Introduction

Biography

Archer was the son of Ad­am Clarke Gib­son and Lau­ra Vic­tor­ia Can­non, and hus­band of Fran­ces Fleet­wood Bry­ant (mar­ried June 18, 1900, An­na­po­lis, Ma­ry­land).

Receiving his mu­sic­al train­ing in Bal­ti­more, he be­gan play­ing the or­gan in pub­lic when he was eight years old. By age 14, he was the or­gan­ist at Beth­any Me­thod­ist Epis­co­pal Church, and event­ual­ly played in most of Bal­ti­more’s main church­es. He al­so taught or­gan and com­po­si­tion at Bal­ti­more’s Pea­bo­dy Con­ser­va­to­ry of Mu­sic.

In 1901, Gibson be­came or­gan­ist and choir­mas­ter at the Brick Pres­by­ter­ian Church in New York Ci­ty, and served there eight years.

In ad­di­tion to work­ing as a teach­er and church or­gan­ist, he gave pri­vate or­gan per­form­anc­es in the homes of the Sloanes, Schwabs, Fricks, Tif­fa­nys, Van­der­bilts, Rocke­fel­lers, and oth­er weal­thy fa­mi­lies.