Indiana Historical Society - Manuscripts & Archives
User information
Biographical sketch
Scope and Content note
Cataloguing information
Processed by
Charles Latham
14 March 1994
VOLUME OF COLLECTION: 1 item
COLLECTION DATE [1898?]
PROVENANCE: Forrest H. Sweet, Battle Creek, Michigan, 11 April 1941
RESTRICTIONS: None
REPRODUCTION RIGHTS: Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained in writing from the Indiana Historical Society
ALTERNATE FORMATS: None
OTHER FINDING AIDS: None
RELATED HOLDINGS: The Songs of Paul Dresser, with an introduction by Theodore Dreiser (New York: Boni and Liveright, 1927) M 1620 .D8 S5 1927
ACCESSION NUMBER: 41.0404
Paul Dresser (1857-1906), the older brother of novelist Theodore Dreiser, was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, the son of John Paul Dreiser and Sarah Schnab (Sarah May Schneppes). It was a blue-collar family, and Dresser (he changed his surname in 1873) had many jobs: in a woolen mill, a bakery, and a post office; as a pressman. He was sent to St. Meinrad's Seminary in southern Indiana, but ran away within a year to join a minstrel show selling Hamlin's Wizard Oil. After some time in minstrel shows, he wrote and acted in melodramas and farces.
Dresser was most famous for writing what became the state song of Indiana, "On the banks of the Wabash far away." He also wrote "My gal Sal" and others less well-known, such as "He fought for the cause he thought was right," "The letter that never came," and "The pardon that came too late." He died in Brooklyn.
Sources: Banta, Indiana Writers and their Books, 1917-1966, p. 173
Contemporary Education Summer 1987, vol. 58 pp. 233-234
This collection consists of one item, a manuscript fragment (three staves) of the score of "On the banks of the Wabash far away," signed by Dresser. An accompanying letter of 20 October 1898 from Howley, Haviland Co., 280-286 Broadway, New York, indicates the source.
MAIN ENTRY: Dresser, Paul, 1858-1906
SUBJECT ENTRIES: Dresser, Paul, 1858-1906
State songs--Indiana
Indiana--Songs and music
END