2 4 | L O U I S V I L L E . E D U 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 4 2 4 2 4 2 4 4 2 | L O U I L O U I L O U I L O U I U I U I L O U L O U I O L O U I L O U O U I I L O U I L O U I L S V I L S V I L S V I L S V I L V I S V I L S V I L V I L V I L S V V I L L E . E L E . E L E . E L E . E L E . E L E . E L E L E L E . E L E L E D U D U D U D U D U D U D U U D U D U
I
t's probably fair to say that everyone,
at some point in their life, wonders what
it would be like to discover something
amazing. How would it feel to be the person
to stumble upon an artifact, a piece of history,
a relic from another time?
James Procell, director of the Dwight Anderson
Music Library, recently found out. On a whim, he
discovered the only known handwritten manuscript
of the world's most popular song: "Happy Birthday."
It all started about seven years ago when Procell
noticed a folder labeled "Mildred Hill" f led away in
the library's archive room. The folder had come into
the university's possession by way of Hattie Bishop
Speed's estate; the Hills and Speeds were close
friends and contemporaries. "I knew who she was
and that she'd written the song. But I just assumed
it [contained] newspaper articles that had been
written about her, so I didn't really think much
about it," Procell said.
But when "Happy Birthday" starting making
headlines because of a recent high-prof le copyright
lawsuit, he thought the folder might be worth a
second look.
"I thought, 'well, let me take this out and see
what's in this folder.'" Sandwiched between
hundreds of other documents, he found a small
sketchbook. "I opened it up and saw the words…
and thought,
'Oh gosh. This is a pretty big deal.'"
z
C
R