Signed sepia matte textured photograph of the American conductor and organist known as an early member of the MacDowell Colony and as a renowned expert on Bach and Wagner, inscribed to Paul Heinecke, the U. S. director of the important publishing company Breitkopf & Härtel. Beneath his image, Humiston has penned: "To Paul Heinecke of Breitkopf and Härtel who publish Bach—and then some. With cordial greetings, W. H. Humiston. April 13, 1921." Overall toning and a few small edge chips; overall in fine condition. 6.25 x 8 inches (16 x 20.6 cm).

William Henry Humiston studied piano and harmony with W.S.B. Matthews and organ with C. Eddy and R.H. Woodman in Chicago, and with Edward MacDowell at Columbia University from 1896 to 1899. From 1909 to 1912, Humiston conducted traveling opera companies. He became editor of program notes for the New York Philharmonic Society in 1912, and from 1916 to 1921 he was the orchestra's assistant conductor.

Humiston was an early member of the MacDowell Colony at Peterborough, New Hampshire. At the MacDowell Club he conducted one of the first American performances of Mozart's Bastien and Bastienne in 1914, and J.S. Bach's Peasant Cantata with scenery and costume in 1916. His first musical criticisms were written as assistant to H.T. Finck of the Evening Post (New York). Humiston was appointed music critic of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1922. He received a Master of Arts degree from Lake Forest College in July 1923. During his lifetime, Humiston became recognized as an authority on J.S. Bach and Richard Wagner. Upon his death, Humiston's personal library became the nucleus of the MacDowell Colony library.