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Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs. Florida Folklife Archive
Title, Dates:
Stephen Foster and minstrel show reference files, 1840-1960.
Amount:
0.70 cubic ft.
Medium Included:
photographs
Organization/Arrangement:
Arranged by general topic (Stephen Foster, Stephen Foster memorial, minstrel performers).
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:
Summary:
This series consists primarily of mounted photographs and photostatic copies of materials relating to Stephen Foster and to minstrel performers in Florida, acquired for reference purposes by Bureau staff researching Foster's life and his connection to 19th century minstrel music. Foster sold several "plantation melodies," including "Old Folks at Home" (which became Florida's state song in 1935), to E. P. Christy, whose Christy Minstrels helped to make Foster America's most popular 19th century songwriter.
The series contains photostats of manuscript pages of song lyrics from Foster's song sketchbook, including "Jennie With the Light Brown Hair" (the publisher changed the name to "Jeanie"), "Laura Lee," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Glendy Burke," "Willie My Brave," and "Hard Times Come Again No More." Also included are photographs of Foster Hall in Indianapolis, built by the locally- prominent family of industrialist Josiah Kirby Lilly in the 1920s and dedicated to Stephen Foster, a favorite of Lilly (who donated the Foster Hall Collection to Pittsburgh's Stephen Foster Memorial in 1939); a 1946 reprint of a 1945 article by Fletcher Hodges, Jr., Curator of the Foster Hall Collection at the University of Pittsburgh, concerning Foster's participation in political affairs through his music; and reproductions of illustrations from an early edition of Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" relating to lyrics in Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home," a song based loosely on Stowe's book and originally entitled, "Poor Uncle Tom Good Night."
The series also includes photographs of J.A. Coburn and blackface performers in Coburn's minstrel troupes, including Ward, Coburn, and Baldwin's Great Barlow Minstrels and J.A. Coburn's Greater Minstrels.
Finding Aids:
Folder listing available.
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note:
Photostats
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
Originals at Center for American Music, Stephen Foster Memorial, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
Associated Materials:
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History:
Publication Note:
General Note:
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields:
Foster, Stephen Collins, 1826-1864.
Folk music. Minstrel music Minstrel shows Blackface entertainers Folklife.
Photographs. aat Songs. aat Scores. aat
for detailed listing.