Fireworks have been around since the Han Dynasty in China (200 B.C.E.), when hollow bamboo sticks were thrown into fires to expand and eventually explode. Chemicals were soon added to […]
Sheet Music Deep Dive: Fireworks
Sheet Music Deep Dive: Parrots
Animal lovers have been keeping birds as pets for hundreds if not thousands of years—they can be found throughout history from Egyptian hieroglyphs to homing pigeons, and in White House […]
Sheet Music Deep Dive: Tin Pan Alley
This week, rather than diving into a unique subject heading from the Lester Levy Sheet Music Collection, I decided to share a teaser for an upcoming map project. Before Times […]
Sheet Music Deep Dive: Balloons
In 1793, Jean-Pierre Blanchard became the first to fly a balloon over the English channel. 8 years later, he took off from a Philadelphia prison yard in the first manned […]
Sheet Music Deep Dive: Ferris Wheels
The original Ferris wheel was unveiled at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, designed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. Leading up to the fair, the revolutionary attraction was heavily […]
Sheet Music Deep Dive: Prohibition
The temperance movement in the United States started in the 18th century, advocating for the abstention from alcohol and drugs. Organizations including the Anti Saloon League and Womens Christian Temperance […]
Sheet Music Deep Dive: Volcanoes
During my sophomore year of music school, I took a class in earth science. There I learned about the loudest sound in recorded history—the 1883 eruption of the Krakatoa volcano […]
Sheet Music Deep Dive: Flowers
With Spring flowers in full bloom, this week’s deep dive celebrates the many floral lithograph covers in the Levy Sheet Music Collection. It took a while to choose my favorites […]
Sheet Music Deep Dive: Insects
Now that it’s Spring in Baltimore and cicadas are starting to emerge from their seventeen-year sleep, I thought this week would be a good time to dive into the collection’s […]
Sheet Music Deep Dive: Aerialists
Scrolling through the alphabetical list of subjects in the Levy collection, one that caught my eye early on was “aerialists.” I wasn’t expecting to see many songs in this category, […]