Most of these pieces are of a romantic, sentimental nature, often with illustrated covers. Some have a gentle humor. They are arranged alphabetically within each decade and range in date from 1801 to 1966. Much, but not all, is vocal.

EARLY 19th CENTURY (ca. 2500 items)
Nearly two thousand of these sheets are listed in Richard J. Wolfe's bibliography, Secular Music in America (1801-1825), and of these about 200 pieces are unique. Among the bound volumes the rarest and most noteworthy are Carr's Music Journal and Musical Miscellany. There are complete copies of Vols. 1, 2 and 5 of the Musical Journa1. Another of the bound volumes contains early and rare material published by John Paff of New York at the beginning of the l9th century. The Journal of Musick was arranged and published by Madame Le Pelletier, Baltimore, 1810. New and Improved Method of Spanish Guitar is an exceptional guitar instruction book with illustrations. There are several volumes of drinking songs catches and glees published in the 1820s. Musical Bagatelles, Book 2d was published by B. Carr in Philadelphia about 1824. The first volume has never been found and this second volume is extremely rare. Another volume entitled Masses, Vespers, Litanies, Hymns, Psalms, Anthems & Motetts, Baltimore, J. Carr, 1805, has a four-page preface written by Benjamin Carr and a fragment of musical score in manuscript by him. This valuable item was probably at one time in Carr's own library.

l826-CIVIL WAR (ca. 2000 items)
In this section there are many of the poetic works of Thomas Moore set to music by Sir John Stevenson during the early decades of the l9th century. Other contemporary composers are William Clifton, Henry R. Bishop and Henry Russell. There are compositions of Jullien during the 1840s and 1850s and of L.M. Gottschalk in the 1850s and 1860s. A rare bound volume is The Music Album for 1855, which contains early works of Theodore von La Hache, a major composer of Confederate songs during the Civil War.

1860-1900 POPULAR SONGS (ca. 2500 items)
Songs of the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s continue in the sentimental vein of the earlier decades. Songs of the 1890s, however, introduce two new stylesÑthe narrative set to music (i.e. "The Little Lost Child" and "Mother Was A Lady") and the so-called "coon" song, a white man's version of Black dialect.

There are 5 volumes of delightful comic songs, mostly published in Boston and New York in the 1880s and 1890s.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC 1840-1940 (ca. 2000 items)
Some of these music sheets lean toward the classical side, particularly in the early years. Most are illustrated, and were arranged for the homeÑrather than the concertÑpiano.

VOCAL MUSIC 1900-1960 (ca. 1600 items)
Throughout this period new forms of arrangements became popular, i.e. ragtime, jazz, blues, and later rock and roll. There are a few pieces by Scott Joplin and Eubie Blake.

For the first two decades of the 1900s there are many songs by Rudolf Friml, Sigmund Romberg, Franz Lehar; also Albert and Harry von Tilzer, Gus Edwards and Ted Snyder. Among the favorite singers of this period were Marie Cahill, Emma Carus and Nora Bayes. Many of the most delightful songs of the 1920s and 1930s were composed by B.G. De Sylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson, and Vincent Youmans. There is a considerable amount of music from the Ziegfeld Follies from 1907 to 1936.

Many of the songs from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s were featured in motion pictures or Broadway shows.