Kenneth S. Goldstein Collection: Broadside Ballads

This collection of song broadsides documents social movements and cultural norms in the U.K. and Ireland between the late 18th- and early 20th- centuries. Primarily focused on the early 19th- century, these broadsides include extensive topics concerning love, Irish home rule, British and Irish identity, religion, the Napoleonic Wars and many more topics.

Distributed at low cost to the public, broadside ballads are primarily textual, single-sided printed verse set to pre-existing, popular tunes and contain illustrative elements. Many were printed as multiples-per-sheet, with the intention of being cut and sold as individual songs.

The majority of this collection comes from the United Kingdom and Ireland. Goldstein's extensive collection of American broadsides, however, can be found at Middle Tennessee State's Center for Popular Music.

Images from the collection: American Stranger and Polly's Love (England, undated); The Devil in Search of a Wife (Ireland: undated)