MS 248 San Diego Sheet Music Collection

Summary Information

Repository
San Diego History Center Document Collection
Creator
San Diego Historical Society.
Title
San Diego Sheet Music Collection
ID
MS 248
Date [inclusive]
1889-1984
Extent
1.5 Linear feet (2 boxes)
Language
English
Abstract
This collection contains sheet music from 1889 to 1984, many of which were written about San Diego or created by composers or publishers with a connection to San Diego.

Preferred Citation

San Diego Sheet Music Collection, MS 248, San Diego History Center Document Collection, San Diego, CA.

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Biographical / Historical Notes

Throughout San Diego’s development there have been songs written in tribute to its history and beauty. This collection features many songs written about San Diego that date back to the early twentieth century, as well as some as far back as the late nineteenth century.

Composer and San Diego resident, Cassius M. Loomis, wrote a song for San Diego, “San Diego’s Welcome,” that became the national song and march of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.

Residents of San Diego provided a wealth of music to the rest of the world as well. The 1914 song “Mammy’s Li’l’ Baby” was written specifically for world renowned opera singer and San Diego resident, Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink. Throughout her lifetime, Madame Schumann-Heink held many concerts in San Diego’s Horton Plaza, and her single performance for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition attracted 28,000 people. Madame Schumann-Heink , along with fellow San Diego resident musicians Carrie Jacobs Bond and Charles Wakefield Cadman, each had a day of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition dedicated to them, and also have sheet music represented in this collection.

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Scope and Content

This collection contains sheet music from 1889 to 1984. Each music score contains music notation, words, composer and publisher credits. The majority of the music scores in this collection are written about San Diego or California. Many of the scores were written for expositions held in San Diego: the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and the 1935 California Pacific Exposition San Diego also known as “America’s Exposition.”

Several scores about the U.S. Army’s 40th “Sunshine” Division encamped at Camp Kearny during World War I are also included in this collection. Composer and San Diego resident, Esther Mugan Bush, known for her song “The Silver Strand Waltz” and many other songs about San Diego, composed a song dedicated to Camp Kearny’s 40th Sunshine division entitled, “The Song of the Sunshine Boys.”

Sheet music featuring notable singers and songwriters such as the internationally known opera singer, Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink, and compositions written by Carrie Jacobs-Bond, Charles Wakefield Cadman, Gloria Gage, Lydia Fossler Frank, and Vashti Rogers Griffin from San Diego are also contained in this collection.

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Arrangement

The collection is arranged into six series:

Series I: Songs About San Diego

Series II: Songs Created by San Diego Residents

Series III: Songs Published in San Diego

Series IV: San Diego Miscellanea

Series V: California Songs

Series VI: Miscellanea

Items in each series are arranged alphabetically by song title, with the exception of items in Series II which are arranged alphabetically by last name of the creator.

Itemized database of sheet music can be accessed at the San Diego History Center Library.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

San Diego History Center Document Collection December 14, 2011

1649 El Prado, Suite 3
San Diego, CA, 92101
619-232-6203

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research. Itemized database of sheet music can be accessed at the San Diego History Center Library.

Conditions Governing Use

The San Diego History Center (SDHC) holds the copyright to any unpublished materials. SDHC Library regulations do apply.

Processing Information

Collection processed by Sean Flores on December 14, 2011.

Collection processed as part of grant project supported by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) with generous funding from The Andrew Mellon Foundation.

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Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

  • California Pacific International Exposition (1935-1936 : San Diego, Calif.).
  • Panama-California Exposition (1915 : San Diego, Calif.).
  • Panama-California International Exposition (1916 : San Diego, Calif.).
  • United States. Army. Division, 40th.

Geographic Name(s)

  • Balboa Park (San Diego, Calif.)
  • San Diego (Calif.)

Personal Name(s)

  • Bush, Esther Mugan
  • Cadman, Charles Wakefield, 1881-1946
  • Frank, Lydia Fossler
  • Gage, Gloria
  • Griffin, Vashti Rogers
  • Jacobs-Bond, Carrie, 1862-1946
  • Loomis, Cassius M.
  • Shumann-Heink, Ernestine, 1861-1936

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Collection Inventory

 Series I: Songs About San Diego

Box-folder
Alphabetically by song title, 1889–1984 and undated 1:1-23; 2:1-15

 Series II: Songs Created by San Diego Residents

Box-folder
Alphabetically by creator last name, 1901–1943 and undated 1:24-59; 2:16-35

 Series III: Song Published in San Diego

Box-folder
Alphatically by song title, 1895–1932 and undated 1:60-62; 2:36-39

 Series IV: San Diego Miscellanea

Box-folder
Alphabetically by song title, 1909-1966 1:63-65; 2:40

 Series V: California Songs

Box-folder
Alphabetically by song title, 1910–1943 and undated 1:66-73; 2:41-48

 Series VI: Miscellanea

Box-folder
Alphabetically by song title, 1899–1943 and undated 1:74-80; 2:49-56

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