Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 2: Armed Forces
name: label: Creator
content: DeVincent, Sam, 1918-1997
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This collection was purchased by the Smithsonian Institution in 1988 from Sam and Nancy Lee DeVincent.
creator: label: Creator
content: DeVincent, Sam, 1918-1997
setName: label: See more items in
content: Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 2: Armed Forces
abstract: label: Summary
content: Sam DeVincent loved music and art and began collecting sheet music with lithographs at an early age. 

Series 2: Armed Forces contains circa 3,400 pieces of sheet music and song folios documenting the military history of the United States; there are only a handful of foreign imprints.

An overview to the entire DeVincent collection is available here: Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 62 Boxes
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1810-1980
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0300.S02
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Arranged in 9 subseries.

2.1: Pre-Civil War

2.2: Civil War

2.3: Pre-World War I

2.4: World War I

2.5: World War II

2.6: Post -World War

2.7: Naval History

2.8: Marine Corps

2.9: Ephemera
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: The Armed Forces series contains circa 3,400 pieces of sheet music and song folios documenting the military history of the United States; there are only a handful of foreign imprints. The World War I subseries (2.4) is particularly impressive with circa 1,150 items. The Post-World War II subseries (2.6) is very small. Some additional military items can be found in the DeVincent file for Presidents of the United States.

The illustrated covers offer the military historian fine portraits of well-known officers, visual evidence about uniforms and other military regalia, and dramatic portrayals of battle scenes. The series also contains material of interest to the social and cultural historian as well as the musicologist. The changing character of the songs indicates something about the accepted public face of different eras--from the Civil War's anguished songs of youthful death to the World War II songs of near denial of the possibility of death; from the Civil War's primary relationship of the soldier boy to his mother to a World War II emphasis upon the relationship of the young service man to his girlfriend.

The material dates from circa 1810 to 1983. Many early imprints are in the armed forces series, subseries 2.1--Pre-Civil War. 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 subseries as the sheet music, is described after the subseries. The armed forces ephemera file is placed in two document boxes numbered with the same series and subseries numbers as the sheet music.

The seven subseries in the armed forces series are arranged chronologically except for the last subseries, Naval History. These subseries includes: 2.1 Pre-Civil War; 2.2 Civil War; 2.3 Pre-World War I; 2.4 World War I; 2.5 World War II; 2.6 Post-World War II; 2.7 Naval History; 2.8 Marine Corps.
relatedmaterial: label: Materials in Other Organizations
content: 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.
label: Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
content: Donald J. Stubblebine Collection of Musical Theater and Motion Picture Sheet Music and Reference Material, 1843-2010 (AC1211)
label: Forms Part Of
content: Series 2: Armed Forces 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.

Series 2: Armed Forces forms part of the Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music .

Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music

Series 1: Transportation

Series 2: Armed Forces

Series 3: African-American Music

Series 4: Songwriters Volumes I and II

Series 5: Politics and Political Movements

Series 6: Moving Pictures and Movie Stars

Series 7: Sports

Series 8: Geography

Series 9: Domestic and Community Life

Series 10: Sacred Music and Religious Themes

Series 11: Entertainment

Series 12: Plants and Animals

Series 13: Agriculture, Business, and Law

Series 14: Calendar, Time, and Weather

Series 15: Holidays and Celebrations

Series 16: Country, Western, and Folk Music

Series 17: The Human Condition, Physical, Mental, Behavioral

Series 18: Dance

Series 19: Art and Literature

Series 20: Newspapers

Series 21: Musical Instruments