Scope and Contents

Includes material documenting the cultural values and popular attitudes toward different ethnicities in the United States. The bulk of the material dates from 1873 to 1924. The materials are arranged in alphabetical order by dialect in four boxes. The music is generally composed for piano and piano/vocal and includes Italian, German, Mexican, and Yiddish dialects. Other dialects of the series are French, Russian, Irish, and Cockney. Most of the songs are in English, depicting stereotypical attributes of each dialect. These subjects include families, religion, wealth, traveling, and cuisine. Most of the compositions are ragtime music as well as waltzes, two-steps, marches, and ballads. The illustrations in the series depict stereotypical images of individuals from different ethnic backgrounds.

Materials in Others Organizations

Sam DeVincent Collection of American Sheet Music, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

This collection contains duplicates of materials in the Smithsonian collection, as well as materials acquired by Mr. DeVincent after the donation to the Smithsonian. The phonograph records described above were transferred to the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Donald J. Stubblebine Collection of Musical Theater and Motion Picture Sheet Music and Reference Material, 1843-2010 (AC1211)

Forms Part of

Series 31: Dialects and Foreign Songs forms part of the Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music.

An ongoing, updated list of DeVincent topical series is available via the Smithsonian finding aid portal.