eScores - The Classical Scores Library

Although eBook and Streaming Audio and Video services are well-known and popular, the San Francisco Public Library also makes scanned musical scores available online.

Many musicians are already aware of the IMSPL - International Music Score Library Project - a site that shares links to scanned music scores in the public domain.  While this site is very complete, including almost all of the standard repertoire of classical music, it has a few drawbacks.  First, because of copyright laws very little contemporary music can be included.  Second, it relies on older editions of works that are not always the best engraved or best edited editions of the works.

The Classical Scores Library created by Alexander Street Press is a subscription database that the San Francisco Public Library offers to our Library card holders.  It holds more than 30,000 works in an online format that can be viewed and printed.

These scores are cataloged and can be found when performing a normal search of our online catalogs.  An author search in our Bibliocommons for Brahms, Johannes produces 550 results.

There are two places to filter results to find scores.  Online scores from the Classical Scores Library can be filtered through Books and printed scores can be filtered through the Music & Sound (both noted on the lower left hand side of the image above with an "X").

Clicking on the triangle to the right of Books reveals a box to limit the search to eBook - the online scores.  Clicking on the triangle to the right of Music & Sound reveals a box to limit the search to Printed Music, or scores.  You can limit your search to either format or to both formats.  It's important to remember that limiting your search to Printed Music (scores) will filter away the online scores.

Once a check mark is planted in the eBook box, your search is immediately filtered to online scores.  Chose the links that say "View electronic book" or "Access restricted to subscribers" (we are subscribers - enter your library card and pin number).

This will open a new window where you can view the score.   Just above the music are a number of icons that will assist you in viewing or print the music.

The default setting is for a single full-sized page to display (the red border around an upright rectangle at the left).  The parallel rectangles to the right will allow two pages to be viewed at a time, often a more convenient way to peruse the score.  The adjacent grid of 16 scores will display thumbnails of multiple pages.  The plus and minus symbols enlarge or shrink the image.  You can specify which page of the score you wish to view, or arrow to navigate through the score.  The right-most icon on this bar prepares the score to be printed out.

The printing options bar that appears allows you to select the pages you wish to print and to change paper size.  The print icon is found near the right end of this bar.

You can also search for eScores using the classic catalog.  Select Advanced Search and use eBook as a material type and your search will be limited to online scores.

If you need any assistance tracking down scores or sheet music, contact the Art, Music and Recreation Center at 415-557-4525.

Music Online From Alexander Street Press

There are 51,888 albums and over 760,000 tracks (and growing) of streaming music in Music Online.

Music Online brings together, on a single cross-searchable platform, the entire suite of Alexander Street Press music in the SFPL subscription.  Every sound file in the collection is indexed by subjects, historical events, genres, people, cultural groups, places, time periods, ensembles, and more...

Because this resource is so rich with music and possibility we wanted to tell you all about the streaming music and bring your attention to the ability to create personal accounts in order to create and save playlists from one session to another. And you can even share them!
The quickest way to get to this resource is to click on eResources and then on eMusic.

The five individual databases that make up SFPL’s subscription are listed here and are worth exploring on their own. 

• American Song - 7,141 albums, equaling 122,211 tracksAmerican Song is a history database that allows people to hear and feel the music from America's past.  The database includes songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, pioneers, and cowboys. Included in the database are the songs of Civil Rights, political campaigns, Prohibition, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, anti-war protests, and more.

 

• Classical Music Library - 14,341 albums, equaling 252,928 tracks This ever growing collection includes recordings from the world's greatest labels including Hyperion, Bridge Records, Sanctuary Classics, Artemis-Vanguard, Hänssler Classic, Vox and many more. Coverage includes music written from the earliest times (e.g. Gregorian Chant) to the present, including many contemporary composers. Repertoire ranges from vocal and choral music, to chamber, orchestral, solo instrumental, and opera.

• Contemporary World Music - 16,701 albums, equaling 209,182 tracks
  This collection delivers the sounds of all regions from every continent. The database contains important genres such as reggae, worldbeat, neo-traditional, world fusion, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, Arab swing and jazz, and other genres such as traditional music - Indian classical, fado, flamenco, klezmer, zydeco, gospel, gagaku, and more.

• Jazz Music Library - 10,756 albums, equaling 133,668 tracks Jazz Music Library is the largest and most comprehensive collection of streaming jazz available online — with thousands of jazz artists, ensembles, albums, and genres.

• Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries - 2,949 albums, equaling 42,405 tracks
  A virtual encyclopedia of the world's musical and aural traditions. The collection provides educators, students, and interested listeners with an unprecedented variety of online resources that support the creation, continuity, and preservation of diverse musical forms.

The help screens are full of useful information about the specific database you are delving into as well as useful tips for searching.  It is possible to search by keyword, browse by genre, labels, people and composers and combine search terms on the "advanced search" screen such as keywords AND limiting by time period.

It is possible to start streaming music using your library card # and PIN immediately.  It is also possible to register for a personal account right in Music Online and create playlists AND share those playlists in different ways!

Searching for Images Class - Links

Patron listening to a record in the Music Department at the Main Library [ca. 1970] - image from the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection.

Below is a list of a number of the links discussed at the June 5, 2013 class Searching for Images presented by the Art, Music & Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public Library.

Image Resources at the Library:

The Art, Music and Recreation Dept.’s Print and Picture File: Information and File Headings [pdf format]

Images - links from the Art, Music and Recreation Center Delicious page

Camio - Catalog of Museum Images Online - a subscription database accessible in the Library, or by logging in with a library card and pin number.

San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection.

Resources From Other Libraries:

Calisphere - California-themed digital images

Library of Congress –Newspaper Photograph Morgues (a list).

Library of Congress – Prints and Photographs Online Catalog

New York Public Library Picture Collection Online

Government Websites:

Image Gallery from the United States Department of Agriculture.

United States Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library.

United States Department of Defense Multimedia.

United States Antarctic Program Photo Library.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health Image Library. 

Federal Emergency Management Agency Photo Library.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Images.

United States Geological Survey Photographic Library.

Search Engines and Websites:
Google Images. Once you have search results follow the “gear” /   and select Advanced Image Search. Here you can limit by image size, aspect ratio, colors in image, type of image, region, site or domain, safesearch, file type, usage rights.

Life Photo Archive Hosted by Google (available for non-commercial use).

Digital Librarian: Images - an exhaustive list of links.

Image * After - user-uploaded free images and textures.

stock.xchng - user-uploaded free stock imagery.

morgueFile - free high resolution stock imagery.

Wikimedia Commons - the online media database of the Wikipedia.

The Music Index Online

We subscribed to the Music Index from its first issue in 1949 through its final printed volumes in 2009.  The Music Index has simultaneously existed as a searchable database since the 1990s.  We are now happy to be able to offer the Music Index online to all San Francisco Public Library library card holders.

The Music Index online is a very comprehensive resource.  It thoroughly indexes nearly 500 music periodicals and partially indexes many more.  The magazines indexed here range from the popular to scholarly.

One important fact to note is that retrospective indexing of the earlier print volumes only goes back to the early 1970s.  For that reason it may still sometimes be necessary to return to the annual printed indexes.  The extent of the details indexed also varies over time.  The more recently indexed articles tend to have fuller description, and are thus more easily searched.

Since this database contains such a vast amount of information, it pays to use the Advanced Search feature.

Here one can limit the search to:

Authors (sometimes by full name, sometimes using only initials for surnames)
Full Text
Title of the article
Subject Terms used by the database (unfortunately these are not the same as those used in the print index)
Abstract Text - the text of an article summary, sometimes written by the authors (note that many indexed articles have no abstract)
Author-Supplied Keywords (names, terms and concepts highlighted by the authors)
Geographic Terms (this may be the country, state, province, or city)
People (the principals discussed in the article) 
Reviews and Products (to search for reviews of books, recordings, musical instruments, television programs, stage productions, etc.)
Company Entry (the manufacturer of a product, an organization or a company)
Publication Name (the name of journal)
ISSN - the International Standard Serial Number (may be useful if a journal has changed names over time)
ISBN - the International Standard Book Number (does not appear to be used in this database)
Accession Number - is the unique number the database assigns to each entry

The resulting information is broken down into a number of fields, many of corresponding to the search limiters. Any of the text in blue is a link that can be followed.  Thus, in the example below, we are one click away from a listing of articles in Fanfare magazine, articles written by Christopher Abbot, and articles discussing John Adams.

The note "This title is held locally" reflects that the Library subscribes to Fanfare.  The Music Index online, however, is still a little buggy.  The result notes that this article is available in full text in another one of our other databases - Academic Search Complete.  Unfortunately, while that database does index and provide full text for many reviews by Christopher Abbot in Fanfare magazine, it omits the above article.   Thankfully, if one follows the blue link for the product "San Francisco Symphony at 100" one sees abbreviated version of this entry that includes a link to a .pdf file of this review.

One important feature of this database is the ability to refine search results.  Methods of refining your results include limiting them to only those with full text articles.  While the number of full text articles in the Music Index online represents only a very small percentage, the total number of full text articles is actually substantial.  (It also pays to check our online catalog to see whether we have full text of an article in non-Ebsco databases, for instance JStor).

This option also provides the opportunity to limit the results to a given range of dates, to the type of publication, to subjects within the wider search, to a given journal, and by place. 

Another important feature of the Music Index is that it is possible to simultaneously search other Ebsco databases.  Following the "Choose Databases" link above the search window, one can include other related databases like the Film and Television Literature Index, the International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance, the Readers' Guide Retrospective, the Art Index Retrospective and the Art Full Text.

For instance, one might find results for a group like the San Francisco Mime Troupe listed in multiple databases.  A cross-database search produces 72 results, while a search of the Music Index alone results in only 6 articles.

Please feel free to call our reference desk if you need any help using this powerful research tool.

Books, CDs and Scores to Get Ready for the 12th Annual Hardly Bluegrass Festival Festival

Books, Recordings and Scores to Get Ready for the 12th Annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival 2012 on October 5,6,7  in Golden Gate Park

Now in its 12th year, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is an annual, free festival held in Golden Gate Park during the first weekend of October. When the festival began in 2001, there were only 2 stages, 9 bands performed, and there was still plenty of room to walk around Speedway Meadow. Over the years it has grown to an astounding 6 stages with over 90 acts and estimations of 800,000 in attendance for the three days of the festival. Initially, the festival focused specifically on bluegrass bands and included big names such as Ralph Stanley, Hazel Dickens, Earl Scruggs, and Alison Krauss. More recently, the lineup has expanded far beyond “strictly bluegrass” to include rock groups and musicians such as Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello, and even comedian Steve Martin and his band.

This will be the first year of the festival since benefactor and banjo player, Warren Hellman passed away. Luckily, for festival fans, Mr. Hellman’s will has provided for the event's continued funding for at least another decade. Don’t miss this incredible 3 day festival with one of the most impressive lineups of any festival running in recent years. It’s also a good idea to plan what bands you want to catch ahead of time to ensure you beat the crowds while you rush to the next stage. Here are some books and music suggestions available at the San Francisco Public Library to expand your bluegrass repertoire.


Scores

The American Fiddler: Old-time, Bluegrass, Cajun, and Texas Style Fiddle Tunes of the USA, selected and arranged by Edward Huws Jones (Boosey & Hawkes, 1998).

Banjo Song Book: A Collection of Over 75 Bluegrass, Old-time Fiddle, and Classical tunes in Tablature for the 5-string Banjo by Tony Trischka (Oak Publications, 1977).

Monroe Instrumentals: 25 Bill Monroe Favorites (Mel Bay Publications, 2002)

Parking Lot Picker's Songbook: Banjo Edition by Bill Evans & Dix Bruce (Mel Bay Publications, 2007).

Rare Bird Alert by Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers (Homespun Tapes, 2011).

 
Books

Banjo Camp!: Learning, Picking & Jamming with Bluegrass and Old-time Greats by Zhenya Gene Senyak (Lark Books, 2008).
 
The Bill Monroe Reader, edited by Tom Ewing (University of Illinois Press, 2000).

Rural Roots of Bluegrass: Songs, Stories & History by Wayne Erbsen (Native Ground Music, 2003). Also available as a streaming audio book. 

Will The Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music In America, edited By Paul Kinsgbury And Alanna Nash (New York : DK, 2006). 

Working Girl Blues: The Life and Music of Hazel Dickens by Hazel Dickens and Bill C. Malone (University of Illinois Press, 2008)


Recordings

Appalachian Bluegrass Legacy: 25 Vintage Bluegrass & Mountain Classics (Rural Rhythm Records, 2009).
  
Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys: All the Classic Releases, 1937-1949 (JSP Records, 2003).

Classic Bluegrass from Smithsonian Folkways (Smithsonian Folkways Records, 2002). Also available as streaming audio.

The Mountain by Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band (New West, 2009).

** We have additional recordings by Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Doc Watson, Ralph Stanley and other Hardly Strictly Bluegrass favorites.





Online Databases with Streaming Audio

Many wonderful bluegrass and folk recordings are available through our music databases. Go to homepage - sfpl.org.  Select “eLibrary” from the top navigation bar, then “eMusic” from the drop-down menu.  From the eMusic page, the following databases offer a great deal of American folk and down-home music:

American Song
Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries

CAMIO - Catalog of Art Museum Images Online

The Art, Music and Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public Library is pleased to be able to offer CAMIO to our patrons.  CAMIO, which stands for Catalog of Art Museum Images Online, is a product of OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) which also provides the popular WorldCat international database of library catalogs.

CAMIO is a digital collection of about 95,000 art images from 25 institutions.  These are primarily American and include some of the most important museums in the United States.  Two San Francisco collections are very prominently featured in CAMIO: the database includes 17,511 images from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (the combined De Young and Legion of Honor collections) and 2,345 images from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Many of these museums include digital images on their own websites.  As those of you who consult and use reproductions in your work and research, the character and quality of reproductions can vary from source to source.

For example, the website for the Legion of Honor includes a reproduction of the Claude Monet painting Water Lilies.  This online reproduction allows one to see a thumbnail of the entire painting and additionally allows one to view portions of the painting at various magnifications within a relatively small frame.

The image of Water Lilies in CAMIO is also available to magnify or shrink within a larger frame.  Additionally it is possible to open a new window with a higher-resolution image, and to download that image.  CAMIO allows its images to be used for personal and educational non-commercial purposes.

In this instance the Legion of Honor website has one important feature lacking in CAMIO - a biography of Monet that may help one's understanding of the painting.  It is also evident that the two databases show the painting with differing color levels.  Of course, this often depends upon the lighting used when the image was photographed.  It's not always possible to say which reproduction is truest to an original that is probably impossible to capture in its full richness and beauty.

CAMIO has four search methods.  There is a simple keyword search box in the upper left hand corner of the homepage.  This search often gives a long list of results (in the case of Monet there are 115 works).  The left hand column of the results screen in this search mode also provides an opportunity for the user to further refine their search by the categories of format, creator, date and subject.

This homepage also provides a link for "collections of prominent museums" that allows one to browse by institution.  At the bottom of the homepage there are also links to a number of the art mediums that are represented in the database.  Finally there is the advanced search where it is possible to search by keyword strings in a variety of ways and also to limit the search by museum collection.

One final access point to CAMIO is through OCLC's WorldCat database.  All of the images in the database include a bibliographic record and provide a live link to the image for database users in the Library.
   

Articles and Databases at San Francisco Public Library

Bio-bibliographical Index of Musicians in the United States of America Since Colonial Times

The Bio-bibliographical Index of Musicians in the United States of America Since Colonial Times (1942) is another one of the many scholarly projects of the New Deal and the Works Project Administration.  This work was actually created under the auspices of several organizations including the District of Columbia Historical Records Survey, Division of Community Service Programs, Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia, the Library of Congress, and the Pan American Union.

Originally published in 1942, the index provides access to information about American musicians from colonial times through the 1930s indexed from 66 sources.  Each entry provides the musician's name, years of birth and death in parentheses, as well as their musical profession.  If a musician was foreign born, their name is preceded by an asterisk and their nationality is provided.  There are abbreviations listed that referred to each source, followed by pages numbers for where information can be found.

Because a large percentage of these musicians indexed here are unknown to us today, this reference work is an excellent source to consult when trying to track down obscure musical figures of the distant past.

This index was the second volume of the Music Series of the Pan American Union, an organization promoting regional cooperation.  All of the introductory material in the book is translated into Spanish and Portuguese.  Our copy is the 2nd edition, published in 1956.  The value of the book is evidenced by its subsequently being reprinted twice in the 1970s.

The Bio-bibliographical Index of Musicians in the United States of America Since Colonial Times has subsequently been scanned by archive.org.  Both the original 1942 edition and the nearly identical 2nd edition from 1956 are available to be perused online.

Bio-bibliographical Index of Musicians in the United States of America from Colonial Times = Indice Bio-bibliografico de Artistas Musicales de los Estados Unidos de America Desde Tiempos Coloniales = Índice Bio-biliográfico de Musicistas dos Estados Unidos da América desde os Tempos Coloniais (Music Section, Pan American Union, 1956).

A.L.A. Portrait Index

The A.L.A. Portrait Index is one of the more venerable tools used by the reference librarian. Published 105 years ago, this volume has not been superseded by any other source.

This project, first proposed at an 1888 meeting of the American Library Association, brought together files from the Index Society of Great Britain, Harpers Magazine, the Philadelphia Library Company and the Boston Athenaeum. These compilers assembled over 115,000 index cards that were assembled into this 1,600 page volume.

The editors and compilers indexed 1,181 titles consisting of a total of 6,216 volumes. The aim of the editors was “to include such material as will make it useful both in small libraries and in large libraries, and in publishing houses and newspaper offices as well.” It may probably fail the small library of today because many of the resources cited may be too old and obscure.

Nevertheless, a search for a portrait of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (the pioneering educator of the deaf), for instance, gives, includes a citation for The History of American Sculpture, by Lorado Taft (Macmillan, 1903), page 313. This page shows a photograph of the Daniel Chester French’s sculpture of Gallaudet with Alice Cogswell. However, even without access to this book itself, one can often locate such public domain titles available as a free scan in at Archive.org and at Google Books.

This index is probably of greater value to the historian than to the artist or art scholar. It includes citations for portraits of people of renown from antiquity to the dawn of the 20th century. Kings, presidents, nobility and statesmen are well-represented, but there are also entries for scientists, authors, social activists, musicians, actors and actresses. The age of the original published images guarantees that they are no longer held under copyright.

Archive.org has also made the A.L.A. Portrait Index available as an Ebook.


A.L.A. Portrait Index; Index to Portraits Contained in Printed Books and Periodicals, compiled with the cooperation of many librarians and others for the Publishing Board of the American Library Association, edited by William Coolidge Lane and Nina E. Browne (Government Printing Office, 1906).

The Sound of Art Hickman and His Orchestra

The San Francisco Public Library subscribes to a number of streaming audio databases found at our eMusic page. One package we offer to our Library card holders is American Song--"a history database that allows people to hear and feel the music from America's past." American Song offers a number of albums released by Archeophone, a label specializing in recordings from the "acoustic era" (pre-1925, the era before microphones). While most of the music presented on this label are in the public domain, and possibly available for free online download, in the American Song database they come package with detailed documentation in liner notes.

Art Hickman and His Orchestra (image source: Big Bands Database Plus)

One treat in this database for San Francisco music history lovers are the two albums, Art Hickman's Orchestra: The San Francisco Sound, volumes 1 and 2. The database contains 50 tracks and two booklets featuring essays by Bruce Vermazen plus extensive visual documentation from Mr. Vermazen's personal collection.

"The guy who started all the dance bands." This is how Joe Laurie, Jr. describes Art Hickman in Vaudeville: From the Honky Tonks to the Palace. Hickman, born June 13, 1886 in Oakland, was a drummer, pianist and dance bandleader. Roger D. Kinkle writes in The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz, 1900-1950 that Hickman was an "early bandleader, pioneer in dance music. Helped establish instrumentation, voicing, style and rhythm of early dance bands." He formed his first band in 1913 was hired to play in the Rose Room at the St. Francis Hotel.

Art Hickman (detail from "Dream of Me," see below)

Evidently Hickman was inspired to include a banjo player in his group after watching African-American musicians perform at Purcell's nightclub on San Francisco's Barbary Coast. According to The Devil's Horn: The Story of the Saxophone, From Noisy Novelty to King of Cool, Hickman's band was the first band to have a saxophone "section" - the tandem of Clyde Doerr and Bert Ralton. In So This Is Jazz, Henry O. Osgood notes that with Hickman's band: "The limelight was focused on the drummer probably for the first time, since Hickman was neither a violinist nor pianist like the usual leader, but master of the drums and traps."

In Jazz on the Barbary Coast, Tom Stoddard gives Hickman credit for being "the first jazz leader to employ only reading musicians... With reading musicians it is easier to create the foundation or background music for a solo improvisation. Hickman's early bands are reported to have used, and probably originated, the solo style of jazz improvisation."

For a time his band was a national recording sensation. According to Joel Whitburn's A Century of Popular Song, Art Hickman & His Orchestra registered five of the top fifteen songs of 1920: "Hold Me," "The Love Nest, "Tell Me, Little Gypsy," "Sweet and Low," and "Peggy." He was offered the position of bandleader on the roof Ziegfeld's New Amsterdam Theatre in New York but he and his musicians turned down the gig because they were "crazy about San Francisco" (see Vermazen's liner notes to volume 1).

You can hear Hickman's band on the CD, The San Francisco Sound, through the American Song database, or at Archive.org.

(image from the Dorothy Starr Sheet Music Collection)

The San Francisco Public Library has the following sheet music co-composed by Art Hickman (songs followed by an asterisk are part of the Dorothy Starr Sheet Music Collection):

"Day By Day In Every Way (I Love You More and More)" * words and music by Art Hickman and Ben Black (Florintine Music Publishing Co., 1923).

"Dream of Me" * words and music by Art Hickman, Ben Black and M. K. Jerome
(Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co., 1921).

"Hold Me" by Art Hickman and Ben Black (Sherman, Clay & Co., c1920).

"June: I Love No One But You," by Art Hickman and Ben Black (Waterson, Berlin & Snyder, 1920).

"Just Plain Folks" words and music by Art Hickman, Ben Black and Neil Moret (Leo. Feist, 1922).

"My Wonder Girl" by Ben Black, Marty Bloom and Art Hickman (Sherman, Clay & Co., 1920).

"Rose Room: Fox Trot Song: In Sunny Roseland" lyrics by Harry Williams; music by Art Hickman (Sherman, Clay & Co., 1918).

"Take Me On A Buick Honeymoon" * words and music by Art Hickman and Ben Black (Howard
Automobile Co., 1922).

"Tears" by Art Hickman and Ben Black (Sherman, Clay & Co., 1918).

"Without You" * words and music by Art Hickman, Ben Black and Neil Moret (Sherman, Clay &
Co., 1922).

"You and I" by Art Hickman and Ben Black (Sherman, Clay & Co., 1919).


Scanned music of Art Hickman's Songs can also be located through the Sheet Music Consortium.

San Francisco Theatre Research (pt. 2)

The front cover of San Francisco Theatre Research, vol. 1, Introduction to the Series

One of our most valued reference resources is now available online. Archive.org with the San Francisco History Center have collaborated to scan the most of the volumes of the San Francisco Theatre Research series created by the Works Progress Administration between 1938 and 1942.

Here is a listing of the volumes scanned to date:

Volume 1 - Introduction To The Series: Stephen C. Massett, singer, writer, showman; Joseph A. Rowe, pioneer circus manager

Volume 2 - Tom Maguire; Dr. David G. (Yankee) Robinson; M.B. Leavitt

Volume 3 - The Starks; The Bakers; The Chapmans

Volume 4 - Junius Brutus Booth, the elder; Junius Brutus Booth, the younger; Edwin Booth

Volume 5 - Lola Montez; Adah Isaacs Menken; Mrs. Judah

Volume 6 - Lotta Crabtree; John McCullough

Volume 9 - The French Theatre in San Francisco; The German Theatre in San Francisco

Volume 10 - The Italian Theatre in San Francisco

Volume 11 - Edwin Forrest; Catherine Sinclair

Volume 12 - Little Theatres

Volume 13 - Minstrelsy

Volume 14 - A History of Burlesque

Volume 15 - Theatre Buildings, part 1

Volume 16 - Famous Playhouses (vol. 1)

Volume 17 - Famous Playhouses (vol. 2)

Volume 20 - James O'Neill

To date, the scanned series lacks volumes 7 and 8, the two volume History of Opera in San Francisco. The Art, Music & Recreation Center has a complete set of the series shelved in our reference room at the call number: 792.079 Un3.

From March 22 through May 31, 2008, our department participated in a Library-wide exhibit for the 75th Anniversary of the New Deal. Our portion of the exhibit largely history and contributions of the Works Project Administration to the arts in San Francisco. The August 11, 2008 entry of our blog discussed the San Francisco Theatre Research series.

The back inside cover of San Francisco Theatre Research, vol. 20, James O'Neill

Grove Music Online Is Now Called Oxford Music Online

The Grove Music Online database has recently been combined with some other databases and is now known Oxford Music Online—named after the Oxford University Press who owns the product.

Searching Oxford Music Online now will produce results for Grove Music Online, The Oxford Dictionary of Music and the Oxford Companion. It is possible to search all three databases separately or togther.

Grove Music Online still includes entries from the The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd Edition, 2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992), and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2nd Edition, 2001).

The Oxford Dictionary of Music provides concise explanations of musical terms and concepts, plus brief biographies of musicians and brief entries about famous musical works. The Oxford Companion to Music is very similar in coverage, but the articles are more expansive and often include a brief bibliography. Both of these resources focus their attention upon Euro-American classical music, though they do give cursory coverage to popular music, world music and jazz music and musicians.

Grove Music Online overlaps considerably with the preceding two resources in subject matter. It, however, provides much more detailed scholarly articles that can sometimes go beyond the understanding of the casual music lover. Since it is an online representation of more than 50,000 articles, its coverage is also much broader. Most articles include a substantial bibliography to assist with further research. Another very important feature of Grove Music Online are the listings of works included with articles about composers.

Oxford Music Online can be accessed at any San Francisco Public Library branch or the Main Library. It is also available anywhere the internet is available to San Francisco Public Library library card holders. From the Library’s homepage follow the Articles and Databases link. From there select the category Art & Music.