Sherman Clay

Sherman, Clay & Co.

Type	Private
Industry	Musical instruments
Founded	1853
Headquarters	1111 Bayhill Drive, Suite 450, San Bruno, California, USA
Number of locations	San Francisco, Walnut Creek, Santa Clara, Roseville, Bellevue, Seattle, Houston (2)
Area served	San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Houston
Products	pianos
Website	www.shermanclay.com

Sherman, Clay & Co. is an American music retailer and former music publisher founded in San Francisco.^[1]

History

Founded in 1853 as A. A. Rosenberg, located in San Francisco at the corner of Kearny and Sutter streets, Leander Schutzenbach Sherman (1847–1926) — who had been working as clerk for Rosenberg — bought-out his employer in 1870 and took on Major Clement C. Clay (1836–1905) as a partner in 1879.^[2] In 1892, Sherman, Clay & Co. was incorporated with Sherman as president. During the 1890s, the firm imported music, pianos, and musical instruments; and it manufactured pianos and church organs from its own factory. At that time, the two principals were Leonard Georges (born 1850), who served as treasurer, and Louis F. Geissler (born 1861). Clay Sherman, grandson of co-founder Leander Sherman, became president of the company in 1949.^[3]

The Woodlark Building and the Cornelius Hotel in 2013

As of 2013, Sherman, Clay had sold over two million instruments. Sherman, Clay sells new and used pianos manufactured by companies such as Steinway & Sons (which includes subcontracted pianos from suppliers sold under the secondary names Boston and Essex), the Yamaha Corporation, and the Henry F. Miller Piano company.

In 2013, Sherman Clay announced it was going out of business on May 31, 2013 after 142 years. Some of its locations will become Steinway and Sons dealerships.^[4]

May 7, 2013, was proclaimed by San Francisco chief of protocol Charlotte Mailliard Shultz as Sherman Clay Day in San Francisco to honor the retailer.^[5]

Locations

The company had 21 stores in the 1950s.^[3]

In addition to locations in California, the company operated retail stores in Portland, Oregon, notably, in the 1930s, in the Woodlark Building.^[6] Sherman, Clay also had showrooms in Seattle and Houston.

Selected personnel

General manager

• Al Jacobs (1903–1985), songwriter^[7]
• C.M. "Sandy" Balcom, and Leroy "Pop" Vaughan, who both once worked for the Sherman, Clay & Co., in Seattle, went on to found Balcom and Vaughan, a pipe organ manufacturing company in Seattle
• Richard Powers, Sherman, Clay's general manager for the New York office, until 1925, when he went into radio
• Bernie Pollack replaced Richard Powers in 1925 as general manager of the New York office

Sheet music

• Elizabeth Octavia Garrett (née Stone), mother of actress Betty Garrett (1919–2011) managed the sheet music department in Sherman Clay, Seattle

Professional staff

• Rose Fischer (born around 1878), in 1922, left a position in the New York office of Broadway Music to work with the professional department in the New York office of Sherman, Clay & Co.^[8] She was hired by Richard Powers, Sherman, Clay's general manager for the New York office; She married William C. Spiegel (born around 1875) in 1998 in San Francisco

Selected published music, composers, and lyricists

Works

• "Li'l Liza Jane" (1916)
• "Rose Room" (1917)
• "Whispering" (1920)
• "My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii" (1933)
• "Close Your Eyes" (1933)

Composers and lyricists

• Wallie Herzer (1885–1961), composer, lyricist
• Harry D. Kerr (1880–1957), composer, lyricist
• Vincent Rose (1880–1944), composer
• Nacio Herb Brown (1896–1964), composer
• Johnny Noble (1892–1944), composer
• Bernice Petkere (1901–2000), composer, lyricist

Selected sheet music artists and engravers

• Leland Stanford Morgan (1886–1981)

Images

• Selected sheet music cover artists
• 

  Wesley Raymond
  De Lappe
  (1887–1952)

• 

  Cover artist: Unknown

• 

  Wesley Raymond
  De Lappe
  (1887–1952)

• 

  Wesley Raymond
  De Lappe
  (1887–1952)

• 

  Cover artist: Unknown

• 

  Porter Murdock Griffith
  (1889–1969)^[1]

1. ^ Song sheets to software : a guide to print music, software, and web sites for musicians, by Elizabeth C. Axford, Scarecrow Press (2004), pg. 21; OCLC 54372944

Main store in Oakland, California (1947)

Built in 1947, Oakland, California, William Wurster, architect

References

Archival resources

University of Washington Libraries, Digital Collections

• Image: "Hinkley Block, Seattle" (circa 1911), Museum of History and Industry, Seattle
• Image: "Installing totem pole at Westlake Mall, Seattle, 1960," Museum of History and Industry, Seattle
• Image: Company salesman with TV, phonograph, radio, ca. 1947," Museum of History and Industry, Seattle

San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection

• Image: "Sherman, Clay & Co., in San Francisco,"

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Inline citations

1. The story of Sherman, Clay & Co., 1870–1952 (2nd ed.), by David Warren Ryder (1892–1975), Sherman, Clay & Co. (1952); OCLC 9655114
2. "Sherman, Clay & Co. Saluted by Steinway", Billboard, March 2, 1968, pg. 14
3. "The Financial Spotlight [brief news items]". The Sunday Oregonian (Portland, Oregon). July 27, 1958. p. Section 1, p. 34.
4. "In Walnut Creek, Pianos Have a Future: Sherman Clay Store Becomes Steinway", by Lou Fancher, Contra Costa Times May 1, 2013
5. "Sherman Clay Donates Piano To SF", by Dan McMenamin, (Bay City News), San Francisco Appeal, May 7, 2013
6. "Music House to New Quarters: Sherman, Clay & Co. Move From 6th and Morrison". The Sunday Oregonian (Portland, Oregon). January 26, 1930. Section 1, p. 9.
7. "Al Jacobs" (mini bio), by "Hup234" (online screenname), IMDb (retrieved November 9, 2015)
8. "Notes from Melody Land," Music Trades, December 30, 1922, pg. 41

External links

• official website