Fun with Civil War Sheet Music

One project I haven’t blogged too much about yet is the Civil War Sheet Music exhibit for the Main Floor. Initially, Meggan only asked me to come up with a tentative list of pieces to display from the resources available; now, though, I’m finding myself assigned to the task of organizing, mounting, and labeling the exhibit. It’s a cool assignment, because it’s so different from everything else I’ve been working on this summer.

I loosely based my display plan off of the exhibit that was in Special Collections last semester, and I also decided that each case would have a different category/theme regarding Civil War sheet music. There are four cases available for the display, so based on what was available I came up with the following four categories: 1.) Song Sheets, 2.) Marches, 3.) Cover Art, and 4.) Ballads. Knowing the space constraints, I estimated that I could include about five song sheets, three cover pages, and two marches/ballads in their respective cases.

I’m most drawn to the cover art that I decided to feature in this exhibit—I suppose it’s because I’m an Art History major. It appears as if the cover pages were all printed in a lithographic fashion. Some are more detailed and complex than others; there are a few with just text, whereas others feature elaborate, decorative illustrations. I love the ornate detail on these ones, and the colors and compositions are stunning, too. If I had complete freedom, I’d probably focus the entire exhibit on these cover illustrations, but, alas, the exhibit is supposed to be about the music itself.

I started the process of trimming the reproductions I printed yesterday, but ultimately I had to stop myself and decide to continue on Monday, when Jim will be in. I find that I’m in need of a few more X-acto knife tips… some of the edges I cut were less than perfect. Maybe I was holding it wrong again.

I’m excited to move forward and get started on some of the other installations—next week will be busy, Meggan told me today. I’ll make sure I post photos of our end results!