History of the Collection

The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music consists of over 29,000 pieces of American popular music. The collection spans the years 1780 to 1980, but its strength is its throrough documentation of nineteenth-century America through popular music. The collection is especially strong in music spawned by military conflicts from the War of 1812 through World War I, and minstrel music is also well-represented. Other topics include music about the circus; dance; drinking, temperance, and smoking; fraternal orders; presidents; romantic and sentimental songs; schools and colleges; and transportation. For a full description of the 38 topical categories in which the collection is arranged, see The Guide to the Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music.

Lester Levy assembled this collection over a 55-year period. In addition to the sheet music, he collected early songsters and a music reference collection which are part of Special Collections at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library of The Johns Hopkins University. The songsters and reference collection are cataloged on Horizon, the Eisenhower Library's online catalog. Mr. Levy used his collection for his own research, and it is the basis of his four books: Grace Notes in American History: Popular Sheet Music from 1820–1900 (1967); Flashes of Merriment: A Century of Humorous Songs in America (1971); Give Me Yesterday: American History in Song, 1890–1920 (1975); and Picture the Songs: Lithographs from the Sheet Music of Nineteenth-Century America (1976).