“Mother's Paisley Shawl”: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This sheet music is for the song “Mother's Paisley Shawl” from the musical comedy Maytime in Erin. The song’s lyrics were written by George Kershaw and the music was composed by Walter Scanlan. The sheet music was published by Waterson, Berlin, and Snyder Company, in 1922. The green and white cover features a circular inset image of Walter Scanlan, who starred in Maytime in Erin, which was produced by George M. Gatts. There is a small illustration of a castle in the lower left of the cover.

Walter J. Scanlan (born Walter Van Brunt, 1892-1971) was an American tenor and pioneer in the early sound recording industry. Scanlan made several wax cylinder recordings on Blue Amberol Records, manufactured by Thomas Edison, Inc. in the mid-1910s.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1922
• depicted (sitter): Scanlan, Walter
• publisher: Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co.
• Object Name: sheet music
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 12 in x 9 in; 30.48 cm x 22.86 cm
• place made: United States: New York, New York
• ID Number: 1983.0424.008
• accession number: 1983.0424
• catalog number: 1983.0424.008
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.