Selections of Plantation Songs As Sung By Donavin's Famous Tennesseeans: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A rectangular paper booklet of sheet music. Front cover, pink with black type, is borderd by elaborate decorations, especially in the corners, and reads [ORGANIZED A.D. 1873 / Selections of Plantation Songs / AS SUNG BY] at the top, with [THE WORLD RENOWNED / COLORED VOCALISTS / Permanent Address, Delaware, O.] vertically on the left center, and [The Famous Company / RE-ORGANIZED 1881] vertically on the right, with a black-and-white depiction of a man, J.W. Donavin, in profile in an oval shape between, with [DONAVIN'S FAMOUS TENNESSEEANS] along the bottom. Interior pages, four (4) total front and back for each, are music sheets with four staff lines on each side. Songs include "Rise! Shine! And Give God The Glory," "Steal Away To Jesus," and "Good News! The Chariot is a Coming." The first and last pages give a "Decennial Review" written by J.W. Donavin. Back cover, pink with black type, reads [F.T. EVANS. / Gas Power / BOOK & JOB PRINTER / And Binder. / Delaware, Ohio.] in the center. Handwritten in top left corner of reverse, in pencil, reads [M8020/21].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1883
• Created by: Donavin's Famous Tennesseeans, American, founded 1873
• Type: sheet music
• Medium: ink on paper, metal
• Dimensions: closed: 5 × 6 11/16 × 1/8 in. (12.7 × 17 × 0.3 cm)
• Dimensions: open: 5 × 12 7/8 × 1/8 in. (12.7 × 32.7 × 0.3 cm)
• Place depicted: Tennessee, United States, North and Central America
• Place printed: Delaware, Delaware County, Ohio, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Topic: Spirituals (Music)
• Object number: 2014.3.19
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Paxton and Rachel Baker
• 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.