{"id":71735,"date":"2026-02-27T16:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T16:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/a-practical-philanthropist\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T07:13:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T07:13:45","slug":"a-practical-philanthropist","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/a-practical-philanthropist\/","title":{"rendered":"A Practical Philanthropist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born at the height of the country’s centennial celebration, Mary Louise Curtis was raised by industrious New Englanders who built Ladies’ Home Journal <\/em>into the most widely read magazine in America. Aside from immense wealth, Mary’s parents bestowed upon their only child a sophisticated understanding of music that would lead to her hands-on involvement in the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia and the founding of the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music. Woven into the narrative are excerpts from Mary’s correspondence, divulging the intimate goings-on behind the scenes while animating the voice and thoughts of this remarkable woman. Barbara Benedett<\/strong> reveals never-before-published details, which will intrigue those steeped in America’s musical history. The book also explores Mary’s work as a philanthropist, both within musical circles and well beyond. A strong advocate of practical philanthropy, Mary worked tirelessly throughout her life to help many individuals and communities. Through Benedett’s exhaustive research and a careful reexamination of innumerable letters, interviews, and other source materials, this notable American philanthropist finally emerges from the shadows, and her<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tribute to the enduring legacy of an influential and philanthropic pioneer who helped define America’s place in the world of classical music<\/strong><\/p>\n

CONTENTS
\nMy Great-Grandmother by Victoria Bok
\nA Forceful Spirit by Arnold Steinhardt
\nPrologue: A Pioneering Spirit
\nPart I. Mary Curtis Grows Up: A Loving and Dynamic Family
\n1. Musical Foundations
\n2. A Publishing Empire Is Built: Ladies’ Home Journal
\n3. Establishing Roots in Camden, New Jersey
\n4. Edward Bok Joins the Family Business and a Long Engagement
\nPart II. Mrs. Edward Bok: Family and Practical Philanthropy
\n5. The Boks: Early Marriage and Social Life
\n6. Activism and Music in Philadelphia
\n7. George Antheil: Dedicated Patronage in the Absence of Harmony
\n8. Scheme for a Professional Orchestra in Philadelphia
\n9. Settlement School of Music: An Experiment Leads to Mary’s Signature Achievement
\nPart III. The Curtis Institute of Music: Planting Trees
\n10. Mary Builds Her Castle on The Square
\n11. Attracting a World Class Faculty
\n12. Lessons in Music and Manners
\n13. Professional Partnerships Established and Mary Appoints Josef Hofmann as Director
\nPart IV. Major Losses and Continued Acts of Generosity
\n14. Valentino: The Boks Build a House in Florida
\n15. Curtis Keeps the Bok Social Reform Legacy Alive
\n16. Summer Music Colony and Financial Hardship
\n17. Mary Branches Out into Other Arts: Eva Le Gallienne, Annie Russell, and André Smith
\nPart V. Mrs. Efrem Zimbalist: Change Comes
\n18. Randall Thompson Takes the Helm at Curtis
\n19. Efrem Zimbalist: New Director and Musical Refugees
\n20. Cary’s Life and Philanthropy
\n21. Mary’s Final Bow
\nEpilogue: A Lasting Legacy
\nAcknowledgments
\nEndnotes
\nSelected Bibliography
\nIndex<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":71736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[13406],"product_tag":[],"class_list":["post-71735","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-music","author-by-author-barbara-j-benedett","author-contributions-by-arnold-steinhardt","author-contributions-by-victoria-bok","publisher-bauer-and-dean-publishers","first","instock","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Practical Philanthropist - ACC Art Books US<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/a-practical-philanthropist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Practical Philanthropist - ACC Art Books US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A tribute to the enduring legacy of an influential and philanthropic pioneer who helped define America’s place in the world of classical musicCONTENTS My Great-Grandmother by Victoria Bok A Forceful Spirit by Arnold Steinhardt Prologue: A Pioneering Spirit Part I. Mary Curtis Grows Up: A Loving and Dynamic Family 1. Musical Foundations 2. A Publishing Empire Is Built: Ladies’ Home Journal 3. Establishing Roots in Camden, New Jersey 4. Edward Bok Joins the Family Business and a Long Engagement Part II. Mrs. Edward Bok: Family and Practical Philanthropy 5. The Boks: Early Marriage and Social Life 6. Activism and Music in Philadelphia 7. George Antheil: Dedicated Patronage in the Absence of Harmony 8. Scheme for a Professional Orchestra in Philadelphia 9. Settlement School of Music: An Experiment Leads to Mary’s Signature Achievement Part III. The Curtis Institute of Music: Planting Trees 10. Mary Builds Her Castle on The Square 11. Attracting a World Class Faculty 12. Lessons in Music and Manners 13. Professional Partnerships Established and Mary Appoints Josef Hofmann as Director Part IV. Major Losses and Continued Acts of Generosity 14. Valentino: The Boks Build a House in Florida 15. Curtis Keeps the Bok Social Reform Legacy Alive 16. Summer Music Colony and Financial Hardship 17. Mary Branches Out into Other Arts: Eva Le Gallienne, Annie Russell, and André Smith Part V. Mrs. Efrem Zimbalist: Change Comes 18. Randall Thompson Takes the Helm at Curtis 19. Efrem Zimbalist: New Director and Musical Refugees 20. Cary’s Life and Philanthropy 21. Mary’s Final Bow Epilogue: A Lasting Legacy Acknowledgments Endnotes Selected Bibliography Index\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/a-practical-philanthropist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ACC Art Books US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-03T07:13:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/app\/uploads\/books\/9781735600178-04-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"761\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/book\\\/a-practical-philanthropist\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/book\\\/a-practical-philanthropist\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Practical Philanthropist - ACC Art Books US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/book\\\/a-practical-philanthropist\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/book\\\/a-practical-philanthropist\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/books\\\/9781735600178-04-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-27T16:15:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-03T07:13:45+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/book\\\/a-practical-philanthropist\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/book\\\/a-practical-philanthropist\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/book\\\/a-practical-philanthropist\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/books\\\/9781735600178-04-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/books\\\/9781735600178-04-1.jpg\",\"width\":1400,\"height\":1883},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/book\\\/a-practical-philanthropist\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Books\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/books\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"A Practical Philanthropist\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/\",\"name\":\"ACC Art Books US\",\"description\":\"One of the world\u2019s leading publishers and distributors of books on the arts and visual culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.accartbooks.com\\\/us\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Practical Philanthropist - ACC Art Books US","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.accartbooks.com\/us\/book\/a-practical-philanthropist\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Practical Philanthropist - ACC Art Books US","og_description":"A tribute to the enduring legacy of an influential and philanthropic pioneer who helped define America’s place in the world of classical musicCONTENTS My Great-Grandmother by Victoria Bok A Forceful Spirit by Arnold Steinhardt Prologue: A Pioneering Spirit Part I. 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