Songs and sheet music were important media for highlighting—and celebrating—popular topics in a time before records, radio, and television. Many extended families enjoyed musical entertainment in parlors on Sunday afternoons, and some songs supported emerging social causes. “Bird Song” is a tribute to the Audubon Society of America where songwriter Mrs. C. S. Courtenay envisions a future where birds can freely roam where “the hunter and dog cannot find thee.”
C. S. Courtenay (likely 1838–1935)
“Bird Song”
Needham, MA: C. S. Courtenay, 1912
James Francis Driscoll Collection
T. P. Ryder (1836–87)
“Bird Songs”
Chicago: White, Smith, and Company, 1882
James Francis Driscoll Collection
Albert E. Short (1891–1937)
“In Bluebird Land”
Chicago: Will Rossiter, 1921
James Francis Driscoll Collection
Winging It: A Brief History of Human’s Relationship with Birds, runs through September 27, 2025, in the Hanson Gallery.