Join Sam Bessen, Eleanor and Lester Levy Family Curator of Sheet Music and Popular Culture at the Sheridan Libraries, for a livestream introduction of Grace Notes in American History: 200 Years of Songs from the Lester Levy Sheet Music Collection, a special exhibition on view at the George Peabody Library from March 15 through July 31, 2022. This opening celebration will include performances by soprano Teresa Ferrara of songs featured in the exhibition by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and more.

The exhibition highlights over one hundred popular songs and instrumental compositions drawn from Johns Hopkins University’s renowned collection of 19th and early 20th century sheet music. Together the works on view provide unique insights into the evolution of American popular culture, from the Great American Song Book and Harlem Renaissance, to Baltimore music publishers and national movements for suffrage, emancipation, and labor.

Support for this program is made possible by the Friends of the Johns Hopkins University Libraries.