Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music, Series 28: Opera
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 28: Opera
abstract: label: Summary
content: Sam DeVincent loved music and art and began collecting sheet music with lithographs at an early age. Series 28 contains materials documenting opera in the United States. An overview to the entire DeVincent collection is available here: Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 10 Boxes
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1830-1934
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0300.S28
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Eva Buchanan, Katie DeFonzo, and Stephanie Haeg, interns, summer 2017; Amanda Scott; Monisha Bernard; supervised by Vanessa Broussard Simmons, archivist.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Includes material documenting the cultural values and popular attitudes toward opera in the United States. The bulk of the material dates from 1843 to 1915. The material is arranged alphabetically by title in ten boxes and is mostly composed of arrangements for piano and piano/vocal, with some pieces created for other instruments such as the tuba. Most of the material includes excerpts from operas focusing on themes such as love, purity, romance, hope, and fantasy. These songs include mythical tales such as Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella, fairy songs, and lullabies. Some of the compositions are overtures, waltzes, marches, and two-steps. While many of the songs do not have lyrics, a few are written in Italian and German. A portion of the songs focuses on women's role as a maid or aristocratic woman, while men are portrayed as minstrels. The illustrations in the series are mostly of women with men serenading them.
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 28: Opera 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.