Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Context Files: Indiana Sheet Music on line

What were your ancestors singing?

Four institutions have partnered to produce the web site IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana, with about 10,000 items of sheet music from 1800 to 1990. Indiana University's Lilly Library, the Indiana State Library, the Indiana Historical Society, and the Indiana State Museum between them hold close to 200,000 pieces of sheet music. The items on line are searchable and browseable. For the decade 1820-1829 there are seven items, and for the decate 1910-1919 there are over 5,000. Selections include "Ah Grammachree Molly" from 200 years ago to the "11th Indiana Quickstep" from 1863. The title refers to a military unit, not to ten previous iterations of the dance.

Hat tip to the University of Wisconsin's Scout Report.

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