Don’t you wonder what songs your ancestors hummed while working around the house? or what tunes were the “top 10 hits” of the 18th century? I do. In fact, on one of my Montana trips I picked up a cassette of favorite Civil War era songs, and love popping it in the stereo while I’m working.
I want to do a new family history book this coming year and decided it would be fun to add the score or text to popular songs my family might have known–or maybe even a digital image of published sheet music.
(Below, click to listen to Free America by Lesley Nelson-Burns, lyrics by Dr. Joseph Warren. Thanks to Popular Songs in American History for providing this music clip.)
If you’re working on your family’s book, this might be a project for you too. Or, if you have a family Web site, why not see if you can find a music file (or record yourself singing it) and add it to the site? How fun!
When I went looking for historic music, I found lots of song-filled sites. Here are my favorites:
