Clara Lyle Boone

Founder of Arsis Press

“Any notable commercial success for my company is truly beyond my wildest dreams, but I do dream that one day women will think female, buy female, and perform female until the standard publishing firms can afford to do no less than give the woman composer her due. At that time, Arsis Press would then be appropriately out of business.”
—Clara Lyle Boone

Clara Lyle Boone founded Arsis Press in Washington, DC in 1974. She was herself a composer as well as a publisher, educator, feminist, and political activist. She led a colorful, productive, and interesting life, information about which can be found in the following articles:

“Clara Lyle Boone, Pioneer in Music Publishing” by Gayle Worland
Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music, June, 1997
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“Clara Lyle Boone”
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“Memorandum to the National Endowment for the Arts” by Clara Lyle Boone, June 25, 1981
Request for more diversity in representation on the Music Advisory Panels of the National Endowment for the Arts.
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“All-Male Programming: An Antitrust Violation?” by Clara Lyle Boone
Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music, Fall, 1995
Details of Boone’s efforts to enlist the help of the U.S. Congress and Justice Department in combatting discrimination against women composers and more generally in supporting the arts.
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“My Friend” by Jim Myer
Voice of the Hill, September 16, 2008
Recollections of the nature of Clara Boone’s life as a teacher and resident in what was then a dangerous neighborhood on Capitol Hill.
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“In Memoriam: Clara Lyle Boone (1927-2015), Publisher, Composer,
Educator, Activist” by Elizabeth Vercoe
Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2015
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Memories and Tributes to Clara Lyle Boone.