Sharp diary 1917 page 373. Monday 31 December 1917 - New York
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Monday 31st of December 1917
Transcription Notes
Wrote at my desk till 11 then went to Library and copied out some jig tunes from Petrie.1 Lunched with M[aud] at 7 Candles. After a rest packed for the morrow. Rabold came to tea then I arranged my papers, went out & bought some tobacco then on to the Gilmans where we had a farewell party, the Gilmans, Peggy Scovill and ourselves. Just before going there got a letter from Bradley plainly indicating that I have nothing to expect from Yale — nor I am convinced from any other quarter in this philistine country. This is merely a material, moneyed place. There is more money in it than any other spot on the Globe but it is only for those who are interested in money, and those who spend it spend it on something material and concrete. It will be many generations before an American will give money to anything so abstract as folk-music. He will endow an orchestra because he can see and hear it, or found a music school because that will teach people, not music, but how to make a living out of it. He will found a College because he can see it, the bricks and mortar and his name over the doorway, and moreover[?] the College will fit people not to love learning or anything for its own sake but to make money. It is a gloomy outlook for us all and certainly for me and mine and my country. And so far as I can see there seems no prospect of 1918 dissolving the gloom.Location
USA : New York : New York [40.7143528,-74.0059731]
Read about these diaries, including a note about historical racism
