she now seeks.
I interviewed
Ruth Darling of Cedar Rapids, Iowa who was a former student of Alice Inskeep.
Ruth spoke to me of her positive experiences with Miss Inskeep. She
said that she was always bright and cheerful.
She was the kind of teacher that made learning fun.
She says that she always looked forward to the music programs that Miss
Inskeep would have during school. She
also remembers her teaching classes The Rooster Song. Miss
Inskeep made music and learning a memorable and fun experience.
The
Cedar Rapids Gazette,
February 24, 1942, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The History Center of Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Special
Thanks
Special
thanks to all who helped find information on Alice Inskeep,
Especially
to Ruth Darling and Bev Redford of The History Center in Cedar Rapids.
________________________________________________________________________________
Submitted by
Jeff
Thureauf
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