This collection contains a scrapbook by Yost, publicity photographs, articles by and about
Yost, correspondence including with Albert Stoessel, Toscha Seidel, and Albert Spaulding,
lecture notes, Printing masters of The Yost Violin System and Yost Violin Method, and music
score manuscripts.
Biographical / Historical
Gaylord Purcell Yost was born in 1888 in Fayette, Ohio. In 1906, he went to Berlin to study
with renowned Russian virtuoso Issay Barmas. Between 1907 and 1911 he toured as a concert
artist across the United States, Europe, and South America. In 1919, he moved to Pittsburgh
and became the head of the violin department at Pittsburgh Musical Institute, a position he
held for 25 years. He formed the Yost String Quartet. Yost composed numerous short
compositions for violin and piano and published multiple volumes of violin pedagogy called
Yost Violin System. Yost moved back to Fayette in 1951 to take over his father's newspaper
The Fayette Review and served as the mayor of Fayette from 1954 to 1957.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research but may contain specific access restrictions. Please
handle with care.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection is open for research but may contain specific reproduction restrictions due
to copyright.
Custodial History
Donated to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Music Department by Gaylord Yost, Jr., the
son of Gaylord P. Yost.
Preferred Citation
Gaylord Yost Collection, Pittsburgh Music Archive #43, Music Department, Carnegie Library
of Pittsburgh.