Carl Pierce was born in Taunton, Mass. in 1874. He lived his early years in East Boston, moving to Newton, Mass. in 1908. Pierce began his professional career at the age of eight as a violinist with the Waltham Cadet Band.

In 1897 he opened the Bay State Violin School which was soon incorporated into the Boston Conservatory. In 1902 the Boston Conservatory was absorbed by the New England Conservatory of Music, where Pierce became a member of the violin faculty and stayed for the next forty years.

Pierce remained active in the concert stage for thirty years and performed with artists such as Bernard Fiedler, Sam Goldstein and Leo Van Vliet. He was president (1925-1927) and honorary member of the Hunnewell Club in Newton and founded its glee club orchestra in 1913 and was its conductor until the late 1930s. (Materials relating to the Hunnewell Club can also be found at the Newton History Museum.)

In 1897 Pierce married Caroline Elizabeth Greenwood (b.1879). They had a daughter, Lillian Pierce Abbott (1898-1980). In his later life, Pierce was, for nine years, assistant to the mayor of Newton. He died in Newton on October 5, 1960.

The collection consists largely of photographs spanning the years 1875 to 1940. Pictures are mainly of Carl Pierce, his wife and daughter. Early photographs in the collection depict a young Carl Pierce in a velvet suit that he wore for his performances. This suit and a pastel portrait of Pierce wearing it are also in the Newton History Museum collections.

The remainder of the collection consists of newspaper clippings, concert programs and other performance souvenirs dating from 1886 to 1960.

No. of boxes: 1 MS box
Finding Aid: Manuscript box/inventory