Chicago Sheet Music Collection, 1845-1871
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
More Extent Information
Arrangement
Arrangement reflects original ordering by the University Library in 15 volumes, which is primary ordered chronologically by acquisition date, then alphabetically by composer last name and title of the composition within volumes.
Volume 1: alphabetically by composer last name then title.
Volumes 2-5: chronologically by publication date across volumes (v. 2 1849-1861, v. 3 1862-1865, v. 4 1865-1871, v. 5 1871- undated) then alphabetically by composer and title within each volume.
Volumes 6-7, 9-11 contain imprints ordered alphabetically by composer last name and title across volumes in the following order: v.6 (A-E), v. 7 (F-K), v. 11 (L-O), v. 9 (R-V), v. 10 (W).
Volume 8 and volumes 12-15 are ordered alphabetically by composer last name and title within each volume.
The physical collection has been rehoused into 20 boxes, ordered continuously by item based off of the original call and volume numbers. See the finding aid for a box/item listing.
Abstract
Administrative/Biographical History
In 1939, the University of Illinois began collecting sheet music printed in Chicago before the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 in response to renewed interest in the academic community regarding Chicago’s role in music publishing during the Civil War and before the Fire. The Fire devastated the Chicago music industry, destroying the storefronts and inventories of most of the publishing houses. As a result, only one pre-Fire firm survived into the 20th century and information about the scale and national reach of the Chicago music publishing industry was largely forgotten. Between 1939 and 1943, the University Library amassed over 850 pieces of sheet music that either were printed in or would have been available in Chicago before 1871.
In 1941 the University Library hired a student assistant from the Library Science program to catalog and arrange the collection, Dena J. Polacheck Epstein (1916-2013). Epstein, who had a bachelor’s degree in music was inspired to write her master’s thesis, Music Publishing in Chicago before 1871: the Firm of Root & Cady, 1858-1871, using the Illinois collection, which was later serially published in the Music Library Association of America Notes journal between 1944-1946 and in a revised book edition in 1969, which has remained an influential work in the study of early American music publishing. Epstein later became a noted Music Librarian at the University of Chicago and an ethnomusicologist, best known for her foundational scholarship into early American Black folk music and her 1977 book Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War.
Sources:
Epstein, Dena. Interview by Chris D’Arpa. 14 March, 2008. Voices of Illinois Oral History Portal, University of Illinois Archives. https://www.library.illinois.edu/voices/collection-item/dena-epstein/, Accessed 28 February. 2023.
Epstein, Dena Julia Polacheck. “Music Publishing in Chicago Prior to 1871 : the Firm of Root & Cady, 1858-1871”. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1943.
Epstein, Dena J. Polacheck. Music Publishing in Chicago before 1871 : the Firm of Root & Cady, 1858-1871. Detroit: Information Coordinators, 1969.
Epstein, Dena J. "Music Publishing" in Encyclopedia of Chicago, Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 2005
University of Illinois Library. Annual Report 1939-1940. University of Illinois Archives, 35/1/801.
Author: Karina Cooper Subjects (links to similar collections) Administrative InformationThe RBML reproductions policies can be found here:
http://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/collections/reproduction-services/
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study scholarship or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would damage materials or involve violation of copyright law.
Acquired between 1939-1943 through purchase installments from various rare book dealers including Edward H. Terry, L. E. Dicke, Fred Lockley, Wellman and Harry Dichter.
For more information please see https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/rbmlsfa/MSS00115_Chicago_Sheet_Music_Collection.pdf.
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| Service Location | Boxes | Request |
|---|---|---|
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 001 | Request Box 001 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 002 | Request Box 002 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 003 | Request Box 003 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 004 | Request Box 004 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 005 | Request Box 005 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 006 | Request Box 006 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 007 | Request Box 007 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 008 | Request Box 008 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 009 | Request Box 009 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 010 | Request Box 010 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 011 | Request Box 011 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 012 | Request Box 012 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 013 | Request Box 013 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 014 | Request Box 014 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 015 | Request Box 015 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 016 | Request Box 016 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 017 | Request Box 017 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 018 | Request Box 018 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 019 | Request Box 019 |
| Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 346 Main Library | Box 020 | Request Box 020 |
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Email UsThe Chicago Sheet Music Collection is a collection of 19th century sheet music printed in Chicago, Illinois before the Great Fire of 1871. It consists of a wide range of popular music from the time, including popular vocal and piano pieces, songs, ballads, waltzes, polkas, marches, comic pieces, opera selections, and parlor music. Thematic strengths include the American Civil War; stage shows and productions by comic actors, opera stars, minstrel performers, and family singing troupes; Chicago businesses and social organizations; and social issues such as temperance, reconstruction, and women's suffrage.
The items in the collection were predominantly published by the Chicago firms Root & Cady, H.M. Higgins, Lyon & Healy, and the DeMotte Brothers and their associated national imprints. Consisting of approximately 850 items, the collection was assembled by the University of Illinois Library between 1939-1943. Volumes 1-5, 8, 12, 14 and 15 contain music published and printed in Chicago, while volumes 6-7, 9-11, 13, and 15 contain imprints published in other American cities with Chicago distributors.
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