# Sherman Clay

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{{Short description|American Music Instruments Retailer}}
{{Infobox company
| name             = Sherman, Clay & Co.
| logo             = 
| caption          =
| type             = [Private](/source/Privately_held_company)
| foundation       = {{Start date|1853}}
| founder          = 
| defunct   = 2013
| location_city    = San Bruno, California
| location_country = U.S.
| location         =
| locations        = around 60 (1980s)
| area_served      = North America
| key_people       = 
| industry         = [Musical instrument](/source/Musical_instrument)s
| products         = [piano](/source/piano)s, sheet music
| production       = 
| revenue          =
| net_income       =
| owner            =
| num_employees    =
| parent           = [Sherman Clay Group](/source/Sherman_Clay_Group)
| footnotes        =
}}

'''Sherman, Clay & Co.''' was an American musical instruments retailer—mainly [piano](/source/piano)s—and a publisher and seller of sheet music, founded in [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco).<ref name="Ryder 1952" /> Founded in 1853 as A.&nbsp;A. Rosenberg, it was sold to Leander Sherman and Clement Clay in 1870 and was incorporated as Sherman, Clay&nbsp;& 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 ==
thumb|left|upright|The Sherman, Clay & Company store in downtown Seattle in 1951
What would become Sherman, Clay was founded in 1853 as the A. A. Rosenberg music store 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.<ref name="Billboard 1968"/>  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 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](/source/Portland%2C_Oregon), joining existing ones in San Francisco, [Oakland](/source/Oakland%2C_California), and [Seattle](/source/Seattle).<ref name=Oregonian-1894Nov25>{{cite news|author=<!--(staff report; no byline)-->|title=Significant|newspaper=[The Sunday Oregonian](/source/The_Sunday_Oregonian)|date=November 25, 1894|location=Portland, Oregon|page=8}}</ref> The Portland store changed locations a few times<ref name=oreg-1974may4>{{cite news|last=Mershon|first=Andrew|title=Downtown music store bows to tradition, stays in town|newspaper=[The Oregonian](/source/The_Oregonian)|date=May 4, 1974|at=Section 3, p. 7|location=Portland, Oregon}}</ref> but, notably, remained in the [Woodlark Building](/source/Woodlark_Building) from 1930<ref name="Oregonian-1930Jan26">{{cite news|title=Music House to New Quarters: Sherman, Clay & Co. Move From 6th and Morrison|newspaper=The Sunday Oregonian|location=Portland, Oregon|date=January 26, 1930|at=Section 1, p. 9}}</ref> to 1974,<ref name=oreg-1974may4/> and the company continued to operate a Portland store until 2013.<ref name="oregonian-2013jun">{{cite news|last=Greenberg|first=Zoe|title=Portland Piano Company features Fazioli in new store downtown|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/06/portland_piano_company_feature.html|accessdate=2016-08-09|newspaper=[The Oregonian](/source/The_Oregonian)|date=June 21, 2013}}</ref>  Clay Sherman, grandson of co-founder Leander Sherman, became president of the company in 1949.<ref name=Oregonian-1958Jul27/>  The company was sold to Bernard Schwartz, of San Francisco, in 1957.<ref name=oreg-1974may4/>

The company had 21 stores in the 1950s,<ref name=Oregonian-1958Jul27>{{cite news|author=<!--(staff report; no byline)-->|title=The Financial Spotlight [brief news items]|newspaper=The Sunday Oregonian|date=July 27, 1958|location=Portland, Oregon|page=Section 1, p. 34}}</ref> and was continuing to expand. It had 28 stores in spring of 1965, all located in the three states of California, Oregon and Washington.<ref name="billboard-1965may">{{cite news|last1=Lehman|first1=Godfrey|title=West Coast's Sherman Clay Moves Volume With Dignity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iigEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Sherman%20Clay%22%20store%20building&pg=PA48|accessdate=2016-08-09|work=[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))|date=May 1, 1965|page=48}}</ref> Its [headquarters](/source/headquarters) was still in San Francisco at that time.<ref name="billboard-1965may"/>  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](/source/Manhattan) to [Kansas City](/source/Kansas_City%2C_Missouri) and Seattle to [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles)."<ref name=oreg-1974may4/>  In the 1980s, it had around 60 stores.<ref name="KPLU"/>
[[File:Woodlark Building - Portland Oregon.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The [Woodlark Building](/source/Woodlark_Building), in Portland, Oregon, had a Sherman Clay store from 1930 to 1974.]]

===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](/source/Steinway_%26_Sons) (which included subcontracted pianos from suppliers sold under the secondary names Boston and Essex), the [Yamaha Corporation](/source/Yamaha_Corporation), and the Henry F. Miller Piano Company.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

In 2013, Sherman Clay announced it was exiting the retail business in California, its longtime home base, on May 31, 2013, after 142 years.<ref name="Contra Costa Times 2013"/> Of the four remaining California locations at that time, the stores in San Francisco and [Walnut Creek](/source/Walnut_Creek%2C_California) were sold to [Steinway and Sons](/source/Steinway_and_Sons), to remain in operation as piano dealerships, while those in [Roseville](/source/Roseville%2C_California) and [San Bruno](/source/San_Bruno%2C_California) were to be closed.<ref name="SFChonicle-2013apr">{{cite news|last=Nolte|first=Carl|title=Sherman Clay piano merchant's swan song: After 142 years as S.F. institution, Sherman Clay bows out of retailing [in California]|url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Sherman-Clay-piano-merchant-s-swan-song-4432568.php|accessdate=2016-08-09|newspaper=[San Francisco Chronicle](/source/San_Francisco_Chronicle)|date=April 13, 2013}}</ref>  The company had only two stores elsewhere at the time, in Seattle and [Houston](/source/Houston),<ref name="Contra Costa Times 2013"/> but they closed later the same year, the Houston store around June<ref name="houston chronicle">{{cite news|last=Olin|first=Andy|title=Longtime Houston piano retailer is closing|url=http://blog.chron.com/29-95/2013/05/longtime-houston-piano-retailer-is-closing/|accessdate=2016-08-09|newspaper=[Houston Chronicle](/source/Houston_Chronicle)|date=May 17, 2013}}</ref> and the Seattle store in September 2013.<ref name="fox13-seattle">{{cite news|last=Blakely|first=Brien|title= Iconic downtown piano store to be replaced by chicken wing franchise|url=http://q13fox.com/2013/08/15/sherman-clay-piano-closing/|accessdate=2016-08-09|publisher=[KCPQ](/source/KCPQ)|location=Tacoma, Washington|date=August 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823013032/http://q13fox.com/2013/08/15/sherman-clay-piano-closing/|archive-date=August 23, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="KPLU">{{cite news|last=Davila|first=Florangela|title=After More Than a Century, Sherman Clay Store Closing Doors|publisher=[KPLU](/source/KNKX)|location=Tacoma, Washington|date=August 6, 2013|url=http://www.kplu.org/post/after-more-century-sherman-clay-store-closing-doors|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828065140/http://www.kplu.org/post/after-more-century-sherman-clay-store-closing-doors|archivedate=August 28, 2016|accessdate=2017-05-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>  The Seattle location was the company's last store.<ref name="KPLU"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Retail Locations|url=http://www.shermanclay.com/piano-retail-locations.shtml|publisher=Sherman Clay|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807144516/http://www.shermanclay.com/piano-retail-locations.shtml|archivedate=August 7, 2013|date=August 2013}}</ref>  Since the 1970s, the company had been owned by [Sherman Clay Group](/source/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](/source/Charlotte_Mailliard_Shultz) as Sherman Clay Day in San Francisco to honor the retailer.<ref name="SF Appeal 2013"/>

== Selected personnel ==
; General manager
* Al Jacobs (1903–1985), songwriter<ref name="IMdb Al Jacobs" />
* 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](/source/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](/source/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.](/source/Sherman%2C_Clay_%26_Co.)<ref name="MT 1922 Dec 30">[https://books.google.com/books?id=7JZQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA283 "Notes from Melody Land,"] ''[Music Trades](/source/The_Music_Trades_(magazine))'', December 30, 1922, pg. 41</ref>  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](/source/Li'l_Liza_Jane)" (1916)
* "[Rose Room](/source/Rose_Room)" (1917)
* "[Whispering](/source/Whispering_(song))" (1920)
* "[My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii](/source/My_Little_Grass_Shack_in_Kealakekua%2C_Hawaii)" (1933)
* "[Close Your Eyes](/source/Close_Your_Eyes_(Bernice_Petkere_song))" (1933)
; Composers and lyricists
* [Wallie Herzer](/source/Wallie_Herzer) (1885–1961), composer, lyricist
* [Harry D. Kerr](/source/Harry_D._Kerr) (1880–1957), composer, lyricist
* [Vincent Rose](/source/Vincent_Rose) (1880–1944), composer
* [Nacio Herb Brown](/source/Nacio_Herb_Brown) (1896–1964), composer
* [Johnny Noble](/source/Johnny_Noble) (1892–1944), composer
* [Bernice Petkere](/source/Bernice_Petkere) (1901–2000), composer, lyricist

== Selected sheet music artists and engravers ==
* [Leland Stanford Morgan](/source/Leland_Stanford_Morgan) (1886–1981)

== Images ==

<gallery mode=packed heights=200 caption="Selected sheet music cover artists">
File:LizaJane1916SheetMusicCover.jpeg|Wesley Raymond<br />De Lappe<br /> (1887–1952)
File:Mummy Mine 01A.jpg|Cover artist: Unknown
File:Rose Room cover.jpg|Wesley Raymond<br />De Lappe<br /> (1887–1952)
File:Whispering sheetmusic.pdf|Wesley Raymond<br />De Lappe<br />(1887–1952)
File:Whispering cover.jpg|Cover artist: Unknown
File:Sheet music cover - JUST AN OLD LOVE SONG (1922).jpg|Porter Murdock Griffith<br />(1889–1969)<ref name="Axford 2004">''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mNv9kAuTDTIC&pg=PA21 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}}</ref> 
</gallery>

{{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center
 | align = center
 | background color = white; border: none
 | header = Main store in Oakland, California (1947)

 | image1 = Architect and engineer (1947) (14762179781).jpg
 | width1 = {{#expr: (250 * 2370 / 1586) round 0}}
 | alt1 =

 | image2 = Architect and engineer (1947) (14578719159).jpg
 | width2 = {{#expr: (250 * 1248 / 910 ) round 0}}
 | alt2 =

 | image3 = Architect and engineer (1947) (14578727048).jpg
 | width3 = {{#expr: (250 * 1814 / 1248) round 0}}
 | alt3 =

 | footer_align = center
 | footer = Built in 1947, Oakland, California, [William Wurster](/source/William_Wurster), architect
}}

==References==
'''Archival resources'''
:; [University of Washington Libraries](/source/University_of_Washington_Libraries), Digital Collections
:* Image: [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/imlsmohai/id/4012/rec/1 "Hinkley Block, Seattle"], ''([circa](/source/Wiktionary%3Acirca)'' 1911), [Museum of History and Industry](/source/Museum_of_History_and_Industry), Seattle
:* Image: [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/imlsmohai/id/379/rec/2 "Installing totem pole at Westlake Mall, Seattle, 1960,"] [Museum of History and Industry](/source/Museum_of_History_and_Industry), Seattle
:* Image: [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/ref/collection/imlsmohai/id/5268 Company salesman with TV, phonograph, radio, ca. 1947,"] [Museum of History and Industry](/source/Museum_of_History_and_Industry), Seattle

'''San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection'''
:* Image: [http://webbie1.sfpl.org/multimedia/sfphotos/AAC-7432.jpg "Sherman, Clay & Co., in San Francisco,"]

'''Inline citations'''
{{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="SF Appeal 2013">[http://sfappeal.com/2013/05/sherman-clay-donates-piano-to-sf/ "Sherman Clay Donates Piano To SF"], by Dan McMenamin, ''([Bay City News](/source/Bay_City_News)),'' ''San Francisco Appeal,'' May 7, 2013</ref>

<ref name="Contra Costa Times 2013">[http://www.contracostatimes.com/walnut-creek/ci_23148328/walnut-creek-pianos-have-future-sherman-clay-store "In Walnut Creek, Pianos Have a Future: Sherman Clay Store Becomes Steinway"], by Lou Fancher, ''[Contra Costa Times](/source/Contra_Costa_Times)'' May 1, 2013</ref>

<ref name="Billboard 1968">[https://books.google.com/books?id=rgoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA14 "Sherman, Clay & Co. Saluted by Steinway"], ''[Billboard](/source/Billboard_(magazine))'', March 2, 1968, pg. 14</ref>

<ref name="Ryder 1952">''The story of Sherman, Clay & Co., 1870–1952'' (2nd ed.), by David Warren Ryder (1892–1975), Sherman, Clay & Co. (1952); {{oclc|9655114}}</ref>

<ref name="IMdb Al Jacobs">[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0414311/ "Al Jacobs"] (mini bio), by "Hup234" (online screenname), [IMDb](/source/IMDb) (retrieved November 9, 2015)</ref>

}}

==External links==
*[https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/don-ravitch Interview with Past President, Don Ravitch] NAMM Oral History Library, April 7, 2005
*[https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/eric-schwartz Interview with Chairman, Eric Schwartz] NAMM Oral History Library, May 14, 2008

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherman Clay}}
Category:Companies based in San Mateo County, California
Category:Retail companies established in 1853
Category:Retail companies disestablished in 2013
Category:Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Category:Defunct retail companies of the United States
Category:Musical instrument retailers of the United States
Category:Sheet music publishing companies

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sherman Clay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Clay) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Clay?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.