Misplaced Pages

Vandersloot Music Publishing Company was an American publisher of marches, waltzes, rags, religious music, and popular music of the Tin Pan Alley genre. The firm was founded in 1899 by Frederick William Vandersloot, Jr. (1866–1931) and his brother, Caird Melvill Vandersloot (born 1869). F. W. Vandersloot was a gospel singer, composer, and choir director. In 1913, the firm was based at 233 West 3rd Street, Williamsport, Pennsylvania with an office in New York at 41 W 18th Street, an area ten blocks directly south of what then became known as Tin Pan Alley.

For many years, Harry James Lincoln served as the composer and general manager of Vandersloot Music. Cora E. Vandersloot, née Elwert (1869–1944), wife of F. W. Vandersloot, had also served as president and manager. In 1929, Harry J. Lincoln acquired part of the Vandersloot Music Publishing Company and moved it to Philadelphia and operated it under the same name. When F. W. Vandersloot died in 1931, the firm dissolved, with much of the inventory being acquired by New York publisher Jack Mills.

Frank Hoyt Losey had been a composer and editor-in-chief for the Vandersloot Music Publishing Company.

Vandersloot composers and lyricists

• Carl Donaldson Vandersloot
• Charles Cohen (1878–1931), rag composer
• Robert Nathaniel Dett
• Charles E. Duble, circus band composer
• Raymond B. Egan, lyricist
• Stephen Foster
• Joseph E. Howard, lyricist
• Harry J. Lincoln (pseudonyms: Abe Losch, Carl Loveland, & Harry Jay)
• Frank Hoyt Losey
• Raymond A. Sherwood, lyricist
• Andrew B. Sterling, lyricist
• Charley Straight, jazz pianist

Family

Frederick William Vandersloot, Jr., married Cora E. Vandersloot (née Elwert) on January 20, 1898. They had two sons and two daughters. One son and one daughter — Carl Donaldson Vandersloot (1898–1963) and Ruth Person Vandersloot (1904–1989) — both composed for Vandersloot Music. In 1920, Ruth married Author Taylor Eaker and composed under the pseudonym Ruth V. Hoyt, her surname borrowed from Vandersloot's editor-in-chief Frank Hoyt Losey.

References

1. William H. Rehrig, The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music, Composers and Their Music, two volumes, Westerville, OH: Integrity Press (1991) OCLC 44836734 ISBN 0-918048-08-7 ISBN 9780918048080
2. Lewis Vandersloot, History and Genealogy of the Von Der Sloot Family, pps. 39-40, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (1901) LCCN 02-6242
3. Milton W. Loyer, James M. Black and Friends: Contributions of Williamsport, PA, to American Gospel Music, pg. 23 (2004)
4. Caused Excitement, Gazette and Bulletin (Williamsport, Pennsylvania), pg. 2, col. 2, June 24, 1913
5. Mrs. Vandersloot Expires Suddenly of Heart Attack, Gazette and Bulletin (Williamsport, Pennsylvania), pg. 2, July 6, 1944

External links

• Frederick W. Vandersloot history, researched by Susan Attalla (born 1948) with assistance by the Lycoming County Historical Society.

1. Attalla, a ragtime historian, is the great granddaughter of William Christopher O'Hare, Louisiana orchestra director and composer of some of the earliest cakewalks like Levee Revels OCLC 497883943, and Cottonfield Capers OCLC 457238207

• Music publishing companies of the United States
• Publishing companies established in 1899
• 1899 establishments in Pennsylvania
• American companies established in 1899