Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 1848

Year 1848 (MDCCCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar and a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar. It is historically famous for the wave of revolutions, a series of widespread struggles for more liberal governments, which broke out from Brazil to Hungary; although most fail in their immediate aims, they significantly alter the political and philosophical landscape and have major ramifications throughout the rest of the century.

Events[link]

February 2: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, ending the Mexican–American War and ceding all the Republic of Texas's territorial claims to the United States for $15m.

February 21: Karl Marx publishes The Communist Manifesto.

April 10: "Monster Rally" of Chartists held on Kennington Common in London; the first photograph of a crowd depicts it.

May 29: Wisconsin admitted as the 30th U.S. state.

September 12: The Swiss Confederation reconstitutes itself as a federal republic.

November 7: The first US presidential election held in every state on the same day sees Whig Zachary Taylor of Virginia defeat Democrat Lewis Cass of Michigan.

January–March[link]

• January 3 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of the independent African Republic of Liberia.
• January 12 – The Palermo rising erupts in Sicily, against the Bourbon kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
• January 24 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California.
• January 31 – Construction of the Washington Monument begins.
• January 31 – John C. Fremont court-martialed on grounds of mutiny and disobeying orders. Verdict set aside by President, but Fremont retires to California Territory.
• February 2
  • Mexican–American War formally ends, making the unincorporated, unorganized California Territory a provisional official possession: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, ending the war and ceding to the United States virtually all of what is today the southwest United States. California is never organized by congress as a territory, but passes the requirements directly for statehood in 1850. Some even today claim this treaty did not include Texas, over the annexation of which the quarrel began.
  • John Henry Newman founds the first Oratory in the English-speaking world when he establishes the Birmingham Oratory at 'Maryvale', Old Oscott, England.
• February 21 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto.
• February 24 – Louis Philippe, King of the French, abdicated after days of revolution in France. A republic was later declared.
• March 15 – The start of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.
• March 22 – Republic of San Marco comes into existence in Venice.
• March 24 – The First Schleswig War begins (German: Schleswig-Holsteinischer Krieg) or Three Years' War (Danish: Treårskrigen) a military conflict in southern Denmark and northern Germany rooted in the Schleswig-Holstein Question, contesting the issue of who should control the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.

April–June[link]

• April 10 – A Chartist 'Monster Rally' is held in Kennington Park London, headed by Feargus O'Connor. A petition demanding the franchise is presented to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
• April 29 – Pope Pius IX publishes an allocution announcing his refusal to support Piedmont-Sardinia in its war with Austria and dispelling hopes that he might serve as ruler of a pan-Italian republic. The allocution, by which Pius is seen to withdraw his moral support for the Italian unification movement, is a key first step in the soon-to-be crushing reaction against the revolutions of 1848.
• May 1 – Phi Gamma Delta is founded.
• May 15 – Radicals invade the French Chamber of deputies.
• May 18 – The first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) opens in Frankfurt, Germany.
• May 19 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War, is ratified by the Mexican government. (cf. February 2, above.)
• May 29 – Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.
• June 17 – The Austrian army bombards Prague and crushes a working class revolt.
• June 22 – The French government dissolves the national workshops in Paris, giving the workers the choice of joining the army or going to workshops in the provinces.

July–September[link]

• July – Public Health Act establishes Boards of Health across England and Wales, the nation's first public health law, giving cities broad authority to build modern sanitary systems.^[1]
• July 19 – Women's rights – Seneca Falls Convention: The 2-day Women's Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York and the "Bloomers" are introduced at the feminist convention.
• July 26 – Matale Rebellion against British rule in Sri Lanka.
• July 29 – Young Irelander Rebellion: a nationalist revolt in County Tipperary against British rule is put-down by a government police force.^[1]
• August 17 – Yucatán officially unites with Mexico.
• August 19 – California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States that there is a gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).
• August 24 – The U.S. barque Ocean Monarch is burnt out off the Great Orme, North Wales, with the loss of 178, chiefly emigrants.
• August 28 – Mathieu Luis becomes the first black member to join the French Parliament as a representative of Guadaloupe.
• September 12 – One of the successes of the Revolutions of 1848, the Swiss Federal Constitution, patterned on the US Constitution, enters into force, creating a federal republic and one of the first modern democratic states in Europe.
• September 13 – Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives a 3-foot-plus iron rod being driven through his head.
• September 16 – William Cranch Bond and William Lassell discover Hyperion, Saturn's moon.

October–December[link]

• October 28 – In Catalonia, Spain, the Barcelona–Mataró railroad route (the first to be constructed in the Iberian Peninsula) is inaugurated.
• November 1 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, The Boston Female Medical School (which later merges with Boston University School of Medicine), opens.
• November 3 – A greatly revised Dutch constitution is proclaimed.
• November 4 – France ratifies a new constitution. The Second Republic of France is set up, ending the state of temporary government lasting since the Revolution of 1848.
• November 7 – U.S. presidential election, 1848: Whig Zachary Taylor of Louisiana defeats Democrat Lewis Cass of Michigan in the first US presidential election held in every state on the same day.
• December 2 – Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicates in favor of his nephew, Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia.
• December 10 – Prince Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte is elected first president of the French Second Republic.
• December 18 – Punta Arenas, the first major settlement in the Strait of Magellan, is founded.
• December 20 – President Bonaparte takes his Oath of Office in front of the French National Assembly.
• December 20 – Slavery is abolished in Réunion. This day is celebrated every year since 1981.
• December 26 – Phi Delta Theta Fraternity is founded.

Date unknown[link]

• The Independent Republic of Yucatán joins Mexico in exchange for Mexican help in suppressing a revolt by the indigenous Maya population.
• A cholera epidemic in New York kills 5,000.
• The Associated Press founded in New York.
• The Illinois and Michigan Canal is completed.
• British, Dutch, and German governments lay claim to New Guinea.
• Admiral Nevelskoi explores the Strait of Tartary.
• Dunedin, New Zealand is founded by Scots settlers.
• The University of Ottawa is founded.
• The University of Mississippi is founded.
• The University of Wisconsin–Madison is founded.
• Geneva College in Pennsylvania is founded.
• Queen's College, London, for women, is founded.
• Rhodes College is founded.
• The Boston Public Library is founded by an act of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts.
• Prince Klemens von Metternich ends his work as Austrian foreign minister.
• John Bird Sumner becomes archbishop of Canterbury.
• Elizabeth Gaskell publishes Mary Barton anonymously.
• The Shaker song Simple Gifts is written by Joseph Brackett in Alfred, Maine.
• Richard Wagner begins writing the libretto that will become Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

Ongoing events[link]

• Irish Potato Famine (1845–1849)

Births[link]

January–June[link]

• January 6 – Hristo Botev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1876)
• January 19 – John F. Stairs, Canadian businessman and statesman (d. 1904)
• January 21 – Henri Duparc, French composer (d. 1933)
• January 24 – Vasily Surikov Russian painter (d. 1916)
• January 27 – Togo Heihachiro, Japanese admiral (d. 1934)
• February 5
  • Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author (d. 1907)
  • Belle Starr, American outlaw (d. 1889)
• February 14 – Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (d. 1934)
• February 16 – Octave Mirbeau, French art critic and novelist (d. 1917)
• February 18 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American glass artist (d. 1933)
• February 24
  • Grant Allen, Canadian author (d. 1899)
  • Andrew Inglis Clark, Tasmanian politician (d. 1907)
• February 25 – King William II of Württemberg (d. 1921)
• February 27 – Hubert Parry, English composer (d. 1918)
• March 3 – Adelaide Neilson, English actress (d. 1880)
• March 18 – Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, daughter of Queen Victoria (d. 1939)
• March 19 – Wyatt Earp, American lawman and gunfighter (d. 1929)
• March 31 – Viscount William Astor, British financier and statesman (d. 1919)
• April 7 – Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1930)
• April 10 – Hubertine Auclert, French feminist (d. 1914)
• April 27 – King Otto of Bavaria (d. 1916)
• May 23 – Otto Lilienthal, German engineer (d. 1896)
• June 7 – Paul Gauguin, French artist (d. 1903)

July–December[link]

• July 3 – Lothar von Trotha, German military commander (d. 1920)
• July 6 – Gabor Baross, Hungarian statesman (d. 1892)
• July 9 – Robert I, Duke of Parma, last ruling Duke of Parma (d. 1907)
• July 10 – Karoline Jagemann, German actor (b. 1777)
• July 15 – Vilfredo Pareto, Italian economist (d. 1923)
• July 18 – W. G. Grace, cricketer (d. 1915)
• July 22
  • Winfield Scott Stratton, American miner (d. 1902)
  • Adolf Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1914)
• July 25
  • George Robert Aberigh-Mackay, Anglo-Indian writer (d. 1881)
  • Arthur James Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1930)
• September 4 – Lewis Howard Latimer, inventor (d. 1928)
• October 3 – Henry Lerolle, French painter (d. 1929)
• October 11 – James Acton, English cricketer (d. 1924)
• November 8 – Gottlob Frege, German logician (d. 1925)
• November 12 – Eduard Müller, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1919)
• November 13 – Albert I, Prince of Monaco (d. 1922)
• November 28 – Henry Lomb, German-American optician who co-founded Bausch & Lomb (d. 1908)
• December 6 – Johann Palisa, Austrian astronomer (d. 1925)

Deaths[link]

January–June[link]

• January 19 – Isaac D'Israeli, English author (b. 1766)
• January 20 – Christian VIII, King of Denmark (b. 1786)
• February 15 – Hermann von Boyen, Prussian field marshal (b. 1771)
• February 22 – Wilhelmine Reichard, first German women balloonist (b. 1788)
• February 23 – John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States (b. 1767)
• March 29 – John Jacob Astor, American businessman (b. 1763)
• April 8 – Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b. 1797)
• May 25 – Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, German writer (b. 1797)
• June 27 – Denis Auguste Affre, Archbishop of Paris (b. 1793)

July–December[link]

• July 4 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer and diplomat (b. 1768)
• August 3 – Edward Baines, British newspaperman and politician (b. 1774)
• August 7 – Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (b. 1779)
• August 8 – Veera Puran Appu,Sri Lankan hero who led the Matale Rebellion against the British (b.1812)
• August 12 – George Stephenson, English locomotive pioneer (Locomotion No. 1 & Rocket) (b. 1781)
• August 30 – Simon Willard, celebrated American horologist (b. 1753)
• September 24 – Branwell Brontë, painter and poet, brother of novelists Charlotte, Emily and Anne (b. 1817)
• November 9 – Robert Blum, German politician (b. 1810)
• November 10 – Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, military leader (b. 1789)
• November 23 – Sir John Barrow, English statesman (b. 1764)
• November 24 – William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1779)
• December 1 – Kyokutei Bakin, Japanese author (b. 1767)
• December 19 – Emily Brontë, English author (b. 1818)

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2011)

Painting by August Hunger of Robert Blum between 1845 and 1848

Robert Blum (10 November 1807 – 9 November 1848) was a German democratic politician, publicist, poet, publisher, revolutionist and member of the National Assembly of 1848. In his fight for a strong, unified Germany he opposed ethnocentrism and it was his strong belief that no one people should rule over another. As such he was an opponent of the Prussian occupation of Poland and was in contact with the revolutionists there. Blum was likewise a critic of both antisemitism and catholicism, supported the German Catholics and agitated for the equality of the sexes. In spite of his diplomatic immunity as a member of parliament he was illegally arrested during a stay at the hotel "Stadt London" in Vienna and murdered in a summary execution, making him a martyr of the German revolution.

Biography[link]

Memorial tablet at "Fischmarkt" in Cologne where Robert Blum was born Inscript: "Born at this place on November 10 in 1807, shot at Vienna on November 9, 1848; I die for the German liberty that I fought for. May patria remember me."

Blum grew up in poverty in Cologne, the son of a failed theologian who made a poor living as a cooper. He was ten years old before he could go to school. After his schooling, he worked as a craftsman in different trades. He failed as a goldsmith's apprentice, but completed an apprenticeship as a gardener. After his journeyman's time, he returned to Cologne to work in a lamp factory. His employer put him to work at the counter since he was good at calculations. In 1829, he followed his employer to Berlin where he also continued his education. His work was interrupted by obligatory military service, and on his release, his poor circumstances obliged him to return to Cologne. There, in 1830, he worked serving in a theater company and started writing politically motivated poetry and plays. When the theater closed in the summer, he worked for a sheriff as a scribe.

The political upheavals of 1830 attracted his interest, and ideals of freedom found their way into his poetry. In 1832, he followed the theater troupe to Leipzig. There he came in touch with humanist and liberal circles, contributed to the liberal newspaper Zeitung für die elegante Welt and joined Leipzig's freemason lodge. By 1840, he had worked his way up to being a cashier in the city theater. That year he also founded the Schillerverein in Leipzig which celebrated the poet's anniversary as a festival in honor of political liberty.

Robert Blum, lithograph, Vienna, Austrian National Library, 1848

Beginning in 1839, Blum became a leading figure in the Kingdom of Saxony's national-liberal circles; as a gifted orator and organizer, he helped establish Saxony's opposition movement as a serious political force. His initial attempt at a newsletter was suppressed by the censor, but another one continued for four years with occasional lapses due to the censor. He became a German Catholic when Johannes Ronge came to Leipzig, and wrote on that movement's behalf. In 1845, Blum organized the first German Catholic synod in Leipzig that marked the beginning of Germany's humanist free religious movement. In 1844, he gave up his theater job to found a book store.

Painting by Ludwig von Elliott of the Frankfurt Parliament during a speech by Robert Blum, 1848

In 1845, the presence of John of Saxony stirred the masses and the military fired on them. At a turbulent meeting of armed citizens and students of Leipzig, Blum dissuaded them from storming the barracks, and urged conformity to the law. This resulted in his being elected a representative in Leipzig's government.

Blum embraced the upheavals of 1848. He was one of the presidents of the preliminary parliament at Frankfurt which he dominated with his energy, imposing figure and pithy speeches. As a member of the succeeding parliament and leader of the left, he worked to contain the most radical elements. Blum's trustworthiness was questioned when the extreme leftist Arnold Ruge claimed Blum had moved toward his side. As the leader of the radical liberal fraction, he strongly opposed the Malmö Treaty between Denmark and Prussia that abolished Schleswig-Holstein's democratically elected government. He was also one of the most vocal supporters of popular sovereignty.

Painting by Carl Constantin Heinrich Steffeck of the execution of Robert Blum, 1848

In October, when revolutionary fighting broke out in Vienna, Blum travelled there and joined the revolutionary forces. On the surrender of the capital to Windischgrätz, Blum was arrested with several of his companions on 4 November. Brought before a military tribunal, he pleaded in vain his privileges as a deputy from the German Diet and was condemned to be hanged, a sentence which was changed to death by the bullet. He was executed on 9 November. His death became a symbol for the futility of Germany's 1848 rebellion; the day of his death marks the first of a series of events that led to November 9 being referred to as Germany's Schicksalstag (fateful day).

His son Hans Blum was a noted writer and journalist.

References[link]

• Max von Eelking (1875) (in German). "Blum, Robert". In Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). 2. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. pp. 739–741.
• Wilhelm Liebknecht, Robert Blum und Seine Zeit, (Nuremberg 1896) (German)
•  "Blum, Robert". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
•  "Blum, Robert". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 

External links[link]

•  "Blum, Robert". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921. 

Stephen Collins Foster
Stephen Collins Foster
Born	(1826-07-04)July 4, 1826 Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, United States
Died	January 13, 1864(1864-01-13) (aged 37) New York, New York, United States
Occupation	Songwriter

Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864), known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century. His songs — such as "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home" ("Swanee River"), "Hard Times Come Again No More", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Old Black Joe", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", and "Beautiful Dreamer" — remain popular over 150 years after their composition.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Foster attended private academies in Allegheny, Athens, and Towanda, Pennsylvania. He received an education in English grammar, diction, the classics, penmanship, Latin and Greek, and mathematics. In 1839, his elder brother William was serving his apprenticeship as an engineer at nearby Towanda and thought Stephen would benefit from being under his supervision. The site of the Camptown Races is 30 miles from Athens, and 15 miles from Towanda. Stephen attended Athens Academy from 1839 to 1841. He wrote his first composition, Tioga Waltz, while attending Athens Academy, and performed it during the 1839 commencement exercises; he was 14. It was not published during the composer's lifetime, but it is included in the collection of published works by Morrison Foster. In 1842, Athens Academy was destroyed in a fire.

His education included a brief period at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania (now Washington & Jefferson College).^{[1][nb 1]} His tuition was paid, but Foster had little spending money.^[1] Sources conflict on whether he left willingly or was dismissed;^[3] but, either way, he left Canonsburg to visit Pittsburgh with another student and didn't return.^[1]

During his teenage years, Foster was influenced greatly by two men. Henry Kleber (1816–1897), one of Stephen’s few formal music instructors, was a classically trained musician who emigrated from Darmstadt, Germany, to Pittsburgh and opened a music store. Dan Rice was an entertainer, a clown and blackface singer, making his living in traveling circuses. Although respectful of the more civilized parlor songs of the day, he and his friends would often sit at a piano, writing and singing minstrel songs through the night. Eventually, Foster learned to blend the two genres to write some of his best-known work.

A Career in Music[link]

In 1846, Foster moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and became a bookkeeper with his brother's steamship company. While in Cincinnati, Foster penned his first successful songs, among them "Oh! Susanna" which would prove to be the anthem of the California Gold Rush in 1848–1849. In 1849, he published Foster's Ethiopian Melodies, which included the successful song "Nelly Was a Lady", made famous by the Christy Minstrels. A plaque marks the site of Foster's residence in Cincinnati, where the Guilford School building is now located.

Then he returned to Pennsylvania and signed a contract with the Christy Minstrels. It was during this period that Foster would write most of his best-known songs: "Camptown Races" (1850), "Nelly Bly" (1850), "Old Folks at Home" (known also as "Swanee River", 1851), "My Old Kentucky Home" (1853), "Old Dog Tray" (1853), and "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair" (1854), written for his wife Jane Denny McDowell.

Many of Foster's songs were of the blackface minstrel show tradition popular at the time. Foster sought, in his own words, to "build up taste ... among refined people by making words suitable to their taste, instead of the trashy and really offensive words which belong to some songs of that order."

Although many of his songs had Southern themes, Foster never lived in the South and visited it only once, by river-boat voyage (on his brother Dunning's steam boat, the Millinger) down the Mississippi to New Orleans, during his honeymoon in 1852.

Foster attempted to make a living as a professional songwriter and may be considered innovative in this respect, since this field did not yet exist in the modern sense. Due in part to the limited scope of music copyright and composer royalties at the time, Foster realized very little of the profits which his works generated for sheet music printers. Multiple publishers often printed their own competing editions of Foster's tunes, not paying Foster anything. For "Oh, Susanna", he received $100.

Foster moved to New York City in 1860. About a year later, his wife and daughter left him and returned to Pittsburgh. Beginning in 1862, his fortunes decreased, and as they did, so did the quality of his new songs. Early in 1863, he began working with George Cooper, whose lyrics were often humorous and designed to appeal to musical theater audiences. The Civil War created a flurry of newly written music with patriotic war themes, but this did not benefit Foster.

Death[link]

Stephen Foster had become impoverished while living at the North American Hotel at 30 Bowery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. He was reportedly confined to his bed for days by a persistent fever; Foster tried to call a chambermaid, but collapsed, falling against the washbasin next to his bed and shattering it, which gouged his head. It took three hours to get him to Bellevue Hospital. In an era before transfusions and antibiotics, he succumbed three days after his admittance, aged 37.^{[citation needed]}

In his worn leather wallet, there was found a scrap of paper that simply said "Dear friends and gentle hearts" along with 38 cents in Civil War scrip and three pennies. Foster was buried in the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh. One of his most beloved works, "Beautiful Dreamer", was published shortly after his death.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy[link]

Music[link]

	"Oh! Susanna" (1848) Stephen Foster's "Oh! Susanna" performed by the United States Navy Concert Band "Old Folks at Home" "Old Folks at Home" performed by Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1918)
Problems listening to these files? See media help.

Foster is acknowledged as "father of American music".^[4] He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, and he was also inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010.

"My Old Kentucky Home" is the official state song of Kentucky, adopted by the General Assembly on March 19, 1928. "Old Folks at Home" is the official state song of Florida, designated in 1935, but has been replaced as state anthem by Florida (Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky)

American Baritone Nelson Eddy recorded 35 Foster songs over three recording sessions in July, August and September 1947 on Columbia records, in 78 format, 2 songs per record. Columbia Records issued these recordings in 1948, "Nelson Eddy in Songs of Stephen Foster (Volume 1: A-745 and Volume 2: A-795)". In 2005 Jasmine Records compiled all 35 Foster songs in one CD, "Nelson Eddy Sings The Stephen Foster Songbook" JASCD 421. "In these performances, arranger/conducter Robert Armbruster made every attempt to frame Nelson Eddy's voice with a simple, yet colorful, orchestral and choral background - the norm of Stephen Foster's time." (Liner notes by Robert Nickora July 2005).

American classical composer Charles Ives freely quoted a wide variety of Foster's songs in many of his own works.

Poet and producer Jimmy Spice Curry remade the Stephen Foster classic "Beautiful Dreamer".

Douglas Jimerson, a tenor from Baltimore who has released CDs of music from the Civil War era, released Stephen Foster's America in 1998. Just before his death in 2004, singer-songwriter Randy Vanwarmer completed an entire album of Stephen Foster songs. It was released posthumously as Sings Stephen Foster.

Eighteen of Foster's compositions were recorded and released on the Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster collection. Among the artists who are featured on the album are John Prine, Ron Sexsmith, Alison Krauss, Yo Yo Ma, Roger McGuinn, Mavis Staples, and Suzy Bogguss. The album won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2005.

Singer/songwriter Syd Straw covered "Hard Times Come Again No More" on her 1989 album "Surprise."

A Squirrel Nut Zippers song titled "The Ghost of Stephen Foster" features references to his most famous works, including "Camptown Races".

Other honors[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

• Foster is honored on the University of Pittsburgh campus with the Stephen Foster Memorial, a landmark building that houses the Stephen Foster Memorial Museum, the Center for American Music, as well as two theaters: the Charity Randall Theatre and Henry Heymann Theatre, both performance spaces for Pitt's Department of Theater Arts. It is the largest repository for original Stephen Foster compositions, recordings, and other memorabilia his songs have inspired world-wide.

• A public sculpture by Giuseppe Moretti honoring Stephen Foster and commemorating his song "Uncle Ned" sits in close proximity to the Stephen Foster Memorial.

• In My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown, Kentucky, a musical, called Stephen Foster-The Musical has been performed since 1958. There is also a statue of him next to the Federal Hill mansion, where he visited relatives and is the inspiration for "My Old Kentucky Home".

• The Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs, Florida is a Florida State Park named in his honor, as is Stephen C. Foster State Park in Georgia. Both parks are on the Suwannee River.

• Stephen Foster Lake at Mount Pisgah State Park in Pennsylvania is named in his honor.

• In Alms Park in Cincinnati, overlooking the Ohio River, there is a seated statue of him.

• The Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh) Historical Society, together with the Allegheny Cemetery Historical Association, hosts the annual Stephen Foster Music and Heritage Festival (Doo Dah Days!). Held the first weekend of July, Doo Dah Days! celebrates the life and music of one the most influential songwriters in America's history. His home in the Lawrenceville Section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania still remains on Penn Avenue nearby the Stephen Foster Community Center.

• 36 U.S.C. §140 designates January 13 as Stephen Foster Memorial Day, a United States National Observance. In 1936, Congress authorized the minting of a silver half dollar in honor of the Cincinnati Musical Center. Stephen Foster was featured on the obverse of the coin despite his tenuous links to the city.

Movies[link]

Three Hollywood movies have been made of Foster's life: Harmony Lane (1935) with Douglass Montgomery, Swanee River (1939) with Don Ameche, and I Dream of Jeanie (1952), with Bill Shirley. The 1939 production was one of Twentieth Century Fox's more ambitious efforts, filmed in Technicolor; the other two were low-budget affairs made by B-movie studios.

In popular culture[link]

This section mainly consists of lists. The information may be better understood by either replacing or supporting with prose. You can help by consulting the relevant guideline and making appropriate changes or additions. Editing help is available. (May 2012)

• Journalist Nellie Bly took her pseudonym from the title character of Foster's song "Nelly Bly".
• "Stephen Foster Super Saturday" is a day of thoroughbred racing during the Spring/Summer meet at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. During the call to the post, selections of Stephen Foster songs are played by the track bugler, Steve Buttleman. The day is headlined by the Stephen Foster Handicap a Grade I dirt race for older horses at 9 furlongs.
• Two television shows about the life of Stephen Foster and his childhood friend (and later wife) Jeanie MacDowell were produced in Japan, the first in 1979 with 13 episodes, and the second from 1992 to 1993 with 52 episodes, and both were called Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair after the song of the same name.
• In the Honeymooners episode, "The $99,000 Answer", Ed Norton warms up on the piano by playing the opening to "Swanee River". Later, when Ralph returns to the gameshow, the first question asked is "Who is the composer of 'Swanee River'," to which Ralph nervously responds with "Ed Norton" and immediately loses the game.
• In the film "Tombstone", Billy Clanton (played by Thomas Hayden Church) tries to guess who wrote the song being played by Doc Holiday (Val Kilmer) "...That sounds like Old Dog Tray...Camptown Races? Oh Susanna? Stephen Stinkin Foster?"
• Erika M Anderson of the band EMA says in reference to Foster's "Camptown Races", "I bet my money on the bobtail nag/somebody bet on the bay" in the song "California" from her 2011 release "Past Life Martyred Saints".^[5]
• David Berman of the Silver Jews sings the lyric "Her doorbell plays a bar of Stephen Foster" in the song Tennessee, which appeared on the 2001 album Bright Flight.^[6]

See also[link]

• "The Glendy Burke", another of his songs
• Fletcher Hodges, Jr. An expert on his music

Notes[link]

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Emerson, Ken (1998). Doo Dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture. De Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80852-8.
• Hamm, Charles (1979). Yesterdays: Popular Song in America (Chapter 10, "Old Folks at Home, or, the Songs of Stephen Foster"). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-01257-3.

Further reading[link]

• Emerson, Ken, ed. (2010). Stephen Foster & Co.: Lyrics of the First Great American Songwriters. New York: The Library of America. ISBN 1-59853-070-4. OCLC 426803667. 

External links[link]

Find more about Stephen Foster on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource

• Free scores by Stephen Foster at the International Music Score Library Project
• Stephen Foster at the Internet Movie Database
• Stephen Foster at Find a Grave
• Sheet music for "I see her still in my dreams", Macon, GA: John C. Schreiner & Son. From Confederate Imprints Sheet Music Collection.
• Sheet music for "Parthenia to Incomar", Macon, GA: John C. Schreiner & Son. From Confederate Imprints Sheet Music Collection.

v t e Stephen Foster Songs Minstrel songs: Angelina Baker (1850) · Camptown Races (1850) · The Glendy Burk (1860) · My Old Kentucky Home (1853) · Oh! Susanna (1848) · Old Folks at Home (Swanee River) (1851) · Parlor songs: Beautiful Dreamer (1864) · Hard Times Come Again No More (1854) · Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair (1854) · Old Black Joe (1853) · Films, musicals, recordings Films: Harmony Lane · I Dream of Jeanie · Swanee River · Musicals: Stephen Foster - The Musical · Recordings: Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster · State Parks Parks: My Old Kentucky Home State Park · Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park · Stephen C. Foster State Park · Other Stephen Foster Handicap · Stephen Foster Memorial · Stephen Foster Memorial Day · Stephen Foster Sculpture · Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair (anime) ·