During the 19th and early 20th centuries, sheet music was produced in enormous quantities in the United States. To historians and other interested parties, much of this material serves as a way to look at social and cultural mores of the times. This digital collection from Brown University takes a look at the sheet music that reflected attitudes towards African-Americans. Containing several...

The indefatigable Library of Congress American Memory collection has expanded yet again with these a new exhibit. This site contains 1,305 pieces of African-American sheet music dating from 1850 through 1920. The pieces span from the antebellum black face minstrelsy of the 1850s to the Civil War to Reconstruction to the early period of urbanization and the northern migration of African Americans....

If you have ever found yourself humming that one-hit wonder Jimmy Soul (who struck radio gold when he released the classic If You Wanna Be Happy in 1963), the All But Forgotten Oldies site may be just what you are looking for. The site consists of a searchable database of links to sound clips for over 4000 songs from 1960 to 1975, which can be browsed by either performing artist or song title. The...

The noted musician and impresario John Wesley Harding has created a new variety show for National Public Radio. It's called "Cabinet of Wonders" and on the program's home page, it says that the show will "make you laugh, think and sing along. Sometimes all at once." The program is recorded live at the City Winery in New York City, and so far performers on the have included John Hodgman, Colson...

This site pays homage to one of America's most prestigious and creative composers, Duke Ellington. Offering an introduction to the many accomplishments of Mr. Ellington's career, which lasted over fifty years, is quite challenging, but the site serves as a nice introduction, particularly for younger students. Divided into five sections, users may want to start with the short biographical essay...

The official Gershwin Music site provides some wonderful Gershwin memorabilia in a snappy, entertaining package. Born to Russian Jewish immigrants in 1890's Brooklyn, Ira and George Gershwin (nee Israel and Jacob Gershovitz) lived the quintessential American Dream, moving from poverty to riches and obscurity to renown. The homepage opens with a classic, rotating Gershwin tune and clicking on Menu...

The online collections and exhibits prepared by the Library of Congress are generally considered authoritative and of excellent quality, and this new archive prepared by the Music Division within the Library of Congress is no exception. Containing over 62,500 pieces of historical sheet music, this archive is searchable by author, subject, and song title. Clicking on a particular work will allow...

During the 1960s, young and old people alike began to hear a new type of music blossom over the radio, and it soon became referred to as the "Motown sound." With the help of the legendary Berry Gordy, Motown churned out dozens of hits, many of them sung by emerging stars such as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, and the Supremes. What few people knew at the time that many of the...

The Library of Congress has bringing a number of America’s musical archives to its website through the “I Hear America Singing” project, and this addition to their existing work is most welcome. The Song of America website is designed to serve as a companion piece to an ongoing 11-city concert tour which features the baritone Thomas Hampson performing a number of American songs. This site draws...

An alumnus of Johns Hopkins University, Lester S. Levy had a profound love of music and, in 1976, presented his collection of over 29,000 pieces of sheet music to the Milton S. Eisenhower Library at his alma mater. Spanning from 1780 to 1980, the collection is especially strong in music related to military conflicts, the circus, and minstrels. The staff at the Eisenhower Library have devoted a...