Alexander Don't You Love Your Baby No More?: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Sheet music for the song Alexander Don't You Love Your Baby No More? The front cover of the sheet music features an illustration of An African American woman talking to a sleeping man through a window in red, green and black ink. There are two photographs with a green hue on the bottom half of the cover. The larger photograph is of five people with the caption that reads: [Pauline Wells / and her / Plantation Quartette]. The second smaller photograph is of Harry Von Tilzer. The caption reads: [Harry Von Tilzer / Our Trade Mark]. Red and black type on the top of the cover reads, [TERRIFIC COON HIT BY THE WRITERS OF "HANNAH WON'T YOU OPEN THAT DOOR?" / ALEXANDER / DON'T YOU LOVE YOUR BABY NO MORE?]. Offset in black type to the proper left of the cover the text reads: [CAN'T YOU SEE THE RAIN AND HAIL AM FASTLY FALLING, / ALEXANDER. / DON'T YOU HEAR YOU LADY LOVE A-SOFTLY CALLING, / ALEXANDER, / TAKE ME TO YOUR HEART AGAIN AND CALL ME HONEY, / ALL I WANT IS LOVIN', I DON'T WANT YOUR MONEY, / ALEXANDER, TELL ME, / DON'T YOU LOVE YOUR BABY NO MORE?]. The bottom of the cover has a text box that reads: [WORDS BY / ANDREW B. STERLING / MUSIC BY / HARRY VON TILZER]. A publishing logo reads: [Harry Von Tilzer / Music Publishing Co. / 37 W 28 St New York also Chicago.Frisco.London]. The interior of the sheet music has four pages of music notes and bars in black ink. The back cover has a sample of another song in green ink, titled [Coax Me.].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1904
• Written by: Andrew B. Sterling, American, 1874 - 1955
• Composed by: Harry Von Tilzer, American, 1872 - 1946
• Published by: Harry Von Tilzer Music Publishing Co., American, founded 1902
• Owned by: Mary Elizabeth Sugg, American, 1839 - 1915
• Owned by: Vernon Sugg McDonald, American, 1906 - 1982
• Type: sheet music
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 13 7/8 × 11 in. (35.2 × 27.9 cm)
• Place collected: Sonora, Tuolumne County, California, United States, North and Central America
• Place printed: New York City, New York County, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Blackface
• Topic: Minstrel (Music)
• Topic: Stereotypes
• Object number: 2014.275.8
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Sylvia Alden Roberts
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.