Historic Treasure of the Week - August 8, 1982
By Dorothy W. Jerse
Curator, Vigo County Historical Society
Historic Treasure of the Week - August 8, 1982
By Dorothy W. Jerse
Curator, Vigo County Historical Society
One of the more entertaining treasures of the Vigo County Historical Society is the sheet music collection.
Although the popularity of most of the songs faded away long ago, the covers of the sheet music depict the costumes, fads and fancies of the age in which they were written. Therefore, the cover is often more important to a museum collection than the music.
The words of such ballads as "Clover Blossoms," a song published in 1906 and shown above, is typical of the serious, sentimental themes of the turn-of-the-century period. Home, love and motherhood were cherished and remembered. The words of the chorus of this song follow.
"Clover blossoms, clover blossoms, Bathing in the pale moonlight. Fill my heart with tender longing For that dear old home tonight. Oft I ponder why I wander, From the scenes so pure and bright, And the little girl who's waiting In the field of red and white."
The pictured copy of "Farewell" (Aloha Ae) was published in 1912 as a feature of Morosco's production, "The Bird of Paradise." Written by Hawaiian Queen Liluokalani, it was once played on our mainland in 1883. The music and words remain the same, but the cover picture shows a Hawaiian beauty, "1912 style."
The still popular "Casey Jones" was published in 1909 and was advertised as "the only comedy railroad song." The first verses are hardly comical but the final verse tells us that Mrs. Casey Jones instructed her children to hush their crying because they had "another papa on the Salt Lake Line."
A number of donors have contributed these nostalgic collectibles to the Society and the museum staff works to preserve the inexpensive paper on which the songs were printed. Earlier this year members of Sigma Alpha Iota provided funds to purchase encapsulation material to protect each copy from further deterioration and this project is nearing completion.
A sampling of the sheet music collection is currently on display in the Altrusa cases at the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 South Sixth Street. Open hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday through Friday.