Let it Resound: Sheet Music in the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection, incorporates selections from the major genres of sheet music contained within the Beinecke James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection. Let it Resound includes samples of sheet music, artist biographies, and an overview of the major proponents and musical forms of the collection.

Let it Resound is conceived with James Weldon Johnson as guide. As both scholar and lyricist, Johnson's perspective in Black Manhattan and Along This Way provides crucial insights into the historical, political, and, artistic trajectory of black music in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Moreover, his colleagues and friends abound in the Beinecke's musical theater and spiritual sheet music holdings. James Weldon Johnson's commentary on the significance of spirituals, musical theater, and minstrelsy can be found throughout the essay and biography sections.

Browse the sheet music pages for samples of seminal pieces from the minstrelsy, spiritual, ragtime, musical theater, blues, jazz, R&B, and soul genres.