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Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1870-1885

single file for printing

Music for the Nation, 1870-1885, contains thousands of pieces of post-Civil War era sheet music. The music includes popular songs, compositions for piano, band and orchestra, choral music, solo instrumental music, method books, and instructional materials. The collection provides a unique window into American music and how it defined and was defined by its time in history.

A Decade of Music in America, 1870-79
In Performance -- Choral Works from the Collection

Development of the Industrial United States, 1876-1915

An American Ballroom Companion: ca. 1490-1920
The American Variety Stage, 1870-1920
Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920

About the Collection
Read More About It! - A bibliography

Search for sheet music using the keyword search, or by selecting from the Author Index, Subject Index, or Title Index. For help with search words, go to the Synonym List.

For help with search strategies, see Finding Items in American Memory.

No special viewers are needed to see the page images in this collection. However, to read images with smaller text, one will need to choose the option to view the image in TIFF form. TIFF images are also recommended for those who wish to print hard copies of the sheet music. A special player is required to listen to the recordings of In Performance -- Choral Works from the Collection . For help with players, go to American Memory Viewer Information.

1) War Stories: Memories of the Civil War in Song

"Little Joe"

Additional songs about the Civil War can be found by searching on words such as regiment and funeral. A look at the influence of Civil War music on contemporary songwriters is available in the first section of the Special Presentation, "A Decade of Music in America, 1870-1879", entitled "A New Generation of Songwriters".

2) Slavery on the Stage: Minstrel Depictions of the End of Slavery

African-American communities emphasized their first decade of freedom with celebrations such as "Juneteenth," but traveling minstrel troupes reflected larger social and political sentiments with an emphasis on the nostalgic side of slavery. Songs such as "Slavery Days" and "Goin' from de cotton fields" feature singers longing for the days of the abolished institution. Similar songs can be found by searching on slavery, plantation, massa, Dixie, and South. Although many of these songs reflect the popular sentiments of minstrel performers and their audiences, they are never tempered by more sobering responses to the end of slavery in the Reconstruction era as evidenced by the creation of Freedmen's Bureaus and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Possible questions for students include:

• What aspects of slavery are celebrated in these songs?
• Who were these minstrels and who was their audience?
• What is the appeal of these songs to both groups?
• What was the role and value of these songs in Reconstruction era America?

3) African-American Songwriters

As minstrelsy gained popularity, some African-American performers formed their own "authentic" troupes and a few even wrote their own material. One of the most prominent African-American composers of the era was James A. Bland. He penned pieces such as "Carry me back to old Virginny" and "Dem Golden Slippers." Other major African-American songwriters featured in this collection include Sam Lucas, who wrote "Carve dat Possum" and "De day I as sot free". Some possible questions for students include the following: What attitudes towards slavery and race are portrayed in these songs? How do these songs compare with minstrel tunes by white songwriters? How do these songs compare with spirituals and jubilee songs that date back to the days of slavery?

"Carve dat Possum"

4) The Depiction of Ethnic Groups

"The Coolie Chinee"

While these songs were popular, depictions of Asian immigrants were not as common as songs about African-Americans and other European immigrants. In fact, ethnic groups were primarily represented in song by comic and romantic pieces about Irish and German immigrants who entered America prior to the 1870s. Laments for the nations immigrants left behind are described in songs such as "German immigrants' song of home" and "I'll take you home again, Kathleen" (an audio clip is available in the section, "In Performance--Choral Works from the Collection").

Comic and patriotic national songs about various ethnicities are available by searching on Irish, German, Italy, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, Scotland, Russia, Wales, and Chinese while a search on Indian reveals only two instrumentals referring to Native Americans: "An Indian Tale" and "Indian corn dance." The depiction of ethnicity in these songs is discussed in greater detail in the "Ethnic Groups and Popular Songs" section of "A Decade of Music in America, 1870-79". Some possible questions for students include:

• How are ethnic groups depicted in these songs?
• What characteristics and events do songwriters focus on?
• Why might immigrants be most often represented in comic and romantic songs?
• Why are German and Irish immigrants discussed most often?

5) Inventions

As the influx of immigrants changed the face of America in the late nineteenth century, technological innovations changed the nation's landscape. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. He invented the electric lightbulb two years later.

Telephone Waltz

These and other new devices such as the telephone and telegraph were demonstrated at national expositions and imitated and celebrated in a variety of song styles. Instrumental works such as "Railroad galop" simulated the sound of a steam engine while a polka entitled "Electric Sparks" was inspired by the telephone. Waltzes, gallops, polkas, and marches are just some of the musical styles found by searching on railroad, electricity, telegraph, or telephone. Students can discuss how these inventions lent themselves to musical imitation.

6) Urbanization, Industrialization, and the World of Work

The years between 1870 and 1885 were a period of rapid urbanization. A search on terms such as city, New York City, or even Brooklyn, yield hundreds of songs about city life in the late nineteenth century.

"The mill's shut down"

Songs about labor strife, on the other hand, are available with a search on strike. "The Workers' anvil" leads the call for a strike "for the cause of labor, strike for your homes and freedom." Billy Pastor writes in "Eight hour strike," "Capital never such a victory saw, as the workmen will win in an eight-hour law."

Labor protest wasn't the only problem plaguing cities. Urban areas had to deal with crimes like those depicted in "Three cheers for our city's defenders!," the disparity of economic classes described in "Give bread to the poor," and poverty as depicted in "Poverty's child" and "Shivering and shaking out in the cold"--which is also available as an audio clip. Search on poor, poverty, crime, temperance, drink, beg, and begging for more evidence of social troubles in the city.

7) Women in Society

Women's suffrage and early strains of the feminist movement began in the 1880s. One example of the increased social awareness of women is available with a search on vote and the listing of a song, "Shall women vote." Another example is "Daughters of Freedom! The Ballot be yours" which includes an audio clip recorded by the Music for the Nation Singers from the section, "In Performance--Choral Works from the Collection".

Women weren't yet represented by the ballot but they were an integral part of the city life depicted by the songwriters. For example, "Riding on the Elevated Railroad" exclaims,

The two women may be different in a number of ways but both are at work in the busy city.

Chronological Thinking: Presidential Campaigns

Campaign songs were used throughout the presidential elections of the 1870s but their popularity took off during the 1880s. In fact, there are more songs for any one major-party candidate in the 1880 or 1884 election than all of the songs about the four candidates in the 1870s combined. With searches on presidential campaign and election, students can put together a timeline of candidates hoping to become president and determine ways in which the public viewed them.

For example, George Leithead's 1884 "Campaign Song No. 1" assesses the two candidates:

Historical Comprehension: Ulysses S. Grant

The Wedding March of Nellie Grant

"He's a gallant hero, And noble statesman too, He's safely brought our ship of State, The darkest dangers through, Let ev'ry brave and true man, Join our loyal band, 'Till loud resounds the victory, From mountain vale, and strand."

In addition to pieces about Grant's candidacy, songwriters wrote works about his policies and the White House wedding of his daughter, Nellie Grant. A search on hero produces a number of songs commemorating Grant's death. Students can examine these works to get a better understanding of Grant's achievements and his role as a celebrated public figure.

Historical Analysis and Interpretation: Minstrel Songs

"Dem Golden Slippers."

• Who wrote songs that were nostalgic for slavery?
• Why were they popular?
• How do they differ from songs written during the era of slavery?
• Would the audience be able to distinguish between the two?
• What is the effect of presenting these two types of songs in a single program?

Historical Issue Analysis and Decision-Making: Temperance

The collection offers a number of songs reflecting the social concern over the potential dangers of alcohol. These songs are generally either militant or sentimental in tone. While songs such as The Temperance Army demonstrate the movement as a religious cause, others such as The Drunkard's Daughter reflect the social problems caused by the use and abuse of alcohol from its first verse:

Even songs from a search on drinking songs acknowledge the problems of excess. For example, I'm All Broke Up To Day ends with the pledge:

Students can examine how such concerns led to social change and foreshadowed the era of Prohibition. Additional searches on temperance, drunkard, and poor offer more details of alcohol as a social problem. Students can determine the value of temperance (and, subsequently, prohibition) and use these materials as a resource for an expository essay or discussion.

The women's suffrage movement was beginning to take hold in the late nineteenth century but there are a number of different depictions of women throughout this collection of songs. Various roles of women appear in songs such as "Oh! Woman, sweet woman", "Lovely woman, comic song", and "The talking woman." Students might examine a number of these descriptions and compare them to songs representing the women's suffrage movement such as "Daughters of Freedom! The Ballot be yours." Such comparisons are available with searches on vote and suffrage.

Declaration and protest of the women of the United States

The subject matter and lyrics in Music for the Nation, American Sheet Music, 1870-1885 provide a number of opportunities for students to analyze the material or attempt to replicate the styles themselves. Songs in this collection can be used to introduce and discuss poetic devices, the expectations writers have of their intended audiences, first-person narratives and their use of dialect for comic effect, and familiar imagery in ballads and folklore. They also provide opportunities for creative writing.

Out of the Flames

Students can identify the techniques used to create such imagery and try their hand at commemorating an important event in the life of their own community. More songs based on specific historical events are available in the Music for Public Occasions section of "A Decade of Music in America, 1870-79."

Songs and Autobiography: Perspectives on the Civil War

Ballads commemorating Civil War soldiers' actions such as A Knot of Blue and Grey can be compared to autobiographical works in some of the Library's other collections. Students can discuss the ways in which autobiography might not be the most historically accurate form of narrative while examining the war imagery of songs and the more mundane descriptions in works such as Leon Louis' Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier might serve for an interesting contrast in genres. Questions to keep in mind include:

• What is intended goal of a songwriter?
• How does that compare to the writer of a diary or journal?
• Who are the intended audiences?
• How does this explain the difference between the two accounts?

Humor: Narration and Word Play

The U.S. Mail

"I'se Jake Von Kroot, goes about takes dem letters for de girls I knows; Books and tracts, pills for quacks, love lines for de beaux. I fear not der vinds and snows, drinks good beer und wear good clothes, At de girls sheep's eyes I trows, As I goes mit der mail!"

Good sweet ham, on the other hand, presents an African-American figure (probably portrayed on the stage by a minstrel) literally singing the praises of ham:

"You may talk about good eating, Of your oysters and your chowdered clam, But it's when I'm awful hungry, Then just give me good old sweet ham; Now some folks may differ with me, But their talk 'tis nothing but a sham, For to touch this darkie's palate, Oh! Just give me good old sweet ham."

Grandfather's Clock

"My grandfather said that of those he could hire, Not a servant so faithful he found; For it wasted no time, and had but one desire-At the close of each week to be wound. And it kept in its place-not a frown upon its face, And its hands never hung by its side;"

After searching on comic or examining the section Ethnic Groups and Popular Songs, students can identify the different techniques in such songs and write their own account of a favorite object or personal narrative.

Ballads, Folk Tales, and Nursery Rhymes

Ballads and folk tales are also featured in this collection. The Fox and the Crow presents a traditional story:

"One day a silly Crow Sat high among the trees, And held, within her bill, A dainty piece of cheese. Attracted by the same, A sly fox came a along, And to Miss Crow, at once, Politely sang this song...."

A Knight's love offers a tale of two lovers in ballad form: "They plighted their faith in the bower of love, And the parting word is spoken; Oh! Who could have deemed that so firm an oath Would be so lightly broken...." Students can discuss the way in which these songs fit into familiar patterns and prepare the audience for what to expect. Students might also look at these songs as well as a version of the nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill and compare them to the traditional folk tales recorded in the Library's collection, American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940.

Creative Writing

Gus Williams offers a starting point for brainstorming and creative writing in his song, The Crazy Quilt:

..."And suddenly I said That I would make a crazy quilt, But not for any bed; Instead of silk I would use scenes That happen ev'ry day, And so I put my wits to work, And this is my display:.... I'd have conductors on the train, And station agents, too, Reply to all your questions With civility in view; While newsboys, with their trashy wares, I'd bind and gag at sight, So that the travelers all would say I did exactly right. The cats that warble on the fence, The tramp dogs in the street, I'd have old Bergh transform them all and make them sausage meat...."

Students can use songs such as this and other songs, such as George Kimball's A Day dream, as a catalyst for their own poems or lyrics. Emphasis can be placed on rhyme scheme and word play.