James A. Bland's Great Ethiopian Songs: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Lithographed sheet music for the minstrel song "In the Evening by the Moonlight" composed by James A. Bland. The folio is comprised of two (2) sheets of off-white paper printed in black ink, one (1) large sheet folded once to make two (2) leaves, and one (1) center sheet with no fold, resulting in a total of five (5) printed pages and one blank page. The first page features a line-drawing portrait of Bland at the center of the top banner, with text that reads: [JAMES A [portrait] BLAND's / AUTHOR OF "IN THE MORNING BY THE BRIGHT LIGHT." / THE BEST ETHIOPIAN SONG WRITER IN THE WORLD / AUTHOR OF "OH'DEM GOLDEN SLIPPERS" "SONGS OF HAM." / GREAT ETHIOPIAN SONGS/ KEEP DEM GOLDEN GATES WIDE OPEN, DE ANGELS AM A COMING. / TAKE GOOD CARE OF MOTHER / _IN THE EVENING BY THE MOONLIGHT.] Below is a two-part illustration covering the bottom half of the page. At proper left is a caricatured depiction of a Black church service, with a minister at a pulpit in the middle of the image, trees in the background to the proper left and choir members in robes with hands raised to the right. At the proper right are angels in robes with wings flying in front of open heavenly gates with the sun shining through. Below these images, more text is printed: [5 / HITCHCOCK PUBLISHING COMPANY, / 49 Eighth Avenue, near Horatio Street / To be had also at 7 Barclay Street, near Broadway]. The second page is blank. The third through fifth pages are the music and lyrics for the song. At the bottom of first page is printed: [Copyright, 1880, by BENJ. W. HITCHCOCK]. The back page is covered with advertisements for music books and instruction in instruments including violin, organ, cornet, piano, and banjo.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1904
• Composed by: James Bland, American, 1854 - 1911
• Published by: Hitchcock Publishing Company, American, founded 1895
• Type: sheet music
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W (closed): 14 × 10 5/8 in. (35.5 × 27 cm)
• Place printed: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Composers (Musicians)
• Topic: Minstrel (Music)
• Topic: Music
• Object number: 2014.63.82.7
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• 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: No known copyright restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.