While the nascent recording industry was still developing, sheet music remained the most popular way of distributing music through the turn of the century. The women who did sex work in Storyville were known to shop at Werlein’s on Canal Street and other music stores to purchase sheet music for practicing in their off-hours and making requests of professors at night. Though New Orleans had a number of music publishing houses, the majority of the most popular songs came from northern publishers. Stark and Son out of St. Louis, a leading distributor of ragtime, and the various publishing houses of New York’s Tin Pan Alley were particularly prominent during this period. Southern themes and stereotypical depictions of African Americans were popular advertising mechanisms employed on sheet music covers, as were the musical types of the songs (blues, rag, stomp) and the dances for which the songs were appropriate (one-step, two-step, foxtrot), though neither was always correctly identified. The sheet music covers reproduced here represent popular songs from Storyville’s existence.
“At a Georgia Campmeeting”
by Kerry Mills
New York: F. A. Mills, 1897
The Historic New Orleans Collection, The William Russell Jazz Collection, acquisition made possible by the Clarisse Claiborne Grima Fund, MSS 526, 92-48-L.290
“Maple Leaf Rag”
by Scott Joplin
St. Louis: John Stark and Son, 1899
The Historic New Orleans Collection, The William Russell Jazz Collection, acquisition made possible by the Clarisse Claiborne Grima Fund, MSS 526, 92-48-L.312
“Creole Belles”
by J. Bodewalt Lampe
Detroit: Whitney-Warner, 1900
The Historic New Orleans Collection, The William Russell Jazz Collection, acquisition made possible by the Clarisse Claiborne Grima Fund, MSS 526, 92-48-L.306
“Oh! Didn’t He Ramble”
by Will Handy
New York: Jos. W. Stern and Co., 1902
The Historic New Orleans Collection, The William Russell Jazz Collection, acquisition made possible by the Clarisse Claiborne Grima Fund, MSS 526, 92-48-L.288
“Dill Pickles”
by Charles L. Johnson
Kansas City, MO: Carl Hoffman, 1906
The Historic New Orleans Collection, The William Russell Jazz Collection, acquisition made possible by the Clarisse Claiborne Grima Fund, MSS 526, 92-48-L.298
“Some of These Days”
by Shelton Brooks
Chicago: Will Rossiter, 1910
The Historic New Orleans Collection, The William Russell Jazz Collection, acquisition made possible by the Clarisse Claiborne Grima Fund, MSS 526, 92-48-L.305
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band”
by Irving Berlin
Paris: Éditions Edouard Salabert (Francis Salabert), 1912
The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2013.0366.3This song was originally published in 1911.
“Pretty Baby”
by Tony Jackson and Egbert van Alstyne, music; Gus Kahn, lyrics
New York: Jerome H. Remick and Co., 1916
The Historic New Orleans Collection, The William Russell Jazz Collection, acquisition made possible by the Clarisse Claiborne Grima Fund, MSS 526, 92-48-L.310
“Mamma’s Baby Boy”
by John A. St. Cyr and Armand J. Piron
New Orleans: Williams and Piron, 1917
The Historic New Orleans Collection, 98-220-RL