Special Collections
WWI Sheet Music Collection

WWI Sheet Music Collection Now Available Online
(http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?page=index;c=umkcwwismic)

The World War I Sheet Music Collection contains over 250 unique titles published primarily from 1914 to 1919. Among them are a number of compositions by Irving Berlin, including Let’s All Be Americans Now, They Were All Out of Step But Jim, I’ve Got My Captain Working For Me Now and Good-Bye France. Also included in the collection are older titles that experienced a revival in popularity at the outbreak of the First World War. Two titles – When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1863) and Just Before The Battle, Mother (1864) – originally date back to the Civil War.

The sheet music of World War I reflects the sentiment of the time, both on the battlefield and on the home front. Pun-laden jabs come full force in titles like We’ll Knock The Heligo, Into Heligo, Out of Heligoland and We Don’t Want The Bacon (What We Want Is A Piece Of The Rhine); while a fascination with French culture is apparent in works such as How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down On The Farm After They’ve Seen Paree. From military leader to Red Cross nurse to stoic mother, character tributes are also common subject matter, as indicative in the compositions of General Pershing, The Rose of No Man’s Land and America, Here’s My Boy.

Social commentary also turns up in World War I song, most prominently in The Makin’s Of The USA: A Plea In Song For Tobacco For The Boys Over There; The Alcoholic Blues, a lilting indictment of Prohibition; and I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier, an anti-war composition. Other works offer a more difficult glimpse into the cultural climate of the country. Titles like Mammy’s Chocolate Soldier, the lyrics to You’ll Find Old Dixieland In France, and the cover art of If You Just Must Go To War Bring The Kaiser Back prove unequivocally that racial divisions persisted in the midst of patriotic solidarity.

The World War I Sheet Music Collection has been cataloged and can be searched via the UMKC library catalog using the following subject headings limited by material type (printed music): World War, 1914-1918 -- Songs and music or, more generally, Popular music -- United States -- 1911-1920. The collection has also been digitized and can be searched and viewed online through the Missouri Digital Library at: http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?page=index;c=umkcwwismic.

Visit the online exhibit, The Voices And Music Of World War I, featuring selected titles from the World War I Sheet Music Collection as well as original sound recordings from the Marr Sound Archives. The web project is a joint initiative between the Kenneth J. LaBudde Department of Special Collections and the Marr Sound Archives, in cooperation with the National World War I Museum at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.

Special Collections is a non-circulating and non-browsing resource center. The Special Collections Reading Room is open to researchers Monday through Friday during the academic year. Public service hours for the current semester are listed at http://library.umkc.edu/spec-col/index.html#hours but researchers are encouraged to call ahead for verification of hours due to University intersessions and other events. Special Collections is located on the fourth floor of the Miller Nichols Library at 5100 Rockhill Road in Kansas City, Missouri. All inquiries concerning access to the collections should be addressed to Special Collections Library Information Specialists Teresa Gipson or Kelly McEniry.