The Christmas season is upon us, and no one can deny that music is an integral part of the Christmas experience. The
Polley Music Library collection in Nebraska Memories includes many artifacts relating to the music of Christmases past.
While traditional carols are always popular, every generation creates its own original
Christmas songs. This
piece of sheet music includes two songs composed by Flora Bullock, a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The songs, titled Christmas Bells and It is Christmas Again, were published in 1941.
This time of year is often filled with concerts where Christmas music is performed. The Polley collection contains programs from holiday music events, including a
Christmas concert sponsored by Lincoln’s Matinee Musicale club in 1924, and a
Christmas musicale given for the Lincoln Women’s Club in 1909 by Lillian Helms Polley, the founder of the Polley Music Library.
Of course, Christmas music is often heard as part of worship services. The Polley collection includes two bulletins from Christmas Sunday services at All Souls Unitarian Church in Lincoln, from
1935 and
1940. Lillian Helms Polley was the choir director at the church at the time of these services.
Visit
Nebraska Memories to search for or browse through many more historical images digitized from photographs, negatives, postcards, maps, lantern slides, books and other materials.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see
http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information, or contact
Beth Goble, Historical Services Librarian, or
Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.
