THE
CENTER FOR POPULAR MUSIC
MIDDLE
TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY, MURFREESBORO, TN
HERBERT
SMITH MINSTREL COLLECTION 11-028
Creator:
Smith,
Herbert S.
Type of Material:
Manuscripts,
photographs and programs
Physical Description:
.834 linear
feet of manuscripts, including scripts, song lyric sheets, manuscript sheet
music, newspaper clippings, correspondence, 22 performance programs, 119
photographs and 34 color photographic slides
Dates:
1952-1962
RESTRICTIONS:
All materials in this collection
are subject to standard national and international copyright laws. Center staff are able to assist with copyright questions for this
material.
Provenance and Acquisition
Information:
This
collection was donated to the Center by Mrs. Peggy Smith Duke of Murfreesboro,
Tennessee, the late Herbert Smith’s daughter, in December 2011 and June 2012.
Subjects/Index Terms:
Subjects:
Minstrel
music
American
minstrelsy
Blackface
minstrelsy
Ethiopian
operas (Minstrel music)
Ethiopian
songs (Minstrel music)
Minstrel
songs
Minstrelsy,
American
Minstrelsy,
Blackface
Operas,
Ethiopian (Minstrel music)
Songs,
Ethiopian (Minstrel music)
Musical
revues & comedies--1950-1960.
Popular
music—United States—20th Century.
Names:
Smith,
Herbert S.
Lions
Club (Murfreesboro, Tennessee)
Biographical Sketch:
Herbert
S. Smith was a pharmacist and lifelong resident of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He was born on March 29, 1908 and died on
February 22, 1988. Smith owned and
operated the family business, A.L. Smith & Co. Drugs, until 1968. He was also very active in the community,
serving on the Middle Tennessee State University Foundation Board of Trustees,
the Evergreen Cemetery Board, the Murfreesboro Zoning Appeals Board, and as a
50-year monarch of the Lions Club. As a
member of the Lions Club, Smith served as a voluntary writer, director and
sometime performer in the Murfreesboro chapter’s charity minstrel performances
held in Murfreesboro Central High School’s Auditorium throughout the 1950s.
Agency History
Chicago
businessman Melvin Jones founded the Lions Club, a national and international
volunteer organization, in 1917, with the idea that its members would work
towards improving their communities. As
of 2012, it is the largest service organization of its kind in the world, with
1.35 million members and more than 46,000 chapters. Some of the club’s longtime causes and
initiatives include eradicating blindness; working towards world peace;
organizing youth programs and volunteer opportunities; and humanitarian
projects like disaster relief. The
Murfreesboro chapter was founded in 1933. Its clubhouse is currently located at
407 Hickerson Drive, adjacent to the historic site Cannonsburgh Village.
Scope and Content:
This
collection primarily contains script materials prepared by Herbert Smith for the
Murfreesboro Lions Club’s charity blackface minstrelsy performances from 1952
to 1962. Although Mr. Smith often wrote
the opening and closing songs for the minstrels himself; more often, he
borrowed old minstrel and musical standards to use in the show, like Oscar
Hammerstein II & Jerome Kern’s “Ol’ Man River.” Scripts include lyric sheets for
performers, Smith’s handwritten songs, and sketches. Many include his handwritten notes and
changes as well. Additionally, Smith
exchanged script materials with other minstrel writers from voluntary
organizations, especially within Tennessee. A number of their pieces are held in the
collection, especially those written and compiled by Harry Bird, who resided in
Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The collection includes some supporting materials as
well, particularly programs, color photographic slides, black and white prints,
and a couple of newspaper articles and pieces of correspondence relating to Smith’s
shows. There are also programs from other Tennessee minstrel shows.
Series Description:
Scripts – Murfreesboro Lions’
Club
Half of
the collection is comprised of the scripts and songs Herbert Smith wrote and
compiled for the Murfreesboro Lions’ Club’s Minstrel shows.
Scripts – Drafts
These
two folders contain handwritten and typed drafts of show sketches and
songs. Other authors may have written
some of them, as all pieces do not indicate an author.
Scripts – Gallatin Lions Club
Herbert
Smith likely was involved in writing this script for the Gallatin, Tennessee
branch of the Lions Club.
Scripts – Harry Bird
Harry
Bird was a contemporary minstrel writer and director based out of Gatlinburg,
Tennessee, who shared a considerable amount of his work with Smith.
Scripts – Other Authors
Mr. Smith
also possessed a number of other pieces written by authors in both Tennessee
and elsewhere, some of these are unnamed.
Programs – Murfreesboro Lions
Club
This
folder contains duplicates and photocopies of performance materials for
Murfreesboro Lions Club minstrels. Other
programs have been separated into the CPM performance collection. See list below.
Correspondence & Clippings
The
supporting materials in this folder include two letter responses, one Christmas
Party Program, three clippings commenting on the Murfreesboro Lions Club
performances, and one clipping on Nancy Smith’s (Herbert Smith’s daughter)
birthday gala.
Photographs & Slides
119
black and white photographs, including two of Jeannie Hollowell
in Chorus Line costume from the 1953 and 1954 Murfreesboro Lions Club
performances, and a series of 34 color slides from Murfreesboro Lions Club
minstrel performances.
Collection Contents (Folder/Box List):
Scripts – Murfreesboro Lions
Club: Box 1,
Folders 1-8
Scripts – Drafts: Box 1, Folder 9 & Box 2,
Folder 1
Scripts – Gallatin Lions Club: Box 2, Folder 2
Scripts – Harry Bird: Box 2, Folder 3
Scripts – Other Authors: Box 2, Folder 4
Programs – Murfreesboro Lions
Club: Box 2,
Folder 5
Correspondence & Clippings: Box 2, Folder 6
Photographs & Slides: Box 2, Folder 7
Box # Folder # Description
Folder 7 Photographs & Slides
Materials Cataloged Separately:
Performance Documents (Programs):
“The
Lions Club of Murfreesboro Presents Old
Time Minstrel June 5 & 6, 1952”
“The
Lions Club of Murfreesboro Presents Old
Time Minstrel March 26 & 27, 1953”
“The
Lions Club of Murfreesboro Presents Old
Time Minstrel April 13 & 14, 1956”
“The
Lions Club of Murfreesboro Presents Old
Time Minstrel April 18-19, 1958”
“The
Lions Club of Murfreesboro Presents Old
Time Minstrel May 1-2, 1959”
“The
Lions Club of Murfreesboro Presents Old
Time Minstrel January 26-27, 1962”
“Murfreesboro
Lions Club Presents Lions Minstrel
Directed by Mrs. Irene Morton” (no date)
“Murfreesboro
Lions Club Presents Lions Charity
Minstrel Directed by Mrs. Martha Moore Swasey”
(no date)
“Gatlinburg
Parent – Teachers Present A Minstrel and Variety Show March 14-15,
1952”
“The
Gallatin Lion’s Club Present Their
Seventh Annual Minstrel Friday & Saturday, June 12th-13th,
1953”
“8th
Annual Kiwanis Minstrel Friday, April
24, 1953”
“Murfreesboro
Exchange Club Presents Drifting Along
April 30 - May 1, 1953”
Location:
Manuscripts
are located with other manuscript materials on the ground floor of the stacks
filed by accession number. Performance
documents have been separated from the manuscripts and catalogued in the
appropriate InMagic database. When available, second copies of Murfreesboro
Lions Club Minstrel programs have also been filed with the manuscripts.
Related Materials:
The
Center for Popular Music has numerous holdings that relate to blackface minstrelsy
from the 19th through mid-20th centuries, both primary and secondary. In
addition to scholarly books, these items include posters, theatre playbills and
programs, songsters and other song books, sheet music and song broadsides,
photographs, trade catalogs, sound recordings, and manuscript collections containing
minstrel-related items, such as scrapbooks.
AMH
March 27, 2012
(updated LPC June 25, 2012)
(Updated
RKM July 16, 2013)