The Sixto Campano Collection contains 1,076 pieces of original American sheet music dating from 1848 to 1974, with almost 900 titles published before 1924. The bulk of the collection contains pre- and post-Civil War minstrel pieces, commomnly known as "plantation melodies", as well as ragtime, vaudeville, blues, and jazz pieces. Noted composers and songwriters include W.C. Handy, Scott Joplin, John Rosamond Johnson, Bob Cole and Bert Williams. Images, illustrations and photographs demonstrate 19th and early 20th century attitudes towards African Americans and include Gene Buck, Walter Dittmar and the Starmer Brothers.
