Introduction
The Early American Songsters, 1734-1820: An Index, is an index of all of the known songsters currently available. The index draws heavily from Irving Lowens' Bibliography of Songster Printed in America Before 1821 (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1976), for titles and other bibliograhical information. Lowens defines a songster "as a collection of three or more secular poems intended to be sung." Most of the songsters do not include music, although many contain references to the names of tunes to which the song could be sung. This publication comprises those songs published
from 1734 through 1820. Many of the songsters have been microfilmed or digitized, which made indexing much simpler, since the microfilms or digitized images are available through the Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800-Microform Edition, Early American Imprints, II., Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819 or the on-line Archive of Americana.
Sources
Lowens identified a total of 671 extant songsters. Of these 40 were listed as "No copy located". During my search I found
6 previously unknown songsters and 29 unknown "chapbooks" small, 8-page leaflets
with a few songs, I also identified one songster, as "British", not American; it
having been printed in York, UK, not New York. There is a total of 35304 songs in this publication, from
671 songsters. This includes all extant songsters published in America from 1734 through 1820.
Collection and Indexing Procedure
Several indexes were created from this data:
Source Index, with a listing of a Short Title, Title, Data Place (database or library from which data was collected), and Publisher;
Text Index for each song Title(t), First Line(fl), Alternate Title(at), Burden Text(bt), Refrain(r) and Theatre Work or Theatre(tw), where given.
Name Index for each Performer(pf), Author/Composer(a), where given.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my appreciation to the librarians at the holding libraries, listed below,
and to several fellow scholars who assisted in collecting data at their local libraries: in particular, David Hildebrand, of Severna Park, MD, and Elizabeth Snowdon, of Wyndmoor, PA, my daughter, Margaret Keller Dimock, of Concord, MA,and, of course, my wife and fellow researcher, Kate Van Winkle Keller. Particular acknowledgement should be given to the late Irving Lowens, who developed and published his ground-breaking Bibliography of Songsters Printed in America before 1821.
Bibliography
Lowens, Irving. A Bibliography of Songsters Printed in America Before 1821. Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1976.
Archive of Americana® Published by Readex, a division of NewsBank, Inc. http://www.readex.com/readex/ .
Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800 [Microform Edition]
http://www.readex.com/readex/
Contains virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America over a 160-year period
Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Showmaker [Microform Edition]
http://www.readex.com/readex/
Contains virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America over the first 20 years of the nineteenth century.
WorldCat® http://www.worldcat.org/
WorldCat is the world's largest network of library content and services. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to providing access to their resources on the Web, where most people start their search for information.
Holding Libraries:
American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA;
Bennington Museum, Bennington,
VT,
Boston Athenaeum, Boston, MA,
Boston Public Library, Boston, MA;
Brown University, Providence, RI;
Duke University, Durham, NC;
Essex Institute, Salem, MA
Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA;
Henry E, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA;
Library Company, Philadelphia, PA;
Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD;
Massachusetts Grand Lodge, F. & A.M., Boston, MA
New-York Historical Society,
New York, NY
New York Public Library, New York, NY,
New York State Library, Albany, NY;
Pennsylvania University, Philadelphia, PA;
Scottish Rite Supreme
Council, Washington, DC;
Trinity College, Hartford, CT;
University of
Michigan, William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, MI,
University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA;
University of Washington, Seattle, WA,
William and Mary College, Williamsburg, VA;
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Abbreviations
Abbreviations are used to identify similar fields or to improve clarity. Holding libraries are identified using the sigla developed for the National Union Catalog by the Library of Congress.
Fields:
(a) Author, Composer or Originator of Song
(at): Alternate Title of Song
(bt): Burden Text of Song
(fl): First Line of Song
(it): Indicated Tune of Song
(r): Refrain of Song
(t): Title of Song
Library Sigla:
CSmH: Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA
CtY: Yale University, Hartford, CT
DLC: Library of Congress, Washington, DC
DSC: Scottish Rite Supreme Council, Washington, DC
MSaE, Essex Institute, Salem, MA
MB: Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
MdHi: Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD
Mi-C, Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
MH: Harvard College, Cambridge, MA
MnU, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
MWA: American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA
N: New York State Library, Albany, NY
NHi, New-York Historical Society, New York, NY,
NN, New York Public Library, New York, NY
O: Bodleian Library, Oxford, England
PP, Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
PPL: Library Company of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
RPB: Brown University, Providence, RI
ViU: University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
VtBennM, Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT
ViW: William and Mary University, Williamsburg, VA
WaU, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Other Abbreviations:
AoA Archive of Americana [On-Line Subscription Database]
0/ Indicates that database/source was searched without success
NCL No Copy Located
WC WorldCat® [On-Line World Union Catalog]
Rdx,
Readex, a division of NewsBank, Inc
Created and published December 16, 2009
© 2009. Colonial Music Institute(tm)
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