"God Bless America" - Signed Sheet Music to an Elementary School

New York: Irving Berlin Music Corporation. c. 1966. Signed sheet music to the great songwriter's beloved hit "God Bless America," inscribed by Berlin on the cover "To class 4, 1977–78 Edmund Anthony Jr School—With love and best wishes, Irving Berlin." 6 pp. 9 x 12 inches. In May of 1978, a group of elementary school students in Fairhaven, MA wrote to Irving Berlin to wish him a happy 90th birthday, sending drawings they had made of what they thought several of Berlin’s song titles meant. In response, in January 1979, Berlin sent hand-signed copies of “God Bless America” to each class, of which this is one example. In very fine condition. 9 x 12 inches (23 x 30.5 cm).

Also included are photocopies of original supporting material including the letter Berlin sent thanking the students and enclosing the copies of music, a newspaper article (Sunday Standard-Times, New Bedford MA, February 25, 1979) telling the story, and a signed request from Berlin’s secretary, Hilda Schneider, for copies of clippings of the article for their archives, as well as a photocopy of a typed letter signed from Berlin from the following year, thanking the children for a birthday card. 

"God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin during World War I in 1918 and revised by him in the run up to World War II in 1938. The later version has notably been recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature song. Berlin lived to be 101, dying of natural causes in 1989. On the evening following the announcement of his death, the marquee lights of Broadway playhouses were dimmed before curtain time in his memory.  (16302)

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Signed Document/Item

Printed Music

Song

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