|
View the H-Teach Discussion Logs by month
View the Prior Message in H-Teach's September 2009 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] View the Next Message in H-Teach's September 2009 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] Visit the H-Teach home page.
I originally posted this response on H-survey, but I am not sure that it "took." Some of it will repeat what was said here, but some was not there. The following seems a good lead: http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/music/cd.html In the antebellum period, the Hutchinson Family Singers were a popular group. They have a song called "Emancipation" set to the tune that I associate with Old Dan Tucker. On the OAH link, check out their cover of "Song of the Shirt." I would assume that the Folkways label would have many songs, but you should consider Stephen Foster, the "Erie Canal," "Yellow Rose of Texas," and "Dixie" [Lincoln's favorite song]. And, of course, "Yankee Doodle." I recall that in Thomas Dublin's *Women and Work* on the Lowell mill girls, there was a song that either included anti-nun lyrics or was set so an anti-nun song. The album (okay, cd) of songs associated with Ken Burns' "Civil War" has several songs--many of which predate the war, but took on new meanings during the war. Be careful, there are a few tunes of recent vintage included. My recollection is that the "Star Spangled Banner" was set to an English drinking tune---can you find the latter? Here's another link (though I think many of the songs are not historical): http://www.songsforteaching.com/store/social-studies-c-768.html I suspect many "folk songs" (the kind I associate with Girl Scouts or summer camp) have pre Civil War origins (I assume that by Survey I, you mean the first half). There is a songbook of the songs that appear in Laura Ingalls Wilder books that should also be useful. Don't forget hymns as well. As these selections suggest, you are going to have to deal with the fact that the meaning of songs have changed (i.e., Dixie) and that a "true" sample is going to include aspects like Anti-Catholicism or racism. I'd be curious to see your final list and get a report on how it went. It's something I have considered doing for the 2nd half. Nancy Nancy Robertson Indiana University/Purdue University, Indianapolis nmrobert@iupui.edu
|