Mary Stevenson Marshall scrapbooks, 1904-1908, 1914-1929, 2017, and undated

Mary Stevenson Marshall was born June 24, 1885, at Clifton, Illinois, one of three children of Nicholas Ridgely Marshall, a physician, and Julia F. Marshall. The family moved to Evanston, Illinois, in 1893. Along with her sister, Julia, Marshall attended the Northwestern University School of Music, taking coursework during 1902-1903, 1904-1906. Both sisters took their Graduate in Music diplomas from Northwestern in 1906. Mary as a pianist and Julia a violinist. After their graduation, the Marshall sisters spent an extended period of musical study in Germany, Mary with pianist Josef Lhevinne and Julia with violinist Anton Witek. Returning to Evanston, the Marshall sisters remained active in music. Both taught music and Julia became a professional violinist.

For much of her young life, Mary took advantage of the cultural offerings of metropolitan Chicago, performing at, organizing, and attending a considerable number of concerts, especially of classical music, and plays. She played a significant role in shaping the musical life of her home community, directing for many years the North Shore Concern Course, a program that brought talented, even internationally renowned performers to venues in Evanston. Marshall received local acclaim when in December, 1923, she brought African American singer Edna Thomas to perform at the Evanston Woman’s Club Auditorium. In November, 1924, and again in 1925, as director of the Evanston Woman’s Club musical series, she secured noted African American tenor, Roland Hayes, to perform well-received concerts of songs. Likewise in 1925, in cooperation with the Inter-Racial Council of Evanston, she scheduled the famed Paul Robeson and Lawrence Brown for their Concert of Negro Music. Also in 1925, she brought celebrated band leader Paul Whiteman and his orchestra to perform in Evanston. In 1926, she secured baritone Os-Ke-Non-Ton (Running Deer of the Mohawk Tribe, Bear Clan) for a concert of indigenous songs before an Evanston audience. Among other notable performers she brought to Evanston were, in 1919, violinist Jascha Heifetz; in 1919, 1920, and 1922, violinist Josef Lhevinne; in 1920, violinist Efrem Zimbalist; in 1921, tenor Sergei Radamsky; in 1923, pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch; and, in 1928, cellist Pablo Casals.

The Marshall sisters, along with brother John Ridgely Marshall, eventually relocated to Los Angeles, California. Mary continued there her work as a music teacher. She died at Los Angeles on July 31, 1972.