Monkey Biz-nessDown in Tennessee

SEMLA Annual MeetingOctober 13, 2006

Columbus State University

presented by

Grover Baker, LibrarianThe Center for Popular Music

Middle Tennessee State University

The Center for Popular Music

A Tennessee Board of Regents

Center of Excellenceat

Middle Tennessee State University

Founded in 1985 Paul Wells, Director

One of sixteen Centers of Excellence in TBR system

Mission:To foster research and scholarship in American popular music, and to promote an appreciation of America’s diverse musical culture.

The Center for Popular Music

Research library and archive

• Open to all researchers

• Reading Room hours– Monday-Friday,

9:00-4:00• Phone

– 615-898-2449• Appointments

– not needed– advisable at times

• Non-circulating collections

• Reproduction– copyright– condition

Access and use

Website: http://popmusic.mtsu.edu/

Publications, media productions, exhibits

• lectures

• symposia

• conferences

• concerts

Public programs

• Music as an aspect of American culture and commerce

• Historical depth; materials from 18th century to the present

• Broad representation of all genres of American vernacular music, both sacred and secular

• Focus on:o Rock and its rootso Vernacular religious musico Music of the region

Scope of collection

• Reference collection of books about music– biographies, discographies,

historical and critical works, reference sources, academic journals

• Music in various formats– recordings, sheet music,

broadsides, song books, hymnals• Related primary source materials

– photographs, playbills, posters, trade catalogs, manuscript collections

Three broad categories of materials

10,000 volumes• historical and critical

works• biographies• discographies• reference sources• serials• all genres• music industry

sources

Reference collection

• Print media– Single song: Sheet

music & broadsides– Multiple songs: Song

books & songsters

• Recordings– Cylinders– Discs: 78, 45 & 33 1/3

rpm– Cassette tapes– Compact discs

Music, fixed and sold as a commodity

• Early American sheet music• Goldstein collection of song

broadsides• Blackface minstrelsy• Confederate imprints• Tennessee imprints• Show and motion picture

music

65,000 pieces of sheet music

Song broadsides

• NEH preservation and access grant

• Over 3,300 broadsides scanned

• Catalog records enhanced

• Full text of lyrics entered and searchable

• Website in progress

Broadside digitization project

• Moffatt collection of 18th century British imprints

• Goldstein collection of pocket songsters

• Hymnals and gospel songbooks

• Personality folios• Instrumental

tutors

7,500 songbooks

• Cylinders to compact discs

• Commercial releases• Field recordings • Oral history

160,000 sound recordings

• Minstrel and blackface performers

• Nashville area club performances

• 19th century theater• Gospel and jubilee

programs

Posters, Playbills & Programs

• Publicity stills• Community bands• Music in the home• Public performances• Instruments • Music and religion

Photographs

• Instruments• Recordings• Printed

music• Recording

equipment• Playback

equipment

Trade catalogs

• Personal papers • Manuscript

music• Business

records• Diaries• Scrapbooks

Manuscripts

• Music about Tennessee and Tennessee history

• Music of Tennesseans

• Products and people of the music business in Tennessee

Tennessee materials at CPM

Songs of battles, generals, events, the home front

• Sheet music, including binders’ volumes

• Broadsides• Songbooks

Exhibits with Stones River National Battlefield

The Civil War in Tennessee

19th century parlor music -- Rags and blues – Gospel -- Music Row Hits

Tennessee music imprintsSheet music

Tennessee music imprintsHymnals and gospel songbooks

• National, regional, and local labels

• LPs, CDs, and singles• Country and rock

wannabes• Documentation of local

musical traditions

Tennessee record labels

Brad McCuen papers

Baldwin Opry Photos

Related TennesseeMusic business collections

• 1,500 recordings• 600 pieces of

sheet music• Songbooks• Movie and concert

posters

Chronicles the people and eventsof Tennessee history by focusing on how Tennessee is thematically represented in music.

John S. Mitchell Collectionof Tennessee Music

• music inspired by or directly related to the Scopes Monkey Trial

• broadened to include any sheet music with a theme of:

– evolution– monkeys/apes

Sheet music – 55 itemsRecordings – 35 items

Scopes trial subgroup

VO L U N T E E R VO I C E S

“build a free, full-text searchable electronic database of 10,000

unique and historically significant items from Tennessee libraries,

museums, and other repositories... [connecting those] libraries,

museums, and archives throughout Tennessee directly to teachers,

students, researchers, and others.” www.volunteervoices.org

Growth of Democracy in Tennessee1. Frontier migration/experiments in representative democracy.2. Jacksonian democracy and Tennessee’s leadership role in the early

republic.3. Anti-democratic impulses: slavery, free people of color, and removal of

Native Americans.4. Debate over slavery and the Secession Crisis, and the Civil War: Tennessee

as a uniquely divided border state.5. Reconstruction and the freedmen: appearance of hitherto undocumented

people in legal records; the fastening of sharecropping on the countryside.6. Taxation and the narrowing of the franchise: “Jim Crow” laws and poll tax.7. Utopian Impulses of the 19th century such as Nashoba, Ruskin, and Rugby.8. New South period and the industrialization of Tennessee.9. Women’s suffrage and Tennessee’s pivotal role in passage of the 19th

Amendment.10.Boss Crump, prohibition, and machine politics in Tennessee.11.Scopes trial, rise of fundamentalism, and public education.12.Tennessee Valley Authority and ‘grass roots democracy.’13.Oak Ridge and the WWII effort in Tennessee.14.Civil rights movement in Tennessee: Highlander School, voter registration

in Fayette County, and Nashville sit-ins.15.Modern Times in Tennessee: papers of modern politicians, media sources,

current census data.

Scopes Trial Subgroup

• music inspired by or directly related to the Scopes Monkey Trial

• broadened to include any sheet music with a theme of:– evolution– monkeys/apes

Sheet music – 55 itemsRecordings – 35 items

John S. Mitchell Collection of Tennessee Music

The Process…Beginning

• retrieved 55 pieces of sheet music• examined each for relevance• identified pieces to be included

55 total pieces7 photocopies

27 monkey songs21 Scopes/evolution songs

Copyright Terms

1 Under the 1909 Act, works published without notice went into the public domain upon publication.

DATE OF WORK

PROTECTED FROM TERM

Published before 1923

In public domain

None

Published from

1923-63

When published

with notice1

28 years + could be renewed for 47 years, now extended by 20 years for a total renewal of 67 years. If

not so renewed, now in public domain

Published from

1964–77

When published

with notice

28 years for first term; now automatic extension of 67

years for second term

Table by Lolly Gasaway http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

The Process…Determining Copyright

Status4 published before 1923

(ready for scanning)

16 published between 1923 – 1963

(check for renewals)

1 published between 1964 – 1977

(not included)

The Process… Checking for Renewals

• http://www.copyright.gov/records/Search registrations and renewals since

1978

• http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/1/8/0/11800/11800-8.zip U.S. Copyright Renewals 1950 – 1977

(Does not include musical works!)

• U.S. Copyright Office Catalog of Copyright Entries... Pt. 5, Music…1891-1977

(microfilm)

The Process… Checking for Renewals

1925 year © registered+ 28 original term1953 renewal year

• To be safe, searched 1951 – 1955

The Process…Determining Copyright

Status

The Process…Determining Copyright

Status

The Process… Checking for Renewals

1925 year © registered+ 28 original term1953 renewal year

• To be safe, searched 1951 – 1955

• Found copyright renewals for 5

• Began scanning remaining 11

The Process… Searching for Copyright

Holders– Music Publishers’ Association of the United States (http://www.mpa.org/) Searchable directories of music publishers and their imprints.

– WATCH File (http://tyler.hrc.utexas.edu/) Database of copyright contacts for writers, artists, and prominent figures in other creative fields.

– ASCAP’s ACE Title Search (http://www.ascap.com/ace/) Database of song titles licensed by ASCAP in the United States.

– BMI Repertoire Search (http://www.bmi.com/search/) Search BMI’s repertoire of > 6.5 million registered works.

– SESAC Repertory (http://www.sesac.com/repertory/repertory_ main.asp) Search the SESAC repertory database.

The Process… Orphan Works

• copyrighted works whose owners may be impossible to identify and locate.

U.S. Copyright Office Report on Orphan Works (http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/)

• perform a good faith, reasonably diligent search for the copyright owner

• provide attribution to the author and copyright owner

The Process… Metadata

Don't Make a Monkey out of Me

Hodgson B. C.

Knoxville, TNVolunteer Pub. Co.1925

EvolutionScopes, John Thomas -- Trials,

litigation, etc.Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882TennesseeDayton (Tenn.)

Now the air is full of language it surely is a sight,

What is this evoloution [sic] and is it wrong or right?

They say we sprang from monkeys, why blame it on the monk,

But lots of folks will hope that this is just a lot of bunk

ChorusPlease don't make a monkey out of me,I never had that kind of pedigree,Mister Darwin may be right and daddy's

tail was long,But way down South in Tennessee they think

that he's dead wrongWhen our folks lived way up in a tree,They surely were in high societyThat evolution line is just a monkey

shine,Please don't make a monkey out of me.

When the wise men get together and find out what is true

Why maybe then we'll all have to go back to the zoo

We'll live up in the tree tops and have no use for huts

And all day long we'll sing a song and feed on cocoanuts

ChorusPlease don't make a monkey out of me,I think that's just a piece of crueltySomewhere coming down the line we had an

accidentetc…

The Process… Digitization

Microtek ScanMaker 9600XL•12" x 17" scanner•1200 x 600 dpi•36-bit color depth, 12-bit grayscale

Original documents scanned at 600 ppi

The Process… Creating Derivative Images

1 A note suggested excluding the extra large images if control over print versions was expected to be an issue. Since there may be copyright restrictions, the extra large images will not be created.

Derivative images were created using Adobe® Photoshop®

Purpose Resolution Long Side

Thumbnail 72 ppi 200 ppi

Default Access 72 ppi 600 ppi

Large 72 ppi 800 ppi

Extra Large1 72 ppi 1000 ppi

Digital Library Center Digitization Standards and Procedures

University of Tennessee Knoxvillehttp://diglib.lib.utk.edu/dlc/techdocs/UT_DigitizationStandards2004.pdf

The Process… Creating Derivative Images

000227-TENN-01.tif

Original TIFFsResolution = 600 ppi

Large JPEGs (-lg.jpg)Resolution = 72 ppiLong side = 800 ppi

Default JPEGs (-def.jpg)

Resolution = 72 ppiLong side = 600 ppi

Thumbnail JPEGs (-thumb.jpg)

Resolution = 72 ppiLong side = 200 ppi

000227-TENN-02.tif 000227-TENN-03.tif 000227-TENN-04.tif 000227-TENN-05.tif 000227-TENN-06.tif

The Results…

The Results…

Lessons Learned

• Search for copyright extensions first

• Read the descriptive information before using a resource

• Most online databases do not contain the complete catalog of works

Lessons Learned

• Plan to multitask while scanning

• Next to researching copyrights, creating the derivative images is the most time consuming task

• Be patient!

Thank you!Thank you!

Questions?Questions?

Monkey Biz-nessDown in Tennessee

Slides 2-27 adapted from a PowerPoint® presentation created by Paul F. Wells and Lacey Stockhem for the Center for Popular

Music

Recording Information:

“The John T. Scopes Trial,” by Carlos B. McAfee

Columbia/15037-D 10" 78 rpmVernon Dalhart

Vocalion/15094 10" 78 rpmCharlie Oaks