Newberry Library - Il Bacio--The Kiss

Title Il Bacio--The Kiss—Waltz

Creator Driscoll, J. Francis, (James Francis), 1875-1959

Date 1770-1959

Subjects Songs, Popular music, Music, Dance music, Minstrel music, Music title pages, Musicals, African American composers, Sports, Black people

Summary The Driscoll sheet music collection consists of well over 80,000 pieces of sheet music, divided into twenty sections by the collector, with many further subdivisions under each main section. There is considerable overlap between the Sections: one may find the same piece of sheet music in Illustrated Imprints as in History and Politics, and also in Type collection, for example. Some sections or parts of sections have been removed from the original groupings and cataloged separately in the Newberry's online catalog; they can be searched by author, title, or subject, but not by original grouping. The sections where music has been removed and cataloged separately are: Section 1: Early American Imprints; Section 4: Publishers' Imprints; Section 5: Illustrated Imprints; Section 12: Ethnic and Religious; Section 18: Foreign Imprints; and Section 19: Books.

Biographical/Historical Note James Francis Driscoll (1875-1959) was born into a prominent family in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was by profession a civil engineer, but music was always his passion. He was for many years the organist at Boston's Sacred Heart Cathedral and also its choral director. Having a great interest in history, he lectured before the Brookline Historical Society and the Bostonian Society. As early as the 1890s, however, Driscoll was well on his way to amassing one of the largest collections of American sheet music extant. Interested in history, fascinated by the graphic arts, and devoted to music, his interest never flagged. His children related anecdotes of the times when as youngsters, they spent many Saturdays trailing after their father as he made the rounds of book dealers, pawn shops, junk yards and auction houses. Driscoll made it his policy to swap less perfect pieces and duplicates in favor of as perfect specimens as could be found. He was famous (or infamous, depending on one's point of view) among others of the music-collecting fraternity for his sharp bargaining, and his reluctance to part with any of his "highspots".

Format Scores, Songs, Sheet music

Link to Catalog View record

Call Number Driscoll Box 350

BibID 991684068805867

Rights Status Copyright Not Evaluated

Contributing Institution Newberry Library

Newberry Open Access Policy The Newberry makes its collections available for any lawful purpose, commercial or non-commercial, without licensing or permission fees to the library, subject to these terms and conditions.

IIIF Resource Type Canvas

Size 3799px × 4923px 53.54 MB

File Created 12/18/2014

Filename 991684068805867_driscoll_bx_350_waltz.tif

Unique Identifier NL11NBHI

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