Event—Public Programming

Some Little “Bitty-Bits”: The Great War, the Driscoll Collection, and a New Digital Archive

When the Newberry acquired James Francis Driscoll's remarkable collection of American sheet music, it took care to preserve his idiosyncratic but useful system of categories. Among Driscoll's holdings were eight boxes-about 1750 items-of music related to The Great War. As part of the Newberry's contribution to the World War I centennial, these have been digitized and are now available on line. William Brooks introduces this new resource, demonstrates its use, and explores some of its musical and historical implications.