“Lizzie Dies To-Night” was entered for copyright on May 9, 1861, and deposited on May 23, 1861, by Daughaday & Hammond of Philadelphia. The author of the lyrics was Mary Bynon Reese. The song was originally published in Clark’s School Visitor in May, 1861. Horace Waters’s sheet-music edition from 1862 includes corrections.

Firth, Pond & Co. entered “Maggie by My Side” for copyright on October 14, 1852, depositing a title page on that day as well. An arrangement of “Maggie by My Side” with guitar accompaniment was entered and deposited for copyright on September 20, 1854, by Firth, Pond & Co.

According to Evelyn Foster Mornweck’s The Chronicles of Stephen Foster’s Family, “After his return from the South in March, 1852, Stephen published that year ‘Massa’s in de Cold Ground,’ ‘The Hour for Thee and Me,’ ‘I Cannot Sing Tonight,’ and ‘Maggie by My Side.’”

WARNING: This is a blackface minstrel song, a genre that features demeaning caricatures rooted in racism and white supremacy.

“Melinda May” was entered and deposited for copyright on January 6, 1851, by F. D. Benteen of Baltimore. The copyright claim on the sheet music states 1850, which means the copyright entry was most likely delayed for the new year.

“Mine Is the Mourning Heart” was entered for copyright on January 17, 1861, and deposited on February 1, 1861, by Daughaday & Hammond of Philadelphia. 

On February 1, 1861, Daughaday & Hammond deposited a caption title for the song cut from a January 17, 1861, issue of Clark’s School Visitor, however no copy is known to survive. Like other songs that first appeared in Clark’s, “Mine Is the Mourning Heart” was later published in sheet music form, in this case by Root & Cady in May, 1863.