Chicago Sheet Music Collection, 1845-1871 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Title: Chicago Sheet Music Collection, 1845-1871

ID: 01/01/MSS00115

Primary Creator: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Library

Extent: 6.0 Cubic Feet. More info below.

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.

Date Acquired: 08/01/1939

Subjects: H. M. Higgins (Publisher), Higgins Brothers (Chicago, Ill.), Lyon & Healy, Music publishing -- Illinois -- Chicago, Root & Cady, United States - History - Civil War, 1861-1865

Forms of Material: Sheet Music

Languages: English, French, German, Italian

The 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.

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.

H. M. Higgins (Publisher)
Higgins Brothers (Chicago, Ill.)
Lyon & Healy
Music publishing -- Illinois -- Chicago
Root & Cady
United States - History - Civil War, 1861-1865

Repository: Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Alternate Extent Statement: 20 boxes (853 items)

Access Restrictions: The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions:

The 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.

Acquisition Source: Purchased

Acquisition Method: 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.

Related Publications: Epstein, Dena J. Polacheck. Music Publishing in Chicago before 1871: the Firm of Root & Cady, 1858-1871. Detroit: Information Coordinators, 1969.

Box and Folder Listing

Box 15

Volume 13

Item 1: "The nearest way home: ballad" (from Peters Standard Edition. Concert songs as sung by Carla Louise Kellog, Parepa, Adelina Patti, and other celebrated singers), comp. Luigi Arditi, lyrics by H.B. Farnie, 1869

Piano, voice. Published by J.L. Peters (New York).

Item 2: "Si tu savais = ah! If thou couldst know: Romanza," comp. M.W. Balfe, lyrics by M.W. Balfe, trans. J.C.J., 1869

Piano, voice. Published by Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston).

Item 3: "Read me a letter from home: song with chorus ad. Lib.," comp. Alfred Barton, lyrics by W. Dexter Smith Jr., 1863

Piano, voice. Published by Henry Tolman & Co. (Boston).

Item 4: "Richmond on the James," comp. and lyrics by T.E. Bayley, 1863

Piano, voice. Published by D.P. Faulds & Co. (Louisville).

Item 5: "Schönbrunner, or Morning Star Waltz" (from Hours of Leisure. A Collection of Waltzes & Polkas arranged as Rondos for the Piano Forte; no. 2), comp. F. Beyer, undated

Piano. Published by David P. Faulds (Louisville).

Item 6: "List to the convent bells: for one or two voices" (from The Dulciana, a Collection of Favorite Duets), comp. and lyrics by John Blockley, undated

Piano, voice. Published by Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston).

Item 7: "The New Nixen Polka," comp. C. Bierwerth, 1869

Piano. Published by Lyon & Healy.

Item 8: "The Magic Spell: romance for the piano," comp. Francis H. Brown, 1866

Piano. Published by Wm. Hall & Son (New York).

Item 9: "Break it gently to my mother: song and chorus," comp. Fred. Buckley, lyrics by Mary A. Griffith, 1863

Piano, voice. Published by Henry Tolman & Co. (Boston).

Item 10: "When you and I were young, Maggie," comp. J.A. Butterfield, lyrics by Geo. W. Johnson, 1866

Piano, voice. Published by Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston).

Item 11: "See the pale moon = guarda che bianca luna: duet" (from Select Vocal Duets by Various Authors), comp. and lyrics by F. Campana, trans. G.W. Lewis, 1869

Piano, voice. Published by Bollman & Schatzman (St. Louis).

Item 12: "Stars of the night shire o'er us = madre del sommo amore: terzettino for Soprano, Tenor and Bass," comp. and lyrics by Campana, 1866

Piano, voice. Published by Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston).

Item 13: "I cannot sing the old songs" (from The songs of Mademoisele Parepa as sung by her at the Bateman Concerts (in America)), comp. and lyrics by Claribel, 1865

Piano, voice. Published by 1865

Item 14: "We've drunk from the same canteen," comp. James G. Clark, lyrics by Miles O' Riley, 1865

Piano, voice. Published by Wm. A. Pond & Co. (New York).

Item 15: "Footsteps on the stairs: song and chorus," comp. J.A. Butterfield, lyrics by Dexter Smith, 1868

Piano, voice. Published by Lyon & Healy.

Item 16: "Beatrix: scene et air," comp. J. Concone, lyrics by M. Belanger, trans. M.E. Walsh, undated

Piano, voice. Published by John Church & Co. (Cincinnati).

Item 17: "Sweet Maud," comp. J.A. Butterfield, lyrics by Have Hanson, 1869

Piano, voice. Published by Lyon & Healy.

Item 18: "I dreamt I was in Heaven: Naaman" (from Beauties of Naaman), comp. and lyrics by M. Costa, undated

Piano, voice. Published by Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston).

Item 19: "My woodland home: ballad," comp. and lyrics by Mrs. L.L. Deming, 1854

Piano, voice. Published by Webb, Peters & Co. (Louisville).

Item 20: "Poor though my cot may be: in questa simplice" (from Stray Leaves from the Opera), comp. and lyrics by Donizetti, trans. Charles Jeffery, 1866

Piano, voice. Published by Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston).

Item 21: "Rosalie," comp. Jules Egghard, undated

Piano. Published by Lyon & Healy.

Item 22: "Helter Skelter = uber stock und stein: Galop," comp. Carl Faust, undated

Piano. Published by Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston).

Item 23: "Martha, Overture to Flotow's Opera" (from Overtures to the Principal Operas for piano-forte), comp. Flotow, undated

Piano. Published by Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston).

Item 24: "The Battle of Sebastopol" (from Modern Authors. A Collection of choice piano pieces), comp. Chas. W. Glover, undated

Piano. Published by Wm. Hall & Son (New York).

Item 25: "Home, sweet home" (from Pianist's Folio: A Collection of brilliant pieces by the best composers), comp. J. Egghard, undated

Piano. Published by Lyon & Healy.

Item 26: "Your Mission: song," comp. and lyrics by S.M. Grannis, 1862

Piano, voice. Published by S. Brainard & Co. (Cleveland).

Item 27: "I am lonely to night," comp. and lyrics by G.W.H. Griffin, 1863

Piano, voice. Published by Wm. A. Pond & Co. (New York).

Item 28: "The Flag of Our Union: arranged with brilliant variations," comp. W.V. Wallace, arr. Charles Grobe, 1861

Piano. Published by Wm. Hall & Son (New York).

Item 29: "Willie we have missed you: with variations" (from Piano-forte boudoir), comp. Charles Grobe, 1867

Piano. Published by Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston).

Item 30: "The Independent Quadrille" (from Repertoire of Popular Dance Music), comp. Jacques, undated

Piano. Published by Lyon & Healy.

Item 31: "Driven from home: song & chorus with guitar accompaniment" (from Will. S. Hays' Guitar Songs), comp. and lyrics by Will. S. Hays, 1868

Guitar, voice. Published by J.L. Peters (New York).

Item 32: "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh: a beautiful ballad," comp. and lyrics by Will. S. Hays, 1862

Piano, voice. Published by D.P. Faulds & Co. (Louisville).

Item 33: "Singing in the Rain," comp. Mrs. W.D. Hillis, lyrics by Florence Percy, 1869

Piano, voice. Published by Lyon & Healy.

Item 34: "The Piquant Beauty: Mazurka Elegante," comp. Edward Hoffman, 1869

Piano. Published by Lyon & Healy.

Item 35: "Sorrente: Mazurka Elegante," comp. J.J. Masset, arr. E. Ketterer, undated

Piano. Published by Wm. A. Pond & Co. (New York).

Item 36: "Lotta's Favorite Polka" (from Lotta's Favorites), comp. Charles Kinkel, 1867

Piano. Published by J.L. Peters (New York).

Item 37: "The tear = die thräne" (from Songs & Duets by Fr. Kücken with German and English words; no. 18), comp. and lyrics by Fr. Kücken, 1868

Piano, voice. Published by G. Andre & Co. (Philadelphia).

Item 38: "When Johnny comes marching home," comp. and lyrics by Louis Lambert, 1863

Piano, voice. Published by Henry Tolman & Co. (Boston).

Item 38, cop. 2: "When Johnny comes marching home," comp. and lyrics by Louis Lambert, 1863

Piano, voice. Published by Henry Tolman & Co. (Boston).

Item 39: "Evening Bells = Abendläuten: tonstück," comp. Gustav Lange, undated

Piano. Published by Lyon & Healy.

Item 40: "Pure as snow = Edelweiss: Idylle," comp. Gustav Lange, undated

Piano. Published by Cory Bros. (Providence, RI).

Item 41: "Queen of the Greenwood tree," comp. and lyrics by Alexander Lee, undated

Piano, voice. Published by G.W. Brainard & Co. (Louisville).

Item 42: "Sixième Nocturne," comp. J. Leybach, undated

Piano. Published by Lyon & Healy.