Illustrated Song: "My Mother Was a Northern Girl"

I was poking around through the database of the Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division, and I came across this proof sheet for an illustrated song set to "My Mother Was a Northern Girl," a 1902 song by J. Fred Helf. The song slides also date from 1902, before the era of the nickelodeon, so these slides were likely used by a singer in vaudeville, where the illustrated song was an occasional (minor) attraction.

The actual lantern slides (these are paper proofs) would have likely been hand colored, with a cover of the sheet music being used as the opening slide. By the time of the nickelodeon, the chorus would often be included as a final slide and the audience urged to "join in." An ambitious theater manager would have copies of the evening's songs available for sale.



A larger jpg version is available by double-clicking the image, and you can get the full 64MB tiff through the LoC site, here.

The full sheet music for the song is available through the Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music at the Sheridan Libraries of the Johns Hopkins University, here.