The Frances G. Spencer Collection of American Popular Sheet Music
Baylor University acquired the Frances G. Spencer Collection of American Sheet Music in 1965. The collection was Mrs. Spencer’s lifelong work, spanning the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century and including sheet music from the music of Irving Berlin to the children’s classic “I’m a Little Tea Pot.” In addition to collecting 30,000 pieces of sheet music, Mrs. Spencer also gave each work a subject designation such as beverages, children, dance, dramatic music, patriotic and historic, Texas, and war.
The Baylor University Museum Studies department’s class in Digital Archives and Digital Collections Management explored Mrs. Spencer’s collection in search of a unifying theme: love. “Love Notes: Selections from the Frances G. Spencer Collection of American Sheet Music” presents selections of sheet music from several of Mrs. Spencer’s subject designations in order to examine how love has been portrayed across different genres of American sheet music.
Beverages, curated by Tom Andrews
Dramatic Music, curated by Evangeline Eilers
Patriotism, curated by Alex Hampton
Dance, curated by Sarah Howard
Love and War, curated by Connor Matheson