Posted on behalf of colleagues:

In celebration of the upcoming election, twenty-nine pieces of sheet music selected from presidential campaigns from 1868 to 1920 have been added to the Library of Congress's Performing Arts Encyclopedia at http://www.loc.gov/performingarts/. These songs extol the worthiness of those who became president, such as Ulyesses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, and Woodrow Wilson, as well as those who lost the elections, such as William Jennings Bryan and Horace Greely. Third parties also are featured in these songs, including the Greenback Party, the Labor Party and the Bull Moose Party.

The link to the digitized sheet music may be found in the center column of the Encyclopedia's Home page, under the heading: " Presidential Campaign Songs."

The Performing Arts Encyclopedia also contains a special feature, Patriotic Melodies : < http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/patriotic/patriotic-home.html >--which tells the stories behind many of the songs that have now become part of the American national heritage. A combination of hymns, national songs, music of the theater, radio and television, military themes, and poetry, all of this music demonstrates that while over history many things have changed, this expression of pride and hope remain a constant part of the American experience.

Please contact the Library of Congress's Performing Arts Reading Room for further information:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-perform.html .

The Performing Arts Reading Room http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/ is the service point for the broad and diverse collections of the Music Division at the Library of Congress. Numbering approximately 12 million items and spanning more than 800 years of Western music history and practice, these holdings include the classified music and book collections, music and literary manuscripts and related artifacts, music-related periodicals and microforms, copyright deposits, and five collections of musical instruments.

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Laura Gottesman
Digital Reference Specialist
The Library of Congress