Radcliffe Choral Society: 'If It Hadn't Been for Choral': RCS at 100

For Mary Beth Hammerstrom '87, a four-hour drive to the nearest airport and a flight from rural (Iowa) to Cambridge were not enough to deter her from joining this weekend's centennial celebration of the Radcliffe Choral Society (RCS).

"It was too good an excuse to get together with friends you don't see too often," said Hammerstrom, who came to the event to reunite with her closest friends from the College.

"I was in RCS for four years and I wouldn't trade it for the world. The music was great, but the people were better," she added.

More than 90 alumnae of the University's oldest female choral group joined Hammerstrom in the two-day program that included concerts, panel discussions, summer-tour reunions, and a final dinner Saturday night.

Founded in 1899 by Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, Radcliffe's first president, RCS now boasts more than 70 members who sing at Harvard, throughout the country and around the world.

For many of the alumnae, RCS was the main focus of their time at Harvard.

"Choral was a huge part of our lives," said Nancy Morgan '46 during a group sing-along. "I wonder what we would have done if it hadn't been for choral."

In fact, Morgan even met her future husband through her extracurricular activitiy.

"He was the manager of the Glee Club, and I was the treasurer of RCS," said Morgan, who now lives in Duxbury, Mass.

During Friday's Centennial Alumnae Celebration concert in Sanders Theatre, current RCS members performed their first concert of the year.

But for the songs performed during the last segment of the concert--"Radcliffiana" and Radcliffe's fight song--the current RCS singers invited all the alumnae present to join them on stage. Members of RCS, from the Class of 1946 to the Class of 2003 blended together to celebrate the history and traditions of the group.

During the activities Saturday afternoon, Paine Concert Hall and Lowell Lecture Hall were full of alumnae passing around old photo albums and sharing stories.

Jane S. Echelman '87 said her fondest memories from RCS are from her summer tour to Eastern Europe.

"I remember singing in a little village in Hungary by candlelight, and the whole village came over. Or in Budapest, singing in a cathedral and counting how long we could hold the notes," she said. "Never again will I travel with 50 voices to sing in a cathedral in Europe."