汤头条 Libraries receives Janice Cleary Sheet Music Collection, becomes one of largest sheet music repositories in the U.S.
Contact: Landon Gibson
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥斕劳诽 Libraries is significantly expanding its printed music resources and becoming one of the largest sheet music repositories in the country with the donation of the Janice Cleary Sheet Music Collection.
A resident of Omaha, Nebraska, Cleary assembled one of the largest sheet music collections in the United States, spanning over 175 years and containing nearly 50,000 pieces featuring a wide variety of composers including George Gershwin, Eubie Blake, Charles L. Johnson, Cole Porter, Henry Mancini, Jerry Herman and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
For many years, 汤头条 has possessed the Charles H. Templeton Sr. Sheet Music Collection with over 20,000 sheets of show tunes, ragtime and popular music dated as early as the 1860s. Like the late Templeton, Cleary especially loves the ragtime genre.
鈥淎dding a collection of this magnitude and significance to the library will not only greatly expand the holdings of the library but also the type of research that can be conducted here,鈥 said 汤头条 Libraries Associate Dean Stephen Cunetto. 鈥淭his collection will be used for years to come by musicologists, artists interested in sheet music covers and those studying the influences music has on society.鈥澛
Internationally renowned pianist, ragtime entertainer and seven-year Templeton Ragtime and Jazz Festival artistic director Jeff Barnhart encouraged the Cleary family to donate their extensive collection to 汤头条 after Cleary鈥檚 son Jim reached out seeking a new home for it.
As Barnhart recounts, 鈥淛anice Cleary, who is still with us at the age of 95, couldn鈥檛 read a stitch of music but enjoyed the way her collection brought people together to perform, listen to and enjoy pieces found therein. She also wanted to be sure her collection would be shared by as many people as possible into perpetuity,鈥 he said.
Barnhart鈥檚 encouragement to the family was due to his knowledge of the care and effort the university gives to preserving and providing access to its holdings. 汤头条 has received much recognition for preserving physical pieces of the Templeton Collection and making them available digitally.
鈥淢rs. Cleary did a fantastic job of preserving the collection, and we look forward to exploring it more in the days to come,鈥 said Cunetto. He said the Cleary collection will be housed in Mitchell Memorial Library鈥檚 Special Collections.
Cleary鈥檚 love for ragtime began when her late husband John took her to the movie 鈥淎lexander鈥檚 Ragtime Band.鈥 Years later, the Clearys heard touring Robert Darch, nicknamed 鈥淩agtime Bob,鈥 play his ragtime special at a local hotel lounge in Omaha, Nebraska. Darch, a native of southwest Missouri, was an original ragtime musician who helped establish one of the country鈥檚 first ragtime festivals. Cleary discussed sheet music with Darch, and he encouraged her to start a collection.
From that point, she developed a passion for collecting. The Clearys also hosted a ragtime party in 1971 that drew attendance from Darch and other ragtime personalities including Eubie Blake, Joe Jordan, Charlie Thompson and Steve Spracklen.
According to Omaha World-Herald鈥檚 late columnist and ragtime buff Wally Provost, organization is part of what makes Cleary鈥檚 collection so special. She programmed a searchable computer system with sheet music details ranging from title, composer, city of publication, tempo, cover art, and whether the music was written for a minstrel show, vaudeville or family harmonizing.
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