Click to hear a basic "midi" file of the Joplin Song Fragment, all 13 sad measures of it.

The entire collection of images itself is paltry, made up of 1) the famous portrait image of Joplin later in his life, set in a homemade cardboard frame decorated with cutout words from a newspaper, and written upon with green ink, 2) a photograph of Geo. Smith College in Sedalia, 3) the photograph of the Queen City Concert Band, 4) a photograph of the Maple Leaf Club, 5) a photograph of Brun Campbell playing piano late in his life, 6) a photograph of many of these items arranged on display and 7) the piano photograph. The Smith College photo and the portrait of Joplin are copies of what appear to have been newspaper photographs. The Queen City Band photo is not even a copy of an original picture, but a copy of a printed halftone image, the "BenDay" dots clearly visible despite the photograph's poor quality. Along with these photographs is a large collection of Joplin's sheet music, letters of correspondence between Brun Campbell and Tom Ireland, the Queen City Concert Band's clarinetist (and apparently Mr. Campbell's source for most, if not all, of the items deposited), and a letter from Lottie Joplin, which seems to provide some indication of the origins and purpose of the piano photograph, though, like the collection itself, it creates more mysteries than it solves.

The letter seems to have been sent as assurance to Mr. Campbell that he would receive a photograph of "the piano" eventually, and that "the man" who went to Chicago would send "it right back", whoever this "man" was. The letter indicates that Mrs. Joplin was sent a copy of one of Mr. Campbell's articles, probably a typewritten manuscript for the one which was to appear in the March 1948 issue of The Record Changer, of which she "approved", and that he will hear from her "soon". Unfortunately it is not clear whether the man who is "getting" the photo took it himself, or is simply retrieving it for her, nor does she indicate where the photo was taken, whether in Chicago or New York...

 

Our complete article examined the history of Joplin's pianos, some musical associates in New York, and transcribed the complete musical score. Copyright ©1998 Mr. C.Ware.