Jessamine: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Sheet music for the song Jessamine. The front cover of the sheet music features an illustration of a woman at center, surrounded by a flower border. A black and white photograph of a woman in blackface appears in bottom right corner with a caption in black type that reads: [Artie Hall]. Black type on front cover reads: [JESSAMINE / SONG / WORDS & MUSIC / by / ALBERT GUMBLE]. The publisher’s information is at the bottom of the cover and reads: [JEROME H REMICK & CO. Successors to WHITNEY WARNER PUB. CO. NEW YORK - DETROIT]. The back side of the front cover in black ink has an advertisement and music for a shorter song titled: [“My Irish Molly O”]. The interior of the sheet music contains three pages of music bars and notes for the song Jessamine in black ink. The back cover has an advertisement for other songs the publisher has printed.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1905
• Subject of: Artie Hall, American, died 1906
• Composed by: Albert Gumble, 1883 - 1946
• Published by: Jerome H. Remick & Company, American
• Owned by: Vernon Sugg McDonald, American, 1906 - 1982
• Owned by: Mary Elizabeth Sugg, American, 1839 - 1915
• Type: sheet music
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 13 3/8 × 10 5/8 in. (34 × 27 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: Minstrel (Music)
• Object number: 2014.275.18
• 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 displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.