US-RiExTM-ms.hotecasella Guide to the Hote Casella Collection1946-1977 Finding aid prepared by Anthony M. Belz. Tomaquag Museum
390A Summit Road Exeter, Rhode Island 02822 Telephone 401-491-9063 Email: ambelz@tomaquagmuseum.org
2018 April This finding aid was produced using the RIAMCO EAD spreadsheet, 2018 April EnglishEnglish Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) Hote Casella Collection Casella (Hote) Collection Ms. Hote Casella Tomaquag MuseumTomaquag Museum Archives
390A Summit Road Exeter, Rhode Island 02822 Telephone: 401-491-9063 Email: ambelz@tomaquagmuseum.org
English, Italian, French, German, Cherokee, Japanese 2.5 linear feet 1946-1977 Casella, Hote Hote Casella, Cherokee, was classically trained as a mezzo-soprano opera singer at both UCLA and the Julliard School of Music. She began her professional career at a relatively young age and toured the United States and Europe performing a classical music repertoire with initially only a portion of her stage show dedicated to Native American songs. Over time, she began to research Native American songs from the 18th and 19th centuries then fully incorporating them into her performances. Eventually the Native songs became her sole focus and she fully took on the role of a Native American cultural embassador. Her professional career took her throughout the United States from the late 1940s until the early 1980s. The collection is an overview of her career as a professional musician and includes promotional materials, newspaper articles, sheet music, photographs and aluminum core lacquer recordings. Biographical/Historical Note

Hote’ Casella (1909-1990) was a Native American cultural ambassador, educator, and performer. The youngest of seven children, she was born Gladys Bland Mathonican in San Angelo, Texas on April 25, 1909 to (Andrew) John Mathonican (July 15, 1865-January 6, 1948) a billiards hall manager, and Marzella Carter (ca. 1868-May 20, 1937). Her father was a Cherokee, her mother of both Italian and Spanish ancestry. In the early 1920s, she moved with her parents and older sister to Los Angeles, California, where her father worked in the real estate business. She briefly lived in Hawaii in the early 1940s.

By 1946, she was living in New York on Park Avenue and was routinely performing throughout the United States and Europe. For nearly four decades, she traveled extensively, as newspaper articles found online provide a roadmap of her professional life. As a classically trained mezzo-soprano singer who studied at UCLA and Juilliard, her philosophy was to elevate Native American songs and stories to the level other folk songs and performances were enjoyed throughout the world.

 Collection information

Hote’ Casella, Cherokee, was born Gladys Bland Mathonican in San Angelo, Texas but moved to Los Angeles, California with her family as an infant and was raised there. A classically trained mezzo-soprano singer, who briefly studied at UCLA and Julliard, Hote’ Casella performed Native American songs and stories for school groups and audiences throughout the United States and Europe from the 1940s until the early 1980s. This collection is an overview of her career including sheet music, a notebook, promotional items, press releases, newspaper articles, programs, correspondence, photographs, and lacquer disc recordings. In addition, there are promotional photographs and miscellaneous material from another Native performer named Anita de Frey, a Modoc from California that were found with the Hote’ Casella material.

Reproduction and use of materials may be subject to fees. The museum requests that a final copy of the publication or academic paper is donated to the museum upon completion of project.

Access to the collection is based upon staff availability and by appointment only.

Hote Casella Collection. Tomaquag Museum Archives.

This collection is divided into 6 Series. Series 1 is arranged chronologically. The rest of the series are arranged by subject and type of material.

Series 1. Performance programs, promotional materials, press releases, newspaper articles, correspondence Series 2. Photographs Series 3. Sheet music Series 4. Aluminum core laquer disc records Series 5. Miscellaneous Series 6. Anita de Frey

Administrative information

Rehoused March 2017, Inventory completed May 2017, Finding Aid Revised July, October, November 2017, April 2018; Finalized, October 2019

 Names de Frey, Anita Subjects Indians of North America--Songs and music Indian women--North America Cherokee Indians--Songs and music Performance programs, promotional material, press releases, newspaper articles, correspondence Series 1 1 1946-1977 Suffolk Museum at Stony Brook, Long Island, New York 1 1 1946 March 8 Red Cross Hospital Music Demonstration Program 1 2 1948 February 24 Halloran VA Hospital Program of Events and Newsletter 1 3 1948 April 26 The Round Table Club Dinner Tribute to Latin America Hotel Bradford NYC 1 4 1949 April 27 Dorothea Dix Lawrence Variety Album Park Hotel Annex Auditorium 1 5 1949 August 17 New York Foundling Hospital Program 1 6 1940s Town Hall Program 1 7 1960 October 8 A Folk Singer Without a Guitar New York Post 1 8 1962 Febuary 8 Indian Entertainers Highlight of NAIC Membership Drive Bismarck Tribune, ND 1 9 1963 December 6 The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennesse 1 10 1966 January 9 Cultural Program, Frederick Maryland 1 11 1967 October American Indian Culture Studies Conference Levittown NY 1 12 1971 November 29-December 3 Rhythmic Scenes number two by Harry Slocum Tordoff Ne-An-Tum (The Thinker) 1 13 1974 Golden Days Reporter 1 14 1975 May-June Noted Indian Soprano at Cranberry Festival Westerly Sun, Westerly, Rhode Island 1 15 1975 October 1 A Bicentennial Presentation Native American Cultural Heritage 1 16 1976-1977 Letter from Hote’ Casella to Princess Red Wing 1 17 1977 February 26 Women Make Music The Brooklyn Museum 1 18 1977 November 20 Color Promotional Flyer 1 19 1950s Quotes from Newspapers 1 20 undated Newspaper Articles 1 21 undated Poster 1 22 1940-1950 Promotional Mailer 1 23 undated From Teepee to Totem Pole Promotional Flyer 1 24 undated Town Hall Programs Rose Bampton/Jennie Tourel 1 25 undated Connecticut Towns 1 26 undated Photographs Series 2 Promotional Photographs 1 27 1930-1960 Promotional Photographs Oversized 1 28 1950s (Chief Thundercloud) Autographed Tonto Publicity Photograph 1 29 1950s Hote Casella Cranberry Thanksgiving 1975 with Princess Red Wing, Wild Rose and "Mac" 1 30 1975 October 1 Sheet Music Series 3 2 1880-1980 Composition Book w/Notes and inserts 1 31 1930s Triante Kefalas George W. Brown Hall, New England Conservatory Program 1 38 1919-1930 Books 2 Laquer Disc Audio Recordings Series 4 3 1940s Part 1 of 6 - “Sunrise Call” of “Echo Song” (Zuni) 3 undated Part 4 of 6 - “Love Song” (Navajo), “Happy Song”, “Chi Li Neh Hay Meh”, “In Her Birch Canoe” (Chippewa) 3 undated Part 3 of 6 - “Blanket Song” or “Wooing Song” (Zuni), “Sunset Song” (Zuni) “Indian Fire Drill Song” (Apache & Mohave) 3 undated Part 5 of 6 - “Eskimo Marriage Song” (Cree), “Moccasin Song” (Navajo), “Her Blanket” (Navajo), “Butterfly Dance” (Hopi) 3 undated Part 2 of 7 - “Lullaby” (Zuni) a. Incantation Upon a Sleeping Infant b. Invocation to the Sun God 3 undated Part 5 of 7 - “In Her Birch Canoe” (Chippewa), “Moccasin Song” (Navajo), “Her Blanket” (Navajo), “Butterfly Dance” (Hopi) 3 undated Miscellaneous Series 5 1 undated “Women Are Here to Stay” A New Concept for a Half Hour Filmed Television Series 1 32 undated Television The Business Magazine of the Industry, NBC. 1 33 1948 June Cooper, Frank. Ocana of the Cherokee Hills. Frank Cooper. 1 34 1955 Bigler, Marguerite. Navajo Indians. Charles E. Merrill Books Columbus: OH 1 34 1950 Star Spangled Ball 2 1962 November 7 Fiesta, The Good Neighbor Recipe Book. Moore-McCormack Lines, New York. 1 35 1939 Anita de Frey Series 6 1 1920-1930 Promotional photographs of Anita de Frey 1 36 1930s One print, two images 1 36 1930s One print, four images 1 36 1930s As a young woman 1 36 1910s Outside at ceremony 1 36 1930s New Jersey State Museum American Indian Customs and Dances 1 37 1968 April 20 Philosophical Research, New York City various clippings compiled and photocopied 1 37 1951-1960 Philosophical Research, New York City program 1 37 1957 January 27