Here’s an interesting historical notebook– one of dozens that belonged to Frances G. Spencer, who traveled around the country collecting sheet music in the mid-20th century. Her collection, one of the largest in the US, is now housed in the archives of Baylor University.

“The Frances G. Spencer Collection of American Popular Sheet Music contains approximately 30,000 pieces of music published between the late 1700s and mid-1900s. Collected over two decades by its namesake, the collection features pieces by prominent composers such as Irving Berlin, Scott Joplin and Stephen Foster, as well as rarities and first editions of pieces including Jingle Bells and Battle Hymn of the Republic. This collection is being actively digitized and new pieces are added to this digital archive on a monthly basis…”

“As she collected, Frances created her own categories for sorting the pieces into sub-collections. Major headings included Transportation, Musical Comedies, Songs of the Confederacy, Ziegfeld Follies and more. In all, she created dozens of these categories and kept meticulous notes about which pieces she placed in each. She kept similar lists of pieces she was looking to collect in small notebooks, dozens of which are preserved in her archival papers.”

Read more at Frances G. Spencer Collection of American Popular Sheet Music.