Vernacular Music Research is an archival and historical collection of music. It includes print (books, sheet music

Sheet music

Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...

, orchestrations), 78' records, and other media featuring American music and dance from the early 19th century to the 1960s.
It was founded by jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 historian Thornton Hagert.

The Archive

The Archive itself consists of about 125,000 items of printed
music, 75,000 items of recorded music, 5,500 books and
2,000 periodicals on New World Vernacular music, dance, and
related topics.

Services

Research and historical writing has been compiled for has been prepared for The Smithsonian's "An Experiment in Modern Music: Paul Whiteman at Aeolian Hall. Smithsonian Collection recording DMM 2-0518", and the Maryland Historical Society,

The archive has provided sheet music, recorded music, and referenced source material for books and publications including:

"Habaneras, Maxixies & Tangos: The Syncopated Piano Music of Latin America" author Bill Matthiesen made special note of the use of Thornton Hagert's research, sheet music and orchestration.

Ragged but Right

Ragged but Right

Ragged but Right is the second live album by the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. It was recorded in October and December 1987 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City, the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, and the Warfield Theater in San Francisco...

 by Lynn Abbott features sheet music from the Archive. Printed by University of Mississippi

Come & Trip It "Instrumental Dance Music, 1780's-1920's" Released on New World Records

New World Records

New World Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in American music. The label was established in 1975 through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to produce a 100 disc anthology covering 200 years of American music....

 
The Release is even currently for sale on Amazon, with reviews included- Come & Trip It 

It also received a special thanks from the author of "Black Manhattan", conductor Rick Benjamin

Rick Benjamin

Rick Benjamin is Speed Channel's voice of the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, and has been the voice of Champ Car racing for HDNet from 2004 until then end of the final season of Champ Car in 2007...

. Maintained by Recorded Anthology of American Music, Inc.

"Ragtime : its history, composers, and music" by John Edward Hasse and published on
Schirmer Books, 1985 also references the archive.

Record Research features research and writing in partnership with Jean C Averty on numerous articles throughout the 70s and 80s.