Sherman, Clay & Co. was an American musical instruments retailer—mainly

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

s—and a publisher and seller of sheet music, founded in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Founded in 1853 as A. A. Rosenberg, it was sold to Leander Sherman and Clement Clay in 1870 and was incorporated as Sherman, Clay & Company in 1892. During the 20th century, it gradually expanded its retail operation into a nationwide chain of stores, and by the 1980s it had around 60 stores. It was based in San Francisco until at least the 1970s. In 2013, the company closed or sold its last retail stores.

History

Seattle in 1951 - Hotel Mayflower and Sherman, Clay & Co

The company was founded in 1853 as A. A. Rosenberg and was located in San Francisco at the corner of Kearny and Sutter streets. Leander Schutzenbach Sherman (1847–1926), who had been working as a clerk for Rosenberg, bought-out his employer in 1870 and took on Major Clement C. Clay (1836–1905) as a partner in 1879. 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). By 1894, the company had grown to four stores, with the opening of a store in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, joining existing ones in San Francisco,

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. The Portland store changed locations a few times but, notably, remained in the Woodlark Building from 1930 to 1974, and the company continued to operate a Portland store until 2013. Clay Sherman, grandson of co-founder Leander Sherman, became president of the company in 1949. The company was sold to Bernard Schwartz, of San Francisco, in 1957. The company had 21 stores in the 1950s, and was continuing to expand. It had 28 stores in spring 1965, all located in the three states of California, Oregon and Washington. Its

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

was still in San Francisco at that time. The company soon began to expand beyond the West Coast, and by the mid-1970s it had "become a national chain, with stores from

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

and Seattle to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

." In the 1980s, it had around 60 stores. Woodlark Building - Portland Oregon

21st century

By the 2010s, Sherman, Clay claimed to have sold over two million instruments. The company also sold new and used pianos manufactured by companies such as

Steinway & Sons Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Henry E. Steinway, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to ...

(which included subcontracted pianos from suppliers sold under the secondary names Boston and Essex), the

Yamaha Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate with a very wide range of products and services. It is one of the constituents of Nikkei 225 and is the world's largest musical instrument manufacturing company. The former motorcycle div ...

, and the Henry F. Miller Piano company. In 2013, Sherman Clay announced it was exiting the retail business in California, its longtime home base, on May 31, 2013, after 142 years. Of the four remaining California locations at that time, the stores in San Francisco and

Walnut Creek A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bo ...

were sold to

Steinway and Sons Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

, to remain in operation as piano dealerships, while those in Roseville and

San Bruno San Bruno (Spanish for " St. Bruno") is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, incorporated in 1914. The population was 43,908 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is between South San Francisco and Millbrae, adjacent to Sa ...

were to be closed. The company had only two stores elsewhere at the time, in Seattle and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, but they closed later the same year, the Houston store around June and the Seattle store in September 2013. The Seattle location was the company's last store. Since the 1970s, the company had been owned by Sherman Clay Group, a diverse company involved in real estate management and consumer finance. May 7, 2013, was proclaimed by San Francisco chief of protocol

Charlotte Mailliard Shultz Charlotte Mailliard Shultz ( Smith; September 26, 1933 – December 3, 2021) was a socialite, and philanthropist. She was the Chief of Protocol for the state of California, and the Chief of Protocol for the City and County of San Francisco. She ...

as Sherman Clay Day in San Francisco to honor the retailer.

Selected personnel

; General manager * Al Jacobs (1903–1985), songwriter * 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 Betty Garrett (May 23, 1919 – February 12, 2011) was an American actress, comedian, singer and dancer. She originally performed on Broadway, and was then signed to a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She appeared in several musical film ...

(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."Notes from Melody Land,"
'' Music Trades'', December 30, 1922, pg. 41 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 "Li'l Liza Jane", also known as "Little Liza Jane", "Liza Jane", and "Goodbye Liza Jane", is a song dating back at least to the 1910s. It has become a perennial standard both as a song and an instrumental in traditional jazz, folk music, and blu ...

" (1916) * "

Rose Room "Rose Room", also known as "In Sunny Roseland", is a 1917 jazz standard, music by Art Hickman, lyrics by Harry Williams. It is almost always performed as an instrumental. Composed at a time when the popularity of ragtime was fading in favor of th ...

" (1917) * "

Whispering Whispering is an unvoiced mode of phonation in which the vocal cords are abducted so that they do not vibrate; air passes between the arytenoid cartilages to create audible turbulence during speech. Supralaryngeal articulation remains the ...

" (1920) * "

My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii "My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii", written by Tommy Harrison, Bill Cogswell, and Johnny Noble in Hawaii in 1933, is a Hawaiian song in the Hawaiian musical style known as '' hapa haole''. One of the earliest recordings by Ted Fio Rito ...

" (1933) * " Close Your Eyes" (1933) ; Composers and lyricists *

Wallie Herzer Wallie Herzer ''(né'' Walter Henry Herzer; 15 April 1885 San Francisco – 15 October 1961 Redwood City, California) was an American composer of popular music, music publisher, and pianist. Herzer flourished in music prior to and during World ...

(1885–1961), composer, lyricist *

Harry D. Kerr Harry David Kerr (8 October 1880 Santa Rosa, California – 21 May 1957 Los Angeles) was an American songwriter, lyricist, author, and lawyer. Kerr became active in music at age 15 (1895). The practice of law had been his prime avocation until ...

(1880–1957), composer, lyricist *

Vincent Rose Vincent Rose ''(né'' Vincenzo Cacioppo; 13 June 1880 Palermo, Italy – 20 May 1944 Rockville Centre, New York) was an Italian-born American violinist, pianist, composer, and bandleader. Career Rose holds one of the longest histories as a ban ...

(1880–1944), composer *

Nacio Herb Brown Ignacio Herbert "Nacio Herb" Brown (February 22, 1896 – September 28, 1964) was an American songwriter, writer of popular songs, movie scores and Broadway theatre music in the 1920s through the early 1950s. Amongst his most enduring work ...

(1896–1964), composer * Johnny Noble (1892–1944), composer *

Bernice Petkere Bernice Petkere (August 11, 1901 – January 7, 2000) was an American songwriter. She was dubbed the "Queen of Tin Pan Alley" by Irving Berlin. Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, she began performing in vaudeville as a child. "St ...

(1901–2000), composer, lyricist

Selected sheet music artists and engravers

* Leland Stanford Morgan (1886–1981)

Images

File:LizaJane1916SheetMusicCover.jpeg, Wesley Raymond
De Lappe
(1887–1952) File:Mummy Mine 01A.jpg, Cover artist: Unknown File:Rose Room cover.jpg, Wesley Raymond
De Lappe
(1887–1952) File:Whispering sheetmusic.pdf, Wesley Raymond
De Lappe
(1887–1952) File:Whispering cover.jpg, Cover artist: Unknown File:Sheet music cover - JUST AN OLD LOVE SONG (1922).jpg, Porter Murdock Griffith
(1889–1969)
Song sheets to software : a guide to print music, software, and web sites for musicians
'' by Elizabeth C. Axford, Scarecrow Press (2004), pg. 21;

References

Archival resources :;

University of Washington Libraries The University of Washington Libraries (UW Libraries) is the academic library system of the University of Washington. The Libraries serves the Seattle, Tacoma, and Bothell campuses of the University of Washington and the university's Frid ...

, Digital Collections :* Image
circa">"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 The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) is a history museum in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest private heritage organization in Washington state, maintaining a collection of nearly four m ...

, Seattle :* Image
Company salesman with TV, phonograph, radio, ca. 1947,"

, Seattle San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection :* Image
"Sherman, Clay & Co., in San Francisco,"
Inline citations

External links

Interview with Past President, Don Ravitch
NAMM Oral History Library, April 7, 2005
Interview with Chairman, Eric Schwartz
NAMM Oral History Library, May 14, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherman Clay Companies based in San Mateo County, California Retail companies established in 1853 Retail companies disestablished in 2013 Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Defunct retail companies of the United States