Mary Louise Curtis Bok: A Portrait of Curtis's Founder

Portrait of Mary Louise Curtis Bok
by Normal Rockwell

As  heiress to the Curtis Publishing Company fortune, Mary Louise Curtis Bok had the means to turn her ideas into reality.

Mrs. Bok was a celebrated patron of music and the arts in Philadelphia, and her most important contribution was establishing the Curtis Institute of Music. After Founding the school in 1924, she served as president of its board for more than 40 years; and was a daily presence for most of her life, beloved by students and faculty.

This exhibit highlights the achievements and legacy of Curtis's founder, illustrated by materials from the archives of the Curtis Institute of Music.

 An Heiress With a Passion
Settlement Music School, Pennsylvania
Friendships with Leopold Stokowski and Josef Hofmann 
The Founding of the Curtis Institue of Music, 1924
President of the Board
The Zimbalist Years
The Curtis Institute of Music Today

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An Heiress With a Passion

Louisa Knapp (1852-1910) and Cyrus C.K. Curtis (1850-1933)

Mary Louise Curtis Bok (1876-1970) was the only child of Cyrus C.K. Curtis, founder of Philadelphia’s Curtis Publishing Company, and Louisa Knapp. They had earned their fortunes with The Saturday Evening Post and Ladies’ Home Journal, of which Louisa Knapp was the editor.

Mary Louise Curtis Bok, 1928
 Photographer: Kubey Rembrandt Studios

Mary was raised with a love of music. She played the piano and—like her father—the organ. Her parents helped to support several musical organizations, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Settlement Music School. When Mary married Edward Bok in 1896 (her mother’s successor as editor of the Journal), she and her new husband continued this tradition.

While Mrs. Bok’s sons Curtis (born 1897) and Cary (born 1905) were still young, she found an outlet for her interest in music in the Settlement School of Music in South Philadelphia.

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Settlement Music School, Pennsylvania

Settlement Music School students, c. 1917
Courtesy of Settlement Music School

Settlement Music School was founded in 1908 by Blanche Wolf Kohn and Jeanette Selig Frank to provide music education to culturally deprived children from the neighborhood. Mary Bok became Settlement’s president in 1914, and in 1917 she donated funds for a larger building on Queen Street in memory of her mother, who had died in 1910.

Realizing that some Settlement students had sufficient talent but lacked the funds to train properly for a professional career, she helped organize a conservatory department at the school in 1922. This would become the nucleus of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1924. 

Settlement School's Statement of Principles, 1928
The principles upon which the school was based include the beliefs that
music offers relief from economic pressure, leads to full recognition of
true values, mutual understanding, and development of good will,
and helps build world unity and the universal brotherhood of man.
Annual report 1908-1928. Courtesy of the Settlement Music School

Mary Louise Curtis Bok with Settlement's founders, c. 1950

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Friendships with Leopold Stokowski and Josef Hofmann

Hofmann and Stokowski in the Boks' garden, c. 1920

Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977), conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1912 to 1941, and Josef Hofmann (1876-1957), the Polish piano virtuoso, were long-time friends of Mary and Edward Bok. The four of them spent many evenings discussing the possibility of an American conservatory that would provide training to the Settlement School’s most talented pupils. The charismatic conductor and world-famous pianist were instrumental in realizing Mary Louise Curtis Bok’s dream.

Josef Hofmann to Mary Louise Curtis Bok,
March 28, 1924

Leopold Stokowski to Mary Louise Curtis Bok,
February 26, 1924

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The Founding of the Curtis Institute of Music, 1924

The Boks purchased three neighboring mansions at Locust and 18th Street. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issued the school’s charter on April 18, 1924. During the first year the building at 1720 Locust (now the Rock Resource Center) housed a preparatory school for young students, and subsequently the Department of Stringed Instruments and Theory.

Through the influence of Hofmann and particularly Stokowski, Mary Bok was able to secure eminent faculty, including the opera star Marcella Sembrich (voice), Carl Flesch (violin) and Carlos Salzedo (harp). Hofmann himself was in charge of the piano department, and Stokowski directed the Curtis orchestra.

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President of the Board

 As founder and president of the board, Mary Louise Curtis Bok had her own office and secretary. She arrived each day in a maroon car driven by a chauffeur in matching uniform. She maintained personal relationships with students, faculty, and staff and worked closely with Joseph Hofmann, who had become Curtis’s third director in 1927.

After the deaths of her husband in 1930 and her father in 1933, Mary Bok poured herself more fully into leading Curtis. The 1930s saw many new developments at the school despite the challenges caused by the Great Depression—including its first commencement ceremony in 1934, weekly radio broadcasts, a recording studio, and a new cafeteria. When Hofmann resigned in September, 1938, Mary Bok became acting director until a new director was found. 

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The Zimbalist Years

Curtis’s fourth director, Randall Thompson, stayed for less than two years. His successor was Efrem Zimbalist, head of Curtis’s violin department and a widower. He and Mary Bok married in 1943. Under Zimbalist’s directorship the school regained financial strength and flourished. President Mary Zimbalist stayed actively involved in the school, and continued to have her own office.

Efrem Zimbalist retired as director after 27 years in 1968. By then his wife was in frail health. Mary Louis Curtis Bok Zimbalist died on January 4, 1970, at the age of 93. 

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The Curtis Institute of Music Today

Today Curtis still embodies the ideals of its founder. Its mission and core values are unchanged. The focus of its education and training is performance. Students learn by doing and a faculty of active performers offers personalized attention to the needs of each. The school remains intimate in scope and international in character. And the continuing policy of full-tuition scholarships ensures that admissions remain based solely on artistic promise. Traditions established in the school’s earliest days—such as Wednesday tea and the annual holiday party—endure, still beloved by the whole Curtis community.

In a tradition also established by its founder, Curtis remains a forward-looking institution, as it strives to prepare its extraordinary young musicians for performing careers at the highest professional level.

Nearly nine decades after its founding, Curtis honors Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist by adhering closely to her innovative, international vision.

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Presented by the Curtis Archives