Sources for the Study of 19th and 20th Century Blackface Minstrelsy
Songsters
Songsters are little books of lyrics to popular songs, most dating from the late 18th century to the late 19th century. Many are associated with particular performers or composers, such as Dan Bryant or Harrigan and Hart. In Josiah, they may be found by searching for the subject “Songsters.” It is also possible to find them by publisher or by the name of a performer. Use the limit function to select for date or other criteria. In addition, it is useful to search the titles in the chapter references or bibliography in Robert Toll’s book Blacking Up. Most of the songsters are available on microfilm, and thus photocopies can be made at need.
See also:
» Songsters
Minstrel Plays or Skits
These include actual skits performed by professional minstrel troupes (primarily in the 19th century) and those intended for amateur performers (primarily in the 20th century). Search Josiah by publisher (author search), by playwright, or using the references in Blacking Up. Many of the plays are too fragile to photocopy, although some exist on microfilm or microfiche and can be copied from these sources.
See also:
» Plays
Sheet Music
Sheet music includes notation for single songs. Most of the titles associated with minstrelsy from 1826 to the late 19th century are in Josiah. Often the music has very interesting and illuminating illustrated covers and includes portraits of performers. Sheet music can be found in Josiah by title, by performer, by composer, and by a wide variety of subjects. “African-Americans–Songs and Music” will retrieve a great many pieces. In addition, there are many uncataloged pieces filed by title. References in Blacking Up are useful, as are songs cited in Sam Dennison’s Scandalize My Name. Photocopies of sheet music can easily be made. In addition, there are digitized copies of more than 1,300 pieces of African-American related sheet music on the web. See: Brown University African-American Sheet Music 1850-1920.
See also:
» Music
Searching for Blackface Minstrelsy in Josiah
| Publishers (also use as limit): | Musicians & playwrights (19th cent.): |
| Dick & Fitzgerald, pub. DeWitt, Robert M., pub. New York Popular Publishing Co. Brady, Frederic A., pub. Turner & Fisher, pub. Winch, A. pub. | Leavitt, Andrew J. Griffin, George W. H. Dumont, Frank Cutler, Frank Buckley, James Buckley, Frederick Buckley’s…….. White, Charles |
| Playwright (20th century): | Kaser, Arthur Leroy (use him for 20th century minstrelsy) |
| Subject headings for 19th century minstrelsy: | African-Americans Songs and Music African-American Plays (careful of the date) Minstrel Shows (limit by date) Minstrels (limit by date) |
Related Internet Resources
- African-American Sheet Music Digitizing Project
Brown University Library
Brown University Library Resources: Resource Guides to Subject Areas:
Orwig Music Library
Brown University Library Resources: Subject Collections
- American Culture and Society
Holdings in Special Collections - Race and Ethnicity Studies
Holdings in Special Collections
Other Internet Resources
- America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets
Library of Congress: American Memory - An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
Library of Congress American Memory - Archives of African American Music and Culture
Indiana University Library - Banjo Tablatures and Bluegrass Information
- California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties
Library of Congress American Memory - Center for Black Music Research
Columbia College Chicago - Center for Popular Music Research Special Collection Databases
Middle Tennessee State University - Dreams of the Past: 19th Century Color Lithographic Sheet Music
Brown University - Hispano Music and Culture of the Northern Rio Grande
Library of Congress American Memory - Historic American Sheet Music
Duke University
Library of Congress American Memory - The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection
Johns Hopkins University - Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music 1870-1885
Library of Congress American Memory - 19th Century California Sheet Music
University of California, Berkeley - The Red Hot Jazz Archive: A History of Jazz Before 1930
- Sheet Music Consortium (OAI)
UCLA Library - Sheet Music Index
Duke University Libraries - Song Sheets in Special Collections
Rutgers University Library - Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip
Library of Congress American Memory - Tom Morgan’s Jazz and Blues
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture
University of Virginia - ‘We’ll Sing to Abe our Song’: Sheet Music about Lincoln, Emancipation, and the Civil War
Library of Congress American Memory - William P. Gottlieb Photographs from the Golden Age of Jazz
Library of Congress American Memory
Essential References
Afro-American Poetry and Drama, 1760-1975. A guide to information sources.
Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1979.
American music before 1865 in print and on records : a biblio-discography /pref. by H. Wiley Hitchcock
New York: Institute for Studies in American Music, Dept. of Music, School of Performing Arts, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, [c1976].
American playwrights, 1880-1945 : a research and production sourcebook / edited by William W. Demastes
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, c1995.
Bordman, Gerald Martin
The Oxford companion to American theatre / Gerald Bordman, 3rd edition
New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Cambridge guide to American theatre / edited by Don B. Wilmeth and Tice L. Miller
Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
The Cambridge history of American theatre / edited by Don B. Wilmeth, Christopher Bigsby. 3 vols.
Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998-2000.
Damon, S. Foster
The negro in early American songsters
[n.p.] 1934
Note: dated, but useful.
De Charms, Desiree
Songs in collections; an index [by] Desiree de Charms & Paul F. Breed
Detroit Information Service [c1966].
Dennison, Sam
Scandalize my name: Black imagery in American popular music
New York: Garland Publishing, 1982.
Devine, George J.
American songsters 1806-1815
(M.A. Thesis)
Providence, R.I.: Brown University, 1940.
Dichter, Harry
Early American sheet music : its lure and its lore, 1768-1889 / by Harry Dichter and Elliott Shapiro ; including a directory of early American music publishers; illustrated
New York: R.R. Bowker Co., 1941.
Epstein, Dena J.
Sinful tunes and spirituals : Black folk music to the Civil War
Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, c1977.
Fuld, James J.
American popular music : (reference book) 1875-1950
Philadelphia: Musical Americana, c1955, 1956.
Gillespie, John
A bibliography of nineteenth-century American piano music, with location sources and composer biography-index / John Gillespie and Anna Gillespie
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984.
Goodfellow, William D.
SongCite : an index to popular songs.
New York: Garland, 1995.
Goodfellow, William D.
SongCite : an index to popular songs. Supplement 1
New York: Garland Pub., 1999.
Harwell, Richard Barksdale
Confederate music
Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1950.
Hatch, James Vernon
Black playwrights, 1823-1977: an annotated bibliography of plays/ compiled and edited by James V. Hatch
and Omanii Abdullah.
New York: Bowker, 1977.
Havlice, Patricia Pate
Popular song index
Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1975.
Havlice, Patricia Pate
Popular song index: first supplement
Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1978.
Havlice, Patricia Pate
Popular song index. Second supplement
Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1984.
Havlice, Patricia Pate
Popular song index. Third supplement
Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1989.
Heard, Priscilla S.
American music, 1698-1800: an annotated bibliography.
Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, Markham Press Fund, c1975.
Hixon, Donald L.
Music in early America: a bibliography of music in Evans.
Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1970.
Hoogerwerf, Frank W.
Confederate sheet-music imprints
Brooklyn, N.Y.: Institute for Studies in American Music, Conservatory of Music,
Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, c1984.
Hovland, Michael A.
Musical settings of American poetry : a bibliography
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1986.
Keller, Kate Van Winkle
The national tune index [microform] / compiled by Kate Van Winkle Keller and Carolyn Rabson
Microfiche ed
New York: University Music Editions, c1980.
Klamkin, Marian
Old sheet music: a pictorial history. Photos. by Charles Klamkin
New York: Hawthorn Books, c1975.
Krummel, Donald William
Bibliographical handbook of American music
Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, c1987.
Krummel, Donald William
Guide for dating early published music: a manual of bibliographical practice
Hackensack, N.J.: J. Boonin, 1974.
Larson, Carl F. W.
American regional theatre history to 1900: a bibliography / compiled by Carl F. W. Larson
Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1979.
Lax, Roger
The great song thesaurus / Roger Lax, Frederick Smith
2nd ed., updated and expanded
New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Levy, Lester S.
Grace notes in American history; popular sheet music from 1820-1900
Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967.
Levy, Lester S.
Picture the songs : lithographs from the sheet music of nineteenth-century America.
Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, c1976.
Library Company of Philadelphia
American song sheets, slip ballads, and poetical broadsides, 1850-1870; a catalogue of the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia by Edwin Wolf 2nd.
New York: Kraus Reprint Corp., 1963.
Lissauer, Robert
Lissauer’s encyclopedia of popular music in America: 1888 to the present
New York: Paragon House, 1991.
Lowens, Irving
A bibliography of songsters printed in America before 1821
Worcester, Mass.: American Antiquarian Society, 1976.
Martin, Edwin
Mud show: American tent circus life / photographs by Edwin Martin; essay by Don B. Wilmeth
Albuquerque, N.M.: University of New Mexico Press, c1988.
Metcalf, Frank J.
American psalmody; or, Titles of books containing tunes printed in America from 1721 to 1820. Compiled by Frank J. Metcalf. New introduction by Harry Eskew
New York: Da Capo Press, 1968.
Miles, William
Songs, odes, glees and ballads. A bibliography of American presidential campaign songsters
New York: Greenwood Press, 1990.
Moody, Richard
Dramas from the American theatre, 1762-1909.
Cleveland, Ohio: World Pub. Co., 1966.
Music printing and publishing / edited by D.W. Krummel and Stanley Sadie
New York: W.W. Norton, 1990.
The New Grove dictionary of American music / edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie; editorial coordinator Susan Feder
London: Macmillan Press Ltd.; New York : Grove’s Dictionaries of Music Inc., distributor, 1986.
The New York Public Library performing arts desk reference
New York: Macmillan, c1994.
Odell, George Clinton Densmore
Annals of the New York stage
New York: Columbia University Press, 1927-49.
Peters, Harry Twyford
America on stone; the other printmakers to the American people; a chronicle of American lithography
other than that of Currier & Ives, from its beginning, shortly before 1820, to the years when the commercial single-stone hand-colored lithograph disappeared from the American scene.
Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., c1931.
Peterson, Bernard L.
The African American theatre directory, 1816-1960 : a comprehensive guide to early Black theatre organizations, companies, theatres, and performing groups.
Foreword by Errol Hill.
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997.
Peterson, Bernard L., Jr.
A Century of Musicals in Black and White. An Encyclopedia of Musical Stage Works by, about, or Involving African Americans
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993.
Peterson, Bernard L., Jr.
Early Black American Playwrights and Dramatic Writers. A Biographical Directory and Catalog of Plays,
Films, and Broadcasting Scripts
New York: Greenwood Press, 1990.
Popular music, 1900-1919: an annotated guide to American popular songs, including introductory essay, lyricists and composers index, important performances index, chronological index, and list of publishers./ Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, editor
Detroit: Gale Research Inc., c1988.
Popular music, 1920-1979: a revised cumulation / Nat Shapiro and Bruce Pollock, editors
Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1985.
Popular music, 1980-1989: an annotated guide to American popular songs, including introductory essay, lyricists and composers index, important performances index, chronological index, awards index, and list of publishers / Bruce Pollock, editor, Revised cumulation.
Detroit: Gale Research Inc., c1995.
Rabson, Carolyn
The national tune index user’s guide : 18th-century secular music / Carolyn Rabson, Kate Van Winkle Keller ; [foreword by Irving Lowens ; introduction by Arthur F. Schrader]
New York: University Music Editions, 1980.
Resources of American music history : a directory of source materials from Colonial times to World War II; D. W. Krummel … [et al.]
Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, c1981.
Riis, Thomas Laurence.
More than just minstrel shows: the rise of Black musical theatre at the turn of the century
New York: Institute for Studies in American Music, Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, c1992.
Riis, Thomas Laurence.
Just before jazz: Black musical theater in New York, 1890-1915
Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, c1989.
Sampson, Henry T.
Blacks in blackface: a source book on early black musical shows
Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1980.
Sampson, Henry T.
The ghost walks : a chronological history of Blacks in show business, 1865-1910
Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1988.
Sears, Minnie Earl
Song index; an index to more than 12,000 songs in 177 song collections comprising 262 volumes, edited by Minnie Earl Sears, assisted by Phyllis Crawford
New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1926.
Sears, Minnie Earl
Song index. Supplement; an index to more than 7000 songs in 104 song collections, comprising 124 volumes, edited by Minnie Earl Sears, assisted by Phyliss Crawford. Preface by Isadore Gilbert Mudge.
New York: The H. W. Wilson company, 1934.
Shapiro, Nat
Popular music (Detroit, Mich.)
Detroit: Gale Research Co., c1974-
Note: An annotated index of American popular songs. Edited by Nat Shapiro, v. 1-6 (covering 1920-1969); Bruce Pollock, v. 7- (covering 1970- ). A revised cumulation, 1980-1989, supersedes v. 9 (1980)-14 (1989)
Sonneck, Oscar George Theodore
A bibliography of early secular American music (18th century). Rev. and enlarged by William Treat Upton. With a preface to the Da Capo edition by Irving Lowens.
New York: Da Capo Press, 1964.
Southern, Eileen
Biographical dictionary of Afro-American and African musicians.
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982.
Southern, Eileen
The music of black Americans: a history
3rd edition
New York: W.W. Norton, c1997.
Tatham, David
The lure of the striped pig; the illustration of popular music in America, 1820-1870
Barre, Mass.: Imprint Society, 1973.
Toll, Robert C.
Blacking up: the minstrel show in nineteenth century America
New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.
Wilmeth, Don B.
American and English popular entertainment: a guide to information sources/ Don B. Wilmeth; foreword by Brooks McNamara
Detroit: Gale Research Co., c1980.
Wilmeth, Don B.
The American stage to World War I : a guide to information sources
Detroit: Gale Research Co., c1978.
Wilmeth, Don B
Variety entertainment and outdoor amusements: a reference guide
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982.
Wolfe, Richard J.
Secular music in America, 1801-1825 : a bibliography / introd. by Carleton Sprague Smith
New York: The New York Public Library, 1964.
Woll, Allen L.
Dictionary of the Black theatre : Broadway, off-Broadway, and selected Harlem theatre
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983.
Images:
Buckley’s Ethiopian melodies
: published under the authority of James Buckley and Sons, proprietors and managers of Buckley’s New Orleans Serenaders, containing the genuine Buckley’s songs, as sung at their Opera House, 539 Broadway, New York, N.Y.: P.J. Cozans, [c1853] Harris Index no. 3206. Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays.
Christy’s plantation melodies, no. 3
. Published under the authority of Edwin P. Christy. Philadelphia; New York, [etc.]: Fisher & Brother, c1853. Harris Index no. 3220. Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays.