“Rock Me to Sleep Mother”: Museum Object and Cultural History
“Rock Me to Sleep Mother”: publishing date: 1861. lyricist: Percy, Florence. composer: Hewitt, John H..
The object in the museum catalogue
This sheet music is for the song “Rock Me to Sleep Mother.” The song’s lyrics were written by Florence Percy (the pen name for Elizabeth Akers Allen) and the music was composed by John H. Hewitt. The sheet music was published by Julian A. Selby of Columbia, South Carolina in 1861. The song expresses a desire to give up the sorrows of life and go back to being a child, being rocked to sleep by mother.
Materials, dates and provenance
- publishing date: 1861
- lyricist: Percy, Florence
- composer: Hewitt, John H.
- publisher: Selby, Julian A.
- Object Name: sheet music
- Physical Description: paper (overall material)
- Physical Description: ink (overall material)
- Measurements: overall: 12 in x 9 1/2 in; 30.48 cm x 24.13 cm
- place made: United States: South Carolina, Columbia
- Subject: Christianity
- related event: Civil War
- ID Number: 1983.0365.03
- accession number: 1983.0365
- catalog number: 1983.0365.03
- 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.
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