Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 31: Dialects and Foreign Songs

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0300.S31
Dates:
1847-1952
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
4 Boxes
Repository:
Sam DeVincent loved music and art and began collecting sheet music with lithographs at an early age. Series 31 contains materials documenting dialects and foreign songs. An overview to the entire DeVincent collection is available here: Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music.

Scope and Contents

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.

Administration

Author
Justine Thomas
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was purchased by the Smithsonian Institution in 1988 from Sam and Nancy Lee DeVincent.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Eva Buchanan, Katie DeFonzo, and Stephanie Haeg, interns, summer 2017; supervised by Vanessa Broussard Simmons, archivist.

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
The Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Materials in Others Organizations

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

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

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.

Archives Center, National Museum of American History
P.O. Box 37012
Suite 1100, MRC 601
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
archivescenter@si.edu