Urban Virginians, Musical Citizens

Ebook available to libraries exclusively as part of the JSTOR Path to Open initiative.

In Urban Virginians, Musical Citizens: The Myers Family of Norfolk, 1787–1835, Virginia E. Whealton uncovers the remarkable story of one Jewish merchant family whose musical lives illuminate new ways of understanding citizenship, culture, and identity in the Early Republic. Drawing on an extraordinary and long-overlooked collection of early American sheet music, Whealton reconstructs the vibrant urban world of Norfolk, Virginia—a port city shaped by commerce, migration, religious diversity, and political transformation. Through the experiences of the Myers family and their wider community, the book reveals how musical performance, patronage, and participation were central to civic life and social belonging in a rapidly changing nation.