Vaughn
Taylor Bornet Sheet Music Collection
1895-1936
4 linear feet
NOTE: A paper copy
of the finding aid,
with container list,
is available at the
Atlanta University
Center Archives for
in-house consultation
and may be obtained
for a fee.
This collection of sheet music was donated
by Dr. Vaughn Davis Bornet and named in memory
of
his father, Vaughn Taylor Bornet. An engineer
by occupation and “stride piano” player
by avocation, Vaughn Taylor Bornet sometimes
played music for silent films in local theaters.
This collection of sheet music reflects Vaughn
Taylor Bornet’s varied musical interests. The
sheet music collection dates range from 1895
through 1936 and features popular musical themes
which emerged in the United States at the turn of
the 20th century. The selections include melodies,
overtures, lullabies, marching tunes, Negro spirituals,
tributes to World War I, and salutes to American
theater. Notable among the compositions are works
by George Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein, Irving Berlin,
Victor Herbert, George M. Cohan, Al Jolson, Rodgers & Hart,
John Philip Sousa; and Johann Strauss. There are
also a few titles by African American composers and
lyricists James Weldon and Rosamond Johnson, Bob
Cole, Harvey T. Burleigh, Will Marion Cook, and poetic
compositions of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Publishing
houses represented in the collection include Joseph
W. Stern, T. B. Harms, Mark Witmark and Sons, Leo
Feist and Edward Marks. Beautifully detailed illustrations
grace the covers of many of the works with both colorfully
exotic international themes and homespun renderings
of small town USA. Additionally, minstrel scenes,
whose vernacular negatively stereotyped African Americans,
are among the illustrations. A unique item in the
collection is the Eclipse Motion Picture Folio, compiled
by Arthur Lange. This booklet of musical scores was
played as accompaniment to silent films. |