Scope and Contents
Series II includes sheet music and songbooks related to blackface minstrelsy and performance. Very often, the sheet music in this series is not complete, but are only covers that were collected for the images of the performers. This series also includes other materials such as photomechanical copies of playbills and broadsides, clippings with images and biographical text, some complete sheet music, programs, manuscripts, and drawings. Materials in this series might be identified by the songwriter’s full name and song title, others are grouped alphabetically by the surname of the songwriter.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1833-1906
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
Some of this series is restricted (materials in boxes 1-5): fragile; use surrogate. For access to original consult curatorial staff.
Extent
21.54 linear feet (52 boxes and 147 folders)Arrangement
Arranged in a single alphabetical run based on the songwriter’s surname.
Processing Information
The materials in this series were originally included in MS Thr 556, MS Thr 730, and TCS 82.
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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