Historic Sheet Music Collection
The Historic Sheet Music Collection (HSMC) consists primarily of popular music of the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. Although most of the music is composed or arranged for voice with piano accompaniment, some pieces incorporate other instruments such as guitar, and some are for instrumental solo (primarily piano or guitar). A few classical works are also included in the collection.
Sheet music can offer an interesting interdisciplinary research opportunity. The lyrics, cover art, and advertisements open a window on the society and culture of the time. Subjects range from popular love songs to laments to humorous ditties - and everything else in between. Many songs reflect on the U.S. Civil War, World War I, and World War II. There is even a song about Wheaties in the collection.
Submissions from 1916
I'm Down in Honolulu: Looking them Over, Irving Be Berlin
I've Lost You So Why Should I Care, Richard Howard
Mammy's Little Coal Black Rose, Raymond Egan and Richard A. Whiting
Mother Dear, Mana-Zucca and Mabel Livingstone
My Castle in the Air, Jerome Kern and P.G. Wodehouse
My Melancholy Baby: Fox-trot Ballad with Ukulele Arrangement, Ernie Burnett and George A. Norton
Poor Butterfly, John L. Golden and Raymond Hubbell
Pozzo, Vincent Rose
Roses of Picardy, Frederic Edward Weatherly and Haydn Wood
She is the Sunshine of Virginia, Ballard Macdonald and Harry Carroll
Since Mary Ann McCue Came Back From Honolu, Harry Von Tilzer
Since We Parted, Frances Allitsen and Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton
That Girl of Mine, Will A. Dillon, Harry Tobias, and Arthur Lange
The Laddies Who Fought and Won, Harry Lauder
There's A Quaker Down in Quaker Town, David Berg and Alfred Solman
There's a Quaker down in Quaker Town, David Berg and Alfred Solman
There's a Quaker Down in Quaker Town, David Berg and Alfred Solman
There's Someone More Lonesome Than You, Lou Klein and Harry Von Tilzer
Trail To Sunset Valley, Louis Wolfe Gilbert and Lewis F. Muir
Turn Back the Universe and Give Me Yesterday, Ernest R. Ball and J. Keirn Brennan
Where the Rippling Waters Flow, Frederic V. Bowers
Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula, Ray Goetz, Joe Young, and Pete Wendling
You're A Dangerous Girl, Grant Clarke and Jimmie Monaco
You Said Something, P. G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, and Jerome Kern
Submissions from 1915
Are You From Dixie?, Jack Yellen and George L. Cobb
Are You from Dixie? ('Cause I'm from Dixie Too), Jack Yellen and George L. Cobb
Auf Wiedersehn, Herbert Reynolds and Sigmund Romberg
Babes In The Wood, Jerome Kern, Schuyler Greene, and Malcolm A. Strauss
Circus Day in Dixie, Jack Yellen and Albert Gumble
Down Among the Sheltered Palms, James Brockman and Abe Olman
Down in Bom-Bombay, Ballard Macdonald and Harry Carroll
Down in Bom-Bombay, Ballard MacDonald and Harry Carroll
Drifting Apart, William parquet and E. Clinton Keithley
Good Bye Virginia, Jean Schwartz and Grant Clarke
He Comes Up Smiling, Grant Clarke and Charles Bayha
I Bring You Heartsease, Gena Branscombe
I Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier, Al Piantadosi
I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier, Al Piantadosi and Alfred Bryan
If We Can't Be the Same Old Sweethearts We'll Just Be the Same Old Friends, James V. Monaco and Joseph McCarthy
If You Can't Get A Girl In The Summertime, Bert Kalmar and Harry Tierney
I'm a Lonesome Melody, George W. Meyer and Joe Young
In Blinky Winky Chinky Chinatown, Jean Schwartz and William Jerome
Is There Still Room for Me Neath the Old Apple Tree, Maurice Abrahams, Edgar Leslie, and Lew Brown
It's Tulip Time in Holland: Two Lips Are Calling Me, Richard A. Whiting and Dave Radford
I Wish I Was an Island in an Ocean of Girls, Henry Blossom and Victor Herbert
I Wish I Was an Island in an Ocean of Girls, Victor Herbert
Jane, Halsey K. Mohr and André C. De Takacs
Just Try to Picture Me Back Home in Tennessee, Walter Donaldson and William Jerome
Just Try to Picture Me Back Home in Tennessee, Walter Donaldson and William Jerome
Just Try to Picture me Back Home in Tennessee, Walter Donaldson and William Jerome
Keep the Home-Fires Burning ('Till the Boys Come Home), Lena Guilbert Ford and Ivor Novello
Kiss Me Again, Victor Herbert and Henry Blossom
Laddie in Khaki, Ivor Novello
Little Grey Mother Who Waits All Alone, The, Bernard Grossman and Harry DeCosta
Memories, Gustave Kahn and Egbert Van Alstyne
Memories, Egbert Van Alstyne and Gustave Kahn
M-O-T-H-E-R, Howard Johnson and Theodore Morse
M-O-T-H-E-R, Theodore F. Morse and Howard E. Johnson
My Little Dream Girl, Louis Wolfe Gilbert and Anatol Friedland
My Little Girl, Albert Von Tilzer, William A. Dillon, and Sam M. Lewis
Neapolitan Love Song, Henry Blossom and Victor Herbert
Newtown's Live Wire March, C.W. Irving
Norway, the Land of the Midnight Sun, Fred Fisher and Joseph McCarthy
Put Me to Sleep With an Old Fashioned Melody, Sam M. Lewis, Dick Howard, and Harry Jentes
Ragging the Scale, Edward B. Claypoole
She's the Daughter of Mother Machree, Ernest R. Ball and Jeff T. Nenarb
Sunshine of Your Smile, The, Leonard Cooke and Lilian Ray
That Dear Old Mother Of Mine, Richard W. Pascoe, Hans Von Holstein, and Alma M. Sanders
That Hula Hula, Irving Berlin
The Little House Upon The Hill, Ballard Macdonald, Joe Goodwin, and Harry Puck
There's a Long, Long Trail, Stoddard King and Zo Elliott
There's A Long, Long Trail, Stoddard King and Zo Elliot
Wedding of the Sunshine and the Rose, Albert Gumble
We'll Never Let Our Old Flag Fall, M. F. Kelly
What a Wonderful Mother You'd Be, Al Piantadosi and Joe Goodwin
What's the Use of Going Home, Jimmie Monaco
When I Leave the World Behind, Irving Berlin
When I Leave the World Behind, Irving Berlin
When It's Orange Blossom Time In Loveland I'll Be Waiting at the Church For You, Jeff Branen and Arthur Lange
Whoa! Nellie! Stop Rag, George Gould
Why, Hello! Dear, Estelle B. Stillman
You’d Never Know That Old Town Of Mine, Howard Johnson and Walter Donaldson
Submissions from 1914
A Hundred Years from Now, Carrie Jacobs-Bond and John Bennett
A Little Bit of Heaven Shure They Call it Ireland, Ernest R. Ball and J. Keirn Brennan
Along Came Ruth, Irving Berlin
Aunty's Jubilee, Charles B. Weston
Back to the Carolina You Love, Grant Clarke and Jean Schwartz
By the Waters of the Minnetonka, Thurlow Lieurance
Camp Meeting Band, Louise Wolfe Gilbert and Lewis F. Muir
Can't Yo' Heah Me Callin' Caroline, Caro Roma and William Henry Gardner
Cécile, Frank W. McKee
Coming Home, Charles Willeby and D. Eardley-Wilmot
Coming Home, Charles Willeby and D. Eardley-Wilmot
Dream On, My Princess, Rida Johnson Young and William Schroeder
Everybody Rag with Me, Gus Kahn and Grace Le Boy
Fair Hawaii, James Fulton Kutz and Leland Stanford Morgan
For Every Smile You Gave Me, You Caused a Thousand Tears, Jos. H. McKeon and Leo Bennet
Harmony Bay, Terry Sherman and Brandon J. Walsh
It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary, Jack Judge and Harry Williams
I Want to Go Back to Michigan (Down on the Farm), Irving Berlin