Data for Binders' Volumes and the Culture of Music Collectorship in the United States, 1830-1870

Abstract

Dissertation abstract: The creation of binders' volumes of sheet music in nineteenth-century America coexisted with other collecting traditions, such as the production of scrapbooks and keepsake albums. The individual pieces of music included in these books were sometimes hand-copied but more often were mass-produced. Despite this commercial aspect, the music was acquired in a variety of ways and represented meaningful personal relationships and events in collectors' lives. Illustrated title pages on some of the music served as vibrant pictorial souvenirs of the age. In this dissertation, various types of evidence, including newspaper advertisements, letters, diaries, and handwritten inscriptions on music found in binders' volumes in the Library of Congress, demonstrate the value ascribed to acquiring sheet music and assembling it into binders' volumes in the nineteenth century. These volumes embody repertories performed both in the parlor and public spaces; at the same time, they held personal significance for their owners as cherished physical objects. As collectors aged and looked back on their volumes, they became sentimental relics that could evoke memories of the past. In examining the motivations behind the inclusion of music in binders' volumes, our understanding of popular and middlebrow music in the nineteenth century can be broadened beyond study of individual pieces and their composers to encompass the role of commercial enterprises and individuals who engaged in music-making.