Houghton Library Blog

In the aughts and teens of the 20th century, a few female vaudeville performers, British and American, had great success with male impersonation acts. In performance, they sang romantic love songs (as boys or young men), comic songs and bragging songs. Here are a few examples of their songs as published sheet music. Florence (or Read More

The Historical Sheet Music Collections have plenty of love songs – songs about flirting, courtship and weddings. But there are also songwriters who understand the opposite end of the romance spectrum, from the perspectives of the ones done wrong. Here are six amusing examples just in time for Valentine’s Day. Never introduce your bloke, to Read More

In honor of Black History Month, here are some pieces from the Historical Sheet Music Collections of 19th and 20th century music celebrating the work of Harry Davis, Bob Cole, J. Rosamond Johnson, Jerry Mills and Lottie Grady. Images of African American composers and performers in 18th, 19th and early 20th century sheet music were Read More

Have you ever had an “earworm”, a song stuck in your head? From the Historical Sheet Music Collections, here are some funny takes on show business’ response to the omnipresent songs of the day. The Merry Widow was a popular operetta composed by Franz Lehár, and in 1907 the public’s craze for the music, especially Read More

SHEET MUSIC 159 (O) Sheet music was often marketed by association with popular vaudeville, Broadway or movie stars. This tune from 1917, Hawaiian Butterfly, was published by Leopold Feist with at least eleven different vaudeville stars and teams pictured in the cover inset. The graphics and text are the same, as is the publisher’s plate Read More