Links to Lists, Databases, Etc.
Amassed by C. Weir Kirk, a Terre Haute, Indiana area musician, the Kirk
Collection contains nearly 14,000 published examples of popular music primarily
from the 1920's and 1930's, although there is significant representation
from the turn of the twentieth century to as late as 1972. Given as a gift
to the Library by the Department of Music in 1985, the collection was sorted
first by category and then by title. In 1988, the collection was moved
to Special Collections.
The most numerous holdings are nearly 7,500 copies of popular
songs, including 2,061 country music songs, 2, 582 artists' scores intended to
promote the sale of sheet music in department and music
stores, and more than 2,000 commercially-sold popular songs in sheet music
format. In addition, the collection contains over 1,500 complete band sets.
Digitization of the commercially-sold sheet music content has been completed, with all titles published before 1923 available for download or viewing in the PDF format (see links below). Titles in this group published after 1922 have also been digitized, but they are available by request only and in accordance with copyright law. Covers of sheet music through 1922 has also been completed, and these images are offered separately from the content. Artists', or professional, scores of popular have also been digitized through 1922, but these scores characteristically lack covers.
The dance band sets have been cataloged using brief records and made
available in the on-line public access catalog,
LUIS.
They may be searched by title of the work or by keyword. The term
"kirk"
combined with the name of a composer or a word from the title will generate
a short list from which the user may choose a fuller record. These sets are almost completely digitized in their entirety through 1922. Currently, they are only selectable or viewable from the web listings found on Dance Band Index. A project will be undertaken to add these links to LUIS, since these are cataloged on-line.
The Kirk Collection provides a unique window on a bygone era. As a resource for
study of popular culture, it is a rich asset. In addition, the collection
provides opportunities for musicians to study period arrangements of sometimes
hard-to-find popular songs.
Links to Lists, Databases, Etc.
Cunningham Memorial Library, 650 Sycamore St., Terre Haute, IN 47809 812.237.2580
Updated July 7th, 2006 Maintained by: Special Collections
Copyright © 2006 Indiana State University Comments and Feedback
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