Skip to content

People and culture | Collections | The Huntington

Membership

Donate

Store

OPEN TODAY: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.

Home
Collections
Search
Jay T. Last sheet music collection
Twentieth century
People and culture

Visual Materials

People and culture

Description

The People and culture subseries comprises sheet music published between 1900 and 1962, and focuses on scores with images of, or are about, children, death and mourning, holidays, immigrants, marriage, men, organizations, people of color, politics, religion, and women. A portion of the scores are benign in nature; however, there is a heavy concentration of derogatory imagery and language showcased throughout a range of Coon songs, jazz, minstrel scores, plantation melodies, pop, and ragtime tunes.

Following a similar pattern, other scores focus on the experiences of immigrants, women, and other marginalized groups of people. This includes people of African, Asian, Hispanic, Irish, Italian, and Middle Eastern descent, as well as people of Hawaiian, Fijian, Jewish, and Native American origin. A few examples include Happy Little Coons, by J.W. Ladd, Hasta Mañana Until Tomorrow, by Egbert Van Alstyne, I'm A Yiddish Cowboy (Tough Guy Levi) by Al Pantadosi and Halsey K. Mohr, Who'll Take Care of the Harem When the Sultan Goes To War? by William J. Lewis, Chong He Come From Hong Kong by Harold Weeks, Good-Bye Red-Man Good-Bye by Ted Snyder, and Honest Injun by Harry Von Tilzer.

To note is Apache Chief Gernimo's Own Medicine Song by Carlos Troyer. The latter was representative of the Indianist movement during the late 19th century, which was part of a broader interest in Native American music. There are also scores dedicated to significant fraternal orders and nonprofit organizations, including the Pullman porters, the Grand Aerie Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Kiwanis Club of Atlanta, and the Ku Klux Klan.

Subscribe to our e-newsletter

About
Accessibility
Land Acknowledgment
Using the Library
Careers
Host an Event
Volunteer
Press
Contact Us
Filming/Photography

Opening Hours

Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.

Closed on Tuesdays

Admission Info and Tickets

1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108

Privacy Policy
Social Media Guidelines and User Policy

©2026 The Huntington

Charity Navigator

Type

Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)

Date

approximately 1900-1962; bulk 1900-1959

Call number

priJLC_SMUS

Creator

Last, Jay T(Opens in new tab)

Provenance

Gift of Jay T. Last, 2005.

Gift of Jay T. Last, 2010-2019.

Gift of Jay T. Last, 2023.

Restrictions

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Rights

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining permission rests with the researcher.

Find out more

View in the Library catalog(Opens in new tab)

You might also be interested in

Image not available
People and culture
Visual Materials
The People and culture subseries consists of sheet music published between 1817 and 1899, covering diverse topics such as African Americans, children, couples, groups, immigrants, death and mourning, holidays, marriage, men, Native Americans, organizations, religion, and women. Please note that this subseries contains language and stereotypical imagery that some library users may find harmful or offensive. The section about African Americans contains comic songs, "Coon" songs, minstrel scores, plantation melodies, and ragtime tunes, depicting aspects of African American life in the 19th century, including plantation life, contraband life, and the Jim Crow era. This section includes scores by African American composers and performers such as Blind Tom, James Allen Bland, Brewer and Suttle's Ragtime Four, Bob Cole, Gussie Lord Davis, Peter Devonear, Billy Johnson, Irving Jones, Sam Lucas, and Bert A. Williams. Additionally, it includes scores by European American composers and performers including E. P. Christy, Press Eldridge, George "Honey Boy" Evans, Charles Kunkel, the Virginia Serenaders, Lew Dockstader, Lotta Crabtree, Flo Irwin, May Irwin, and John Philip Sousa. Notably, "A Trip To Coontown" by Bert A. Williams, Bob Cole, and Billy Johnson, the first musical in New York written, produced, and performed by African Americans, is part of this collection. Additional scores to note focus on the experiences of immigrants to the United States (such as the Chinese, English, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, and Scottish) and Native American characters and tribes including Chief Keokuk of the Sauk Nation, the mythical figure Minnehaha, "Old Bets," Chief Osceola of the Seminole, Chief Ossahinta of the Onondaga, Chief Paxinosa of the Shawnee, Pocahontas, as well as the Dakota, Narragansett, Nez Perce, and the Sioux nations. To note is the rare score "Wakona Waltz" published in 1837 by Fred Munson, Jr. There are also scores dedicated to significant fraternal orders and nonprofit organizations including the Freemasons, the Knights Templar, and the American Red Cross.
priJLC_SMUS
Image not available
People and culture: Organizations
Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last sheet music collection consists of approximately 34,950 scores dating from 1794 to 1998. It includes a wide range of American popular music styles, as well as scores published outside of the United States. The collection encompasses ballads, blues, comic songs, jazz, minstrel scores, military scores, patriotic melodies, pop, ragtime compositions, religious hymns, rhythm and blues hits, show tunes, soul music, and 1960s surf music. The scores comprise various editions of lyrical and instrumental compositions, some of which are ornately designed and, in some cases, bear the signatures of creators and performers. Many of the scores have sellers' marks printed on the covers. Some of the names found in the nineteenth-century series overlap with those in the twentieth-century series. It is also important to note that this collection contains historical images and language that some library users may find harmful, offensive, or inappropriate.
priJLC_SMUS
Image not available
People and culture: Immigrants
Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last sheet music collection consists of approximately 34,950 scores dating from 1794 to 1998. It includes a wide range of American popular music styles, as well as scores published outside of the United States. The collection encompasses ballads, blues, comic songs, jazz, minstrel scores, military scores, patriotic melodies, pop, ragtime compositions, religious hymns, rhythm and blues hits, show tunes, soul music, and 1960s surf music. The scores comprise various editions of lyrical and instrumental compositions, some of which are ornately designed and, in some cases, bear the signatures of creators and performers. Many of the scores have sellers' marks printed on the covers. Some of the names found in the nineteenth-century series overlap with those in the twentieth-century series. It is also important to note that this collection contains historical images and language that some library users may find harmful, offensive, or inappropriate.
priJLC_SMUS
Image not available
People and culture: Native Americans
Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last sheet music collection consists of approximately 34,950 scores dating from 1794 to 1998. It includes a wide range of American popular music styles, as well as scores published outside of the United States. The collection encompasses ballads, blues, comic songs, jazz, minstrel scores, military scores, patriotic melodies, pop, ragtime compositions, religious hymns, rhythm and blues hits, show tunes, soul music, and 1960s surf music. The scores comprise various editions of lyrical and instrumental compositions, some of which are ornately designed and, in some cases, bear the signatures of creators and performers. Many of the scores have sellers' marks printed on the covers. Some of the names found in the nineteenth-century series overlap with those in the twentieth-century series. It is also important to note that this collection contains historical images and language that some library users may find harmful, offensive, or inappropriate.
priJLC_SMUS
Image not available
People and culture: Men A-M by title
Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last sheet music collection consists of approximately 34,950 scores dating from 1794 to 1998. It includes a wide range of American popular music styles, as well as scores published outside of the United States. The collection encompasses ballads, blues, comic songs, jazz, minstrel scores, military scores, patriotic melodies, pop, ragtime compositions, religious hymns, rhythm and blues hits, show tunes, soul music, and 1960s surf music. The scores comprise various editions of lyrical and instrumental compositions, some of which are ornately designed and, in some cases, bear the signatures of creators and performers. Many of the scores have sellers' marks printed on the covers. Some of the names found in the nineteenth-century series overlap with those in the twentieth-century series. It is also important to note that this collection contains historical images and language that some library users may find harmful, offensive, or inappropriate.
priJLC_SMUS
Image not available
People and culture: Religion A-F by title
Visual Materials
The Jay T. Last sheet music collection consists of approximately 34,950 scores dating from 1794 to 1998. It includes a wide range of American popular music styles, as well as scores published outside of the United States. The collection encompasses ballads, blues, comic songs, jazz, minstrel scores, military scores, patriotic melodies, pop, ragtime compositions, religious hymns, rhythm and blues hits, show tunes, soul music, and 1960s surf music. The scores comprise various editions of lyrical and instrumental compositions, some of which are ornately designed and, in some cases, bear the signatures of creators and performers. Many of the scores have sellers' marks printed on the covers. Some of the names found in the nineteenth-century series overlap with those in the twentieth-century series. It is also important to note that this collection contains historical images and language that some library users may find harmful, offensive, or inappropriate.
priJLC_SMUS