Special Collections and University Archives has recently acquired a collection of handwritten musical scores for The Revelers, an American quintet composed of four male vocalists and a pianist popular on record and radio between 1925-1940.

This collection includes approximately 500 original vocal arrangements from The Revelers’ catalog of works performed in 1921-1939, including individual charts for each vocalist and master vocal scores. The arrangements are the work of two pianist-arrangers that worked with The Revelers: Ed Smalle (1887-1968) and Frank Black (1898-1969), with the latter forming the bulk of the collection. The scores include hand-written lyrics added by each vocalist for their part, as well as additional notes and annotations made by the arranger. Continue reading →