Thomas A. Edison Sheet Music Collection
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 3:55 am
The Library of Congress holds the Thomas A. Edison Sheet Music Collection. This collections contains about 13,000 items of American sheet music.
Here is an index to the collection.
http://microformguides.gale.com/Data/Do ... 49000A.pdf
Here is the collection's abstract:
"The collection consists chiefly of American sheet music published in the United States between the years 1830-1930. While a significant minority of the music in the collection is instrumental music, the vast majority is for voice and piano. Notable in this collection are imprints from California dating from before 1850, first editions by Irving Berlin and others, and many European imprints among the instrumental pieces. The collection occupies 444 linear ft. (148 containers, ca. 13,000 items)."
"The Edison sheet music collection (1830-1958, bulk 1890-1940) appears to be the music library of the recording division of Thomas A. Edison, Inc. and/or its predecessor, the National Phonograph Co. Its purpose is assumed to be to provide Edison's recording artists with music for recording sessions."
"Over 9,000 items (published prior to 1923) from the collection have been digitized and are available in the online collection Historic Sheet Music, 1800-1922 (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/ihas/html/ ... -home.html)."
"Restrictions apply concerning the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in this collection; consult a reference librarian in the Music Division for information concerning these restrictions."
Exploring this collection, I have found that P. D. items can be downloaded and saved as PDFs. It may be that some of these items already appear on IMSLP. Nevertheless, here is a rich resource of American sheet music in the public domain for IMSLP to explore. There are a huge number of "Classical" and "Semi-Classical" items among the many popular songs.
MS
Here is an index to the collection.
http://microformguides.gale.com/Data/Do ... 49000A.pdf
Here is the collection's abstract:
"The collection consists chiefly of American sheet music published in the United States between the years 1830-1930. While a significant minority of the music in the collection is instrumental music, the vast majority is for voice and piano. Notable in this collection are imprints from California dating from before 1850, first editions by Irving Berlin and others, and many European imprints among the instrumental pieces. The collection occupies 444 linear ft. (148 containers, ca. 13,000 items)."
"The Edison sheet music collection (1830-1958, bulk 1890-1940) appears to be the music library of the recording division of Thomas A. Edison, Inc. and/or its predecessor, the National Phonograph Co. Its purpose is assumed to be to provide Edison's recording artists with music for recording sessions."
"Over 9,000 items (published prior to 1923) from the collection have been digitized and are available in the online collection Historic Sheet Music, 1800-1922 (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/ihas/html/ ... -home.html)."
"Restrictions apply concerning the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in this collection; consult a reference librarian in the Music Division for information concerning these restrictions."
Exploring this collection, I have found that P. D. items can be downloaded and saved as PDFs. It may be that some of these items already appear on IMSLP. Nevertheless, here is a rich resource of American sheet music in the public domain for IMSLP to explore. There are a huge number of "Classical" and "Semi-Classical" items among the many popular songs.
MS