MSS 268
Beemer, Peter.
- Peter Beemer manuscript, 1864
- 1 v. (96 p.)
- Miner and musician in Warren's Diggins, Idaho Territory (Warren, Idaho)
Manuscript book, covered in canvas, containing the scores of dance tunes from Warren’s Diggins, Idaho, in the 1860’s. Peter Beemer, a musician who led a small dance orchestra, wrote down and arranged the songs which were whistled, hummed or sung to him by various residents of the area. The book was subsequently used by Charles Bemis, saloon keeper, violinist, and a longtime resident of Warren, who was a member of Beemer's original orchestra.
Purchased from the estate of Dale F. Walden, 2008. Previously owned by Charles Bemis and Taylor Smith.
The first written history of the Beemer manuscript is found in a manuscript by Taylor Smith donated by Smith to the Idaho State Historical Society in 1961. Smith's history is published as an appendix in The Peter Beemer manuscript : dance music collected in the gold mining camp of Warren’s Diggins, Idaho in the 1860’s, edited by Vivian Williams (Seattle, Wash.: Voyager Recordings & Publications, 2008), which also contains transcripts of the music. Other histories are found in: The Warren collection : music manuscript book from the Warren, Idaho mining camp, 1864, by John Cochrane (M.A. thesis, Boise State University, 1994) and A Survey of musical activity in the mining camps of Idaho through June of 1865, by Rob McIntyre (M. Music thesis, University of Idaho, 1993). Both the Idaho State Historical Society Public Archives and Research Library (Boise) and the University of Idaho Library Special Collections Department (Moscow) have photocopies of the manuscript.