“Whistling Rufus”
date: label: publishing date
content: 1899
name: label: composer
content: Mills, Kerry
label: publisher
content: F. A. Mills
notes: label: Description
content: The sheet music for the song “Whistling Rufus” was written and composed by Kerry Mills and published by F. A. Mills of New York, New York in 1899. The cover depicts whistling Rufus playing a guitar, and the lyrics call him “A great musician with a high position/ was whistling Rufus, the one-band man.” The cover shows well-dressed African-Americans dancing in the background, and Rufus seems to be playing at one of the cakewalks that would soon became famous across America.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
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content: Music & Musical Instruments
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content: Sheet Music
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of C. Malcolm Watkins
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.1154.20
label: accession number
content: 1979.1154
label: catalog number
content: 1979.1154.20
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sheet music
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14 in x 11 in; 35.56 cm x 27.94 cm