Last (Jay T.) Sheet Music Collection, approximately 1794-1998, bulk 1820-1998.

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Summary

Title:
Jay T. Last sheet music collection
Dates:
approximately 1794-1998, bulk 1820-1998.
Abstract:
The Jay T. Last collection of sheet music began with the collecting efforts of physicist and Silicon Valley pioneer, Jay T. Last. It contains around 34,950 musical scores related to various aspects of life in nineteenth and twentieth-century America, and to a lesser degree Britain, Europe and other regions across the world. The collection is comprised of musical scores dedicated to entertainment, industry and professions, the military, people and culture, travel, politics, science, sports and leisure, transportation, and miscellaneous songs. The collection contains American popular music and materials that document changes in American graphic design, music, and culture from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries. It also serves as a significant record of visual culture within the Last Collection.
Extent:
459.16 Linear Feet (380 boxes)
Language:
Materials are mostly in English, with some German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Hebrew, Italian, Russian, and Yiddish.
Preferred citation:

[identification of item]. Jay T. Last sheet music collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Jay T. Last sheet music collection consists of approximately 34,950 scores dating from 1794 to 1998. It includes a wide range of American popular music styles, as well as scores published outside of the United States. The collection encompasses ballads, blues, comic songs, jazz, minstrel scores, military scores, patriotic melodies, pop, ragtime compositions, religious hymns, rhythm and blues hits, show tunes, soul music, and 1960s surf music. The scores comprise various editions of lyrical and instrumental compositions, some of which are ornately designed and, in some cases, bear the signatures of creators and performers. Many of the scores have sellers' marks printed on the covers. Some of the names found in the nineteenth-century series overlap with those in the twentieth-century series. It is also important to note that this collection contains historical images and language that some library users may find harmful, offensive, or inappropriate. The Jay T. Last collection is an archive of printed paper artifacts that documents American lithographic, social, and business history. The collection began in the early 1970s when physicist and Silicon Valley pioneer, Jay T. Last, moved to Southern California and started collecting citrus box labels he found at local flea markets and rummage sales. As his collection grew, Last realized that these labels conveyed important information about commercial printing, graphic design, and social history, and he expanded his collection to include other forms of American visual culture. Today, this collection contains more than 250,000 prints, posters, and ephemera of nineteenth and twentieth-century American origin and represents works by more than five hundred lithographic companies.

Biographical / historical:

Jay Taylor Last (1929-2021) was an American physicist and a prominent figure in Silicon Valley. He was a collector of African art and California watercolor art and possessed a profound interest in the history of lithography. Born in Butler, Pennsylvania to Frank and Sarah Last, Jay displayed a fascination for both the humanities and sciences from an early age. He received a scholarship to attend the University of Rochester in New York, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in Optics in 1951. He later earned his PhD in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) in 1959. During his tenure at M.I.T., Last was approached by Dr. William Shockley, a Nobel prize-winning physicist and founder of the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory near Palo Alto, California.

In 1957, Last, along with seven of his lab partners, known as the "Treacherous Eight," departed from Shockley to establish the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. At Fairchild, Last spearheaded the group that engineered the first diffused silicon integrated circuit chip, and the company is now celebrated as the birthplace of Silicon Valley. Last concluded his career in the technology sector in 1974 and dedicated the remainder of his life to investment endeavors and establishing an art collection.

His regard for the humanities and sciences kindled his interest in the history of commercial lithography, and in the late 1970s, he began collecting lithographed citrus box labels. As an arts and science supporter, he often invested in the Huntington Library through financial support for digitization efforts and staff development opportunities. Last passed away in Los Angeles, California at the age of ninety-two.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Jay T. Last, 2005; 2010-2019; and 2023.
Custodial history:

This collection forms part of the Jay T. Last collection of graphic arts and social history, which was donated to the Huntington Library by Jay T. Last in 2005 as a gift in progress. The bulk of the view prints were transferred to the Library between 2010 and 2012.

Processing information:

Online finding aid updated by Nichole L. Manlove in December 2025.

Arrangement:
Organized into the following series:
  1. Series I. Nineteenth century, approximately 1794-1900
  2. Series II. Twentieth century, approximately 1900-1998
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Nichole L. Manlove
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-01-06 11:58:52 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining permission rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[identification of item]. Jay T. Last sheet music collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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