Sam DeVincent loved music and art and began collecting sheet music with lithographs at an early age.
Series 1: Transportation contains circa 3,900 pieces of sheet music documenting the development of and popular attitudes towards transportation technology in the United States.
An overview to the entire DeVincent collection is available here: Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music.
Scope and Contents note:
The Transportation series contains circa 3,900 pieces of sheet music documenting the development of and popular attitudes towards transportation technology in the United States. Those modes of transportation--airplanes and automobiles in particular--that developed during the heyday of Tin Pan Alley sheet music publication (1890s-1930s) are especially well represented. Boats and boating and railroads are also large sub-series. Two narrow topics are especially rich in the DeVincent transportation series: the Charles Lindbergh file (circa 200 items) and the Ford automobile file (circa 150 items).
The material dates from the 1800s to the 1980s; the bulk of the material is from the 1890s to the 1930s. The earliest items are in the Boats and Boating sub-series. Most pre-1840 imprints are not dated. Estimates have been made for the dates of many early imprints by checking publisher and address of the publisher in the "Index of Publishers, Engravers and Printers" in volume III of Richard Wolfe's Secular Music in America 1801-1825: A Bibliography and in Oscar Sonneck's A Bibliography of Early Secular American Music. Several sheets that appear to be very old could not be dated by this method.
The Ephemera file, arranged in the same sub-series as the sheet music, is described on the page, following the container list. The transportation ephemera file constitutes one and a half document boxes.
The eight sub-series in the Transportation series are arranged alphabetically and include: 1.1 Aeronautics; 1.2 Automobiles; 1.3 Bicycles; 1.4 Boats and Boating; 1.5 Horses; 1.6 Motorcycles; 1.7 Railroads; 1.8 Urban Transportation. See Container List.
Sam DeVincent Collection of American Sheet Music, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
This collection contains duplicates of materials in the Smithsonian collection, as well as materials acquired by Mr. DeVincent after the donation to the Smithsonian. The phonograph records described above were transferred to the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History:
Donald J. Stubblebine Collection of Musical Theater and Motion Picture Sheet Music and Reference Material, 1843-2010 (AC1211)
Forms Part Of:
Series 1: Transportation forms part of the
Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music
.
An ongoing, updated list of DeVincent topical series is available via the Smithsonian finding aid portal.
Provenance:
This collection was purchased by the Smithsonian Institution in 1988 from Sam and Nancy Lee DeVincent.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Citation:
The Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
