By Mary Miller and David Shin
[Printer Friendly] | [ Email us about these papers]Title: James Edward Myers Sheet Music Collection, 1836-1986
ID: 12/9/96
Primary Creator: Myers, James Edward (1913-2001)
Extent: 8.2 cubic feet
Arrangement: Alphabetical by song title
Subjects: Military Music, Music, Music - United States, Musical Repertoires, Women
Formats/Genres: Papers
Consists of published sheet music documenting American culture through popular music and cover art imagery. The collection is organized in two series: Series 1, General and Country Music, 1862-1986 and Series 2, Military Music, 1836-1975. Early pre-1920 songs contain themes that focus primarily on life on the farm, while many post-1920 titles feature the "gayer" night-life of city dwellers. Love is the most popular theme encountered throughout the collection. Early traditional values of courtship represented in the music and lyrics of early 1900s become the swinging attitudes of the 1940s and 50s. The cover art also dramatically changes from hand drawn pictures to photographs.
The music and cover art within this collection reflects the changing culture and social attitudes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century American. Of particular interest are songs by such composers as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Rogers and Hammerstein, and John Philip Sousa. Cover art of interest includes Irving Berlin's Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep, Cole Porter's I've got you under my skin, and Sousa's In Flanders fields the poppies grow, Solid men to the front, and We are coming.
The World War I music contained in the James Edward Myers Sheet Music Collection digital image repository was derived from the Myers collection and can be accessed through the website [https://digital.library.illinois.edu/collections/692ae4c0-c09b-0134-2371-0050569601ca-6]. This digital content documents not only what was produced by Midwestern music publishers but also offers a compelling cross-section of popular musical practices and tastes across the Midwest during the War.
James Edward Myers (November 9, 1913 - December 7, 2001), a lifelong resident of Springfield, Illinois, graduated from the University of Illinois in 1936 with a degree in history and a fondness for the university bands, in which he played oboe and drums. The son of Albert Myers, a founder of the Myers Brothers department stores, James joined the US army in 1939 and served in Cuba and India during World War II. Upon discharge, he married his wife, Edith, and returned to the University of Illinois to study agriculture. He farmed a 350-acre farm in Central Illinois from 1947 to 1953 that was noted for its agricultural innovations. An injury forced retirement from farming; and in 1953 he returned to the family business, where he served as vice-president, remaining with the firm until 1968. He was extremely active in his community and was president or on the board of many civic organizations.
Myers was something of a Renaissance man and was a collector throughout his life. In the 1930s he journeyed to Guatemala, where he amassed an extensive collection of handcrafted fabrics and clothes of the Guatemalan natives, which he donated to the Illinois State Museum. After he retired, he bought the Lincoln-Herndon law offices building and, with two partners, restored it and opened it to the public. It was later sold to the state of Illinois. At the time of its opening, he also opened Prairie House, a pioneering showcase of US crafts, which remained in existence until 2010, exhibiting comporary art and ceramics, woodwork, glass, and jewelry. Myers also began collecting American books of humor, and his collection now forms part of the "wit and humor" holdings of the University's Rare Book & Manuscript Library. In his later years he established Lincoln-Herndon Press, which published books of humor compiled by himself and others. His books Jones, a novel, and The Bridge of Time, a nonfiction book about Israel, were published by A. S. Barnes. A further novel, The Stones of Summerville, remains unpublished. His extensive collection of American sheet music was built late in life. Myers specialized in music about and during wartime, and his single largest sub-collection consists of songs related to World War I. An amateur pianist, he was especially interested in the covers in his collection, which he regarded as underappreciated instances of a kind of folk art.
Repository: The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
Accruals: January 5, 2005. A second set of materials, now series 3, was donated on April 2, 2014 by Jamie Myers. Third and fourth sets of materials were donated on July 9, 2015 and July 28, 2015, by Jamie Myers. The majority of materials in the third set of donations have been added to Series 1. Materials in the fourth set of donations have been added to Series 1, 2, or 3 - based on their subject.
Access Restrictions: None.
Acquisition Method: The James Edward Myers Sheet Music Collection was donated to the University of Illinois on January 5, 2005
Related Materials: World War I music contained in the James Edward Myers Sheet Music Collection digital repository documents not only what was produced by Midwestern music publishers but also offers a compelling cross-section of popular musical practices and tastes across the Midwest during the War. For more information please see https://digital.library.illinois.edu/collections/692ae4c0-c09b-0134-2371-0050569601ca-6.
Other Note: Pages
Composer/Lyricist: Bryan, Alfred
Leslie, Edgar
Ruby, Harry
1. The Branches of the Army
2. Entertainment Reaches Ev'rywhere
3. It's Talent That Makes The Diff'rence
4. Around The World With Your Army
5. So Long, Good-bye
6. Mostly Music
7. Hi-Lill, Hi-Lo
8. Let's Be Buddies
9. I Could Write A Book
10. Two Sleepy People
11. June is Bustin' Out All Over
12. If I Could Be With You
1. The Battle Cry of Freedom
2. Just before the battle, Mother
3. Flag of the Free
4. Marching through Georgia
5. The Red, White and Blue
6. Columbia's Call
7. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp
8. Up with the Flag
9. The Vacant Chair, or We Shall Meet but We Shall Miss Him
10. Hail Columbia
11. The Star-Spangled Banner
12. Battle Hymn of the Republic
13. America
14. Beloved Columbia, or Am Rhein und beim Wein
15. Yankee Doodle
16. Glory! Glory!, or Little Octoroon
17. March on, Brave Lads, March on!
18. Flag of '76
19. Can the Soldiers Forget?
20. Mother is the Battle Over?
21. The Battle Prayer, or Soldier's Prayer Before Battle
22. A Mighty Fortress is our God
23. Sleeping Heroes
24. A Tear for the Comrade taht's Gone
25. Lead, kindly Light
26. Marseilles Hymn
27. The Watch by the Rhine
28. Maryland! my Maryland!
29. Dixie's Land
30. Old Folks at Home
31. My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night
32. Home, Sweet Home
33. The Dearest Spot
34. Old Black Joe
35. Do They Think of Me at Home
36. The Girl I Left Behind Me
37. Auld Lang Syne
1. Too Close For Comfort, New York, NY, Laurel Music Corporation, 1956 [composer/lyricist: Holofcener, Larry; Weiss, George]
2.I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face, New York, NY, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loeve Chappell & Co., Inc., 1956 [Composer/Lyricist: Lerner, Alan Jay; Loewe, Frederick]
3. Te Amo, New York, NY, Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc., 1956 [Composer/Lyricist: Mulcay, Jimmy and Mildred]
4. There'll Be Some Changes Made, Harry H. Pace, 1921 [Composer/Lyricist: Higgins, Billy; Overstreet, W. Benton]
5. Just One Of Those Things, New York, NY, Harms, Inc., 1935 [Composer/Lyricist: Porter, Cole]
6. Born To Be With You, New York, NY, Mayfair Music Corp, 1956 [Composer/Lyricist: Robertson, Don]
7. Molly-O, Hollywood, CA, Dena Music Corp., 1955 [Composer/Lyricist: Fine, Sylvia; Bernstein, Elmer]
8. Sweet Heartaches, New York, NY, George Pincus Music Corp., 1955 [Composer/Lyricist: Simon, Nat; Kennedy, Jimmy]
9. Sweet Heartaches, New York, NY, George Pincus Music Corp., 1955 [Composer/Lyricist: Simon, Nat; Kennedy, Jimmy (arr. for men's voices by Bud Arberg)]
1. Almost Paradise, New York, NY, Peer International Corporation, 1956 [Composer/Lyricist: Petty, Norman]
2. Do I Love You, New York, NY, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, 1957(Because You're Beautiful) [Composer/Lyricist: Rodgers, Richard; Hammerstein, Oscar]
3. Round and Round, New York, NY, Rush Music Corp., 1957 [Composer/Lyricist: Stallman, Lou; Shapiro, Joe]
4. From the Fist Hello to the Last Goodbye, New York, NY, Cavalcade Music Corporation, 1956 [Composer/Lyricist: Burke, Johnny]
5. Pum-Pa-Lum, New York, NY, Vernon Music Corporation, 1957[Composer/Lyricist: Wood, Al]
6. Why Baby Why?, New York, NY, Winneton Music Corp., 1957 [Composer/Lyricist: Dixon, Luther; Harrison, Larry]
7. Summertime, New York, NY, Gershwin Publishing Corporation, 1936 [Composer/Lyricist: Gershwin, George; Heyward, Dubose]
8. Gone, North Hollywood, CA, Dallas Music Co, 1952 [Composer/Lyricist: Rogers, Smokey]
9. From the First Hello to the Last Goodbye, New York, NY, Cavalcade Music Corporation, 1956 [Composer/Lyricist: Burke, Johnny (arr. for men's voices by Bud Arberg)]
1. A Certain Smile, New York, NY, Twentieth Century Music Corporation, 1958 [Composer/Lyricist: Fain, Sammy; Webster, Francis]
2. (When It's) Darkness on the Delta, New York, NY, Santly Bros. Inc., 1932 [Composer/Lyricist: Livingston, Jerry; Neiburg, Al J.]
3. There's No You, New York, NY, Barton Music Corp., 1944 [Composer/Lyricist: Hopper, Hal; Adair, Tom]
4. Thunderbird, Hollywood, CA, Moonlight Music Inc., 1952 [Composer/Lyricist: Williams, Geo.; Anthony, Ray; Shaftel, Arthur]
5. The U. S. Air Force, New York, NY, Carl Fischer, 1939 [Composer/Lyricist: Crawford, Robert]
6. Strange Music (From "Wedding Day in Troldhaugen" by Edvard Grieg), New York, NY, Chappell & Co., 1944 [Composer/Lyricist: Wright, Robert; Forrest, George]
7. Padre, New York, NY, Charles N. Daniels, Inc., 1957 [Composer/Lyricist: Romans, Alain; Webster, Paul Francis (original French lyrics by Jacques Larue)]
8. Lazy River, New York, NY, Peer International Corporation, 1931 [Composer/Lyricist: Carmichael, Hoagy; Arodin, Sidney]
9. Lazy River, New York, NY, Peer International Corporation, 1931 [Composer/Lyricist: Carmichael, Hoagy; Arodin, Sindey (arr. for men's voices by Bud Arberg)]
Composer/Lyricist:
Tracey, Wm.; Stern, Jack
1. We'll Nail The Stars and Stripes to the Kaiser's Door
2. I Want A Soldier Boy to Correspond With Me.
3. Just Say You'll Be True.
4. What Can I Do To Make You Love Me?
5. The Bets Rleation That We Have Is Uncle Sammy
Music booklet includes the following songs (and Composer/Lyricist):
America (Henry Carey/S.F. Smith); The Star-Spangled Banner (John Stafford Smith/Francis Scott Key); Tenting on the Old Camp Ground (Walter Kitteredge); The Marine's Hymn (Arranged by A. Tregina, U.S. Marine Band); Columbia, The Gem of the Ocean (Thomas A. Becket/David T. Shaw); Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (George F. Root); Yankee Doodle (Dr. Schackburg); I Wish I Was In Dixie (Dan Emmett); Hinkey Dinky Parley Voo; America, the Beautiful (Samuel A. Ward/Katherine Lee Bates); Here Comes An American ("Al" Melgard).
Composer/Lyricist: Lange, Arthur/Sterling, Andrew B.
2 copies with variations.