Charles N. (Newell) Boyd (December 2, 1875–April 24, 1937) was born in Pleasant Unity, Pennsylvania, son of the Rev. A. Fulton Boyd and Ann Paul Boyd. He attended the Poland Union Seminary and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1894. An accomplished pianist and organist, he was a founding member of the Pittsburgh Musical Institute, which opened its doors on May 1, 1915. He taught organ and music theory at the institute and became its president in 1924. That year he was also a founding member of the National Association of Schools of Music and Allied Arts (NASM), which is now the principal US accreditor for 625 higher education music programs. A prolific author, Boyd was the associate editor of the American supplement to the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (New York: Macmillan, 1920). His musical works are for instrumental ensemble and solo instruments, predominately for organ and choir. Boyd’s most famous student at the Pittsburgh Musical Institute was jazz pianist/composer Billy Strayhorn. In addition to these materials at the University of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh holds an extensive archive of Boyd’s life and works.1
This is a collaboration between the Center for American Music, Theodore M. Finney Music Library, and Archives & Special Collections.