Additional Sheet Music Collections
In addition to the Lester Levy Collection, the Special Collections at Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries contain over 60 sheet music collections, including several bound volumes. Cataloging of these collections is in progress, and the below collections can be searched for song title, publisher, and contributors (composer, lyricist, arranger, etc.). Please contact us for digitization requests of any of these materials.
- Search Instructions
- The below listed collections can be searched or explored individually by clicking on the respective link. To search all of our non-Levy sheet music holdings at the same time, you can search on the home page of ASpace.
- You can search for a song by title, publisher, or contributor (composer, lyricist, arranger). Quotations are recommended for searches of more than one word (e.g. “Scott Joplin” or “Maple Leaf Rag”). Results displayed will not be limited to sheet music collections, but rather all of our special collections materials. Please contact us with any questions.
- The below listed collections can be searched or explored individually by clicking on the respective link. To search all of our non-Levy sheet music holdings at the same time, you can search on the home page of ASpace.
- Collections currently catalogued
- Assorted Sheet Music Collection
- This collection of approximately 1,000 works contains various popular songs from 1790-1971. Strengths include Yiddish music, songs inspired by Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and songs written by James Weldon Johnson.
- Sam Carner Sheet Music Collection
- Strong in works by African American composers and publishers. Other strengths include Yiddish songs, works published in Baltimore, and patriotic songs.
- Johns Hopkins Collection of Middle East-inspired sheet music
- This collection was amassed to document 19th and 20th century American fascination with the Middle East and Asia. The covers include various stereotypes and exoticized images of this geographic area.
- The covers of this collection have also been digitized and are available on JSTOR.
- Schanning Family Collection of Harry Kennedy Sheet Music
- This collection contains music published by or about Harry Kennedy, a ventriloquist, songwriter, and publisher (c. 1855-1894).
- Patti Chapin Sheet Music Collection
- This collection is mostly comprised of performance (artist) copies of popular songs from 1934-43 CBS radio sings Patti Chapin.
- Marian Walton Anderson Sheet Music Collection
- Particularly strong in works by E.T. Paull, John Philip Sousa, and songs published in Pennsylvania
- John C. French collection of sheet music based on the writings of Edgar Allan Poe
- Tabb Sheet Music Collection
- Keepers Sheet Music Collection
- Charles Miller Music Collection
- Amelia Kunkel Collection of Bound Volumes of Sheet Music
- John Carbonell Sheet Music Collection
- Cheryl Wagner Sheet Music Collection
- Assorted Sheet Music Collection
Resources at Other Institutions
- “Music for the Nation”, a collection of American sheet music at the Library of Congress
- Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920, a collection of digitized sheet music from the Duke University Library that is made available from the Library of Congress
- Sheet music collections at the Lilly Library of the Indiana University
- The Sheet Music Consortium is a shared, open collection of digitized sheet music hosted by the UCLA Digital Library Program
Books by Lester Levy
- Grace Notes in American History: Popular Sheet Music from 1820 to 1900
- Flashes of Merriment: a Century of Humorous Songs in America, 1805-1905
- Give me Yesterday: American History in Song, 1890-1920
- Picture the Songs: Lithographs from the Sheet Music of Nineteenth-century America
- The Lester Levy Papers contain a variety of Lester Levy's correspondence, speeches, printed material, and bills documenting his collecting practices between 1933 and 1983
Education
- An online course taught by curator Sam Bessen is available through Hopkins at Home.
- Blog posts by the curator can be found on the Sheridan Libraries blog.
- Sheridan Libraries LibGuide section on sheet music
- The Peabody Institute's anti-racist teaching and learning resources
Sheet Music History
- Duke University provides an excellent overview of sheet music history
- Kohn on Music Licensing includes a section on the art of music publishing, including a history of the major Tin Pan Alley publishers
- A video demonstration of sheet music engraving on metal plates
- A video demonstration of sheet music printing with movable type
- A video demonstration of the lithographic printing process presented by MoMA
- Early American Music Engraving and Printing (Richard J. Wolfe)