A box of vintage songsheets with ukulele arrangements

ichadwick

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I just got back from a day trip to purchase a couple of boxes of vintage song sheets and books, dating from the 1890s to the 1970s. About 400 pieces in total. The majority are from 1910-1923, including a lot of WWI patriotic songs, but more than 100 are ukulele arrangements from 1923-38. With duplicates already in the collection, I guess there are about 90 new titles.

If you're looking for any old music from the vintage era, let me know, even if it's not a uke arrangement. I will look for it and if it's here, will scan and email it to you. I have a couple of other boxes of this old music that I haven't scanned, so I have a big resource of material I can check.

I expect to start scanning the uke song sheets next week for the collection and will make sure I include anything else asked for.

PS Damn. Pressed publish before I proofread the whole thing. Sorry for the typos in the subject line, but the UUF doesn't seem to allow editing subject lines or deleting and starting over.
 
Thankyou Ian, your generosity with this material is hugely appreciated.

Folks, for anyone who doesn't have a copy of this, you NEED it.
 
I have a large number of non-uke pieces that have come with the uke stuff. At least two boxes worth. Mostly piano, but a lot of guitar arrangements too. Goes back to the late 1880s right up until the 1970s. Not sure what to do with it - I could scan it, but who would want it? Any suggestions?
 
Ian, this is an incredible mission you're on. Thank you for doing it!
Katy
 
You're welcome. It's a bit of an obsession for me, but it never ends because there were many more songs published in that era than I have collected. There are already more than 3,000 files on the two DVDs - I may run out of space and have to do some reorganizing or zipping to fit the new material.
 
Okay, so I spent more than two hours scanning files at the local copy shop today. My aching back...

After sorting out duplicates and missing pages, I added about 70-75 'new' song sheets to the collection, as well as two song books. Some great material there including several of the standards I had been missing.

I still have some of the Feist dance folios to scan - but they don't have lyrics, just piano lines and uke chords. They will have to wait a few days until I have the time, but I can't see much in them not already in the collection.

The two DVDs are at their limit, with about 4.4-4.5 GB each. I can't really add much more without making major changes (zipping?). In future, I will probably drop the guitar arrangements (a small group), or the duplicates folder (smaller) to get more space. It's that or consider adding a third disc.

I keep telling myself I'm going to quit, to stop adding material. But I never do.

Right now there are more than 7,600 songs including those in the song books, about 2,700 song sheets, 132 song books, 500+ pieces arranged for guitar, and another 300+ duplicates (which usually have different covers or sometimes arrangements).

If I ever get the inclination and the time, I have about 500-plus guitar pieces from the 1930s-40s I could scan. Plus another 500+ pieces dated 1900-1923 arranged for piano.

Anyway, if you are looking for the original song sheet for a piece of music, especially those arranged for ukulele, ask me. I will share single pieces with members, no cost.

The material in the collection goes from 1919- early 1950s, with the bulk between 1924 and 34. Watch the website for uploads, too.

And if you get a chance, please like my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/VintageUkeMusic.
Cheers
 
This stuff looks great, can't wait for the DVDs to arrive. :)
 
I've been meaning to pick this up for ages. This was just the nudge I needed. Thanks, Ian. You don't need me to tell you how valuable this effort is.
 
Thanks everyone. I appreciate the kind words.

Right now I'm trying to figure out what to do with all the song sheets/books I've collected. Aside from all the uke arrangements, I have a box of works for piano (mostly classical mostly dating from 1880s to 1930s, but also some folk music from the early 1900s-1920). Another box of popular music from 1890s-1923 (some great songs and covers), all piano arrangements. Then another large pile of guitar arrangements, 1930s-50s. While it's nice to look at the covers, I really don't have a desire to collect the paper.

Besides, I'm trying to downsize. I've already donated 22 boxes of books and 4 boxes of DVDs to the local library. I'm trying to create a space to practice the uke in my workroom, so I need to clear out a desk and several overflowing bookcases. These boxes of music are in my sights, too.

Any suggestions?
 
Thanks everyone. I appreciate the kind words.

Right now I'm trying to figure out what to do with all the song sheets/books I've collected. Aside from all the uke arrangements, I have a box of works for piano (mostly classical mostly dating from 1880s to 1930s, but also some folk music from the early 1900s-1920). Another box of popular music from 1890s-1923 (some great songs and covers), all piano arrangements. Then another large pile of guitar arrangements, 1930s-50s. While it's nice to look at the covers, I really don't have a desire to collect the paper.

Besides, I'm trying to downsize. I've already donated 22 boxes of books and 4 boxes of DVDs to the local library. I'm trying to create a space to practice the uke in my workroom, so I need to clear out a desk and several overflowing bookcases. These boxes of music are in my sights, too.

Any suggestions?
Would any of the university libraries particularly mentioned on (I think) your links page be interested for their sheet music collections?
 
Would any of the university libraries particularly mentioned on (I think) your links page be interested for their sheet music collections?

I've asked in the past - the answer was not if they had to pay the shipping. But that may have changed since my last query. It would be a couple of hundred dollars to ship them by a courier.
 
Hi Ian,I'm still on the lookout for 'Half a moon (is better than no moon)' - don't suppose that was in the latest haul?

Sorry, no, but here are the single song sheets I scanned this week (some duplicates). There were also two song books with about 80 titles between them:

Alabamy Bound
All By Yourself In The Moonlight
As A Porcupine Pines For Its Pork
Barcelona
Beautiful
Because They All Love You
Bible Tells Me So, The
Blue Again
Books
Butterflies In The Rain
Caterina
Did You Ever See A Dream Walking
Don't Get Around Much Any More
Down Where The Sun Goes Down
Dungaree Doll
Duplicates
For Me And My Gal
Gotta Travel On (Guitar)
Great Big Bunch Of You, A
Have A Little Faith In Me
Hello Bluebird
Hi Diddle Diddle
Hi Ho The Merrio
Hiawatha's Lullaby
Horsey Keep Your Tail Up
How Do You Do
I Gotta Get Myself Somebody To Love
I'd Rather Cry Over You
Ice Cream
If I Knew I'd Find You
Isabella
It's No Secret
Just A Bird's Eye View
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
Just A Little Drink
Lady Of The Nile
Last Night On The Back Porch
Lazy
Lenora
Let It Rain Let It Pour
Let Me Call You Sweetheart
Let Us Waltz As We Say Goodbye
Lili Marlene
Listening
Lucky Kentucky
Mary
Mighty Blue
Music And Moonlight
My Bonnie Lassie
My Mother's Humming Lullaby
O Katharina
Oh Baby
Oh Mabel
Oh Say Can I See You Tonight
Pepita
Precious Little Thing Called Love, A
Rock-A-Bye Baby Days
Side By Side
Slowly
Smile A Little Bit
So Tired
Some Night When You're Lonely
Sometime
Sometime_2
South Of The Border
Stay Out Of The South
Take In The Sun, Hang Out The Moon
Tennessee Waltz (Guitar)
Today I Feel So Happy
Twilight The Stars And You
When My Sugar Walks Down The Street
When The Guards Are On Parade
Where Are You Now
You And The Moon And Me
 
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These are the songs in the two song books. Some are medleys of two or more tunes (an unusual but interesting arrangement):

A Picture No Artist Can Paint
Ain't Misbehavin'
Among My Souvenirs
And Her Golden ,Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back
ANONA
Are You The 0' Reilly?
Blaze Away
Bunch 0' Blackberries
Comrades
Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill!
Everything's in Rhythm with My Heart
Falling in Love Again
Forking And Country
Go In And Out The Window
Good Morning, Mr. Zip, Zip, Zip!
Good-Bye, Dolly Gray
Goodnight Sweetheart
Have You Ever Been Lonely?
He Never Cares To Wander From His Own Fireside
Hear Dem Bells
Head Over Heels in Love
Hit The Trail That Leads To Mother
Home on the Range
Home, Sweet Home
Hunky Dory
I Ain't Seen No Messenger Boy
I Can't Tell Why I Love You
I'm On My Way To Mandalay
In All My Dreams I Dream Of You
In The Good Old Summer Time
Ireland Must Be Heaven For My Mother Came From There
I've Got the Hilly-Billy Blues
I've Worked Eight Hours This Day
Jack Canuck
Just Plain Folks
K- K-K-Katy
Keep Dem Golden Gates Wide Open
King's Horses, The
Lazy Mary, Will You Get Up?
Lazybones
Life's Desire
Little Annie Rooney
Little Black Me
Little 'Boy In Blue
London Bridge I~ Falling Down
M -0 -T - H -E R (A Word That Means The Wo-Rld Tome)
Mandy'Lee
Marriage Bells
My Belgian Rose
Over There
Peg O'My Heart
Radio Stars' Song Book
Riding on the Clouds
Say 'Au Revoir' But Not "Good-Bye"
She Couldn't Say "Boo!" to a Goose
Smoky Mokes
Somebody's Waiting For Me
Song of the Bells
Soup Song
Stormy Weather
Susan Van Doozen
That's How I Need You
The Bull-Frog And The Coon
The Cat Came Back
The Curse Of An Aching Heart
The Darktown Strutter's Ball
The Farmer In The Dell
The Irish Lullaby
The Rose Of No Man's Land
The Ship I Love
The Sidewalks Of New York
The Songs My Mammy Sang To Me
There's a Good Time Coming
There's A Little Spark Of Love. Still Burning
There's A Mother Always Waiting For You At
Turkey In The Straw
Two Little Girls In Blue
Underneath the Arches
We Come To See Miss Jennie O'Jones
When You Wore A Tulip And I Wore A Big Red Rose
When Your Boy Comes Back To You
Where Did You Get That Hat?
Where Do We Go From Here, Boys?
You’re Here And I’m Here
You'll Get All That's Coming To You
 
Just too late to add to the disks you sent out on Monday!
Looking forward to receiving this pile of goodness.
Many thanks for the hardwork.
 
Just too late to add to the disks you sent out on Monday!
Looking forward to receiving this pile of goodness.
Many thanks for the hardwork.
If there's anything you want right away, I can put it in a zip file and stick it on Dropbox. Email or PM me with your email address and I'll see what I can do to make sure you get it.
 
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