View source for Stephen Foster

{{Short description|American composer and songwriter (1826–1864)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Stephen Foster
| image              = Stephen Foster.jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = Foster {{circa}} 1860
| birth_name         = Stephen Collins Foster
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1826|7|4}}
| birth_place        = [[Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh)|Lawrenceville]], [[Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1864|1|13|1826|7|4}}
| death_place        = [[New York City]], U.S.
| resting_place      = [[Allegheny Cemetery]] ([[Pittsburgh]], Pennsylvania, U.S.)
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| monuments          = [[Stephen Foster Memorial]]
| occupation         = {{hlist|Composer|lyricist|poet<ref name = pgpress1900>{{cite news |title= Stephen C. Foster As Man and Musician, The Life Story of the Sweet Singer of {{not a typo|Pittsburg}} Told by His Contemporaries and Comrades | newspaper = [[The Pittsburg Press]]| date= September 12, 1900 | url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/9992200/profile_of_songwriter_stephen_c_foster/ |via= Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref>}}
| years_active       = 1844–1864
| agent              = Various sheet music publishers and brother, Morrison Foster
| known_for          = First American full-time songwriter<ref>{{citation |last= Marks |first= Rusty |title= On Television: Stephen Foster: Quintessential songwriter lived in music, died in ruin |work= Sunday Gazette-Mail |publisher= Gazette Daily Inc. via [[HighBeam Research]] |access-date= April 25, 2012 |date= April 22, 2001 |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18995067.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131011162941/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18995067.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= October 11, 2013 |quote= The song, written in 1847, soon spread throughout the country. Foster decided to become a full-time songwriter, a vocation no one had bothered to pursue until then.}}</ref><ref>{{citation |date= October 16, 2010 |access-date= April 25, 2012 |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2164359961.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131011162711/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2164359961.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= October 11, 2013 |title= Pittsburgh Native Son and Songwriter Stephen Foster to be Inducted into Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Oct. 17. |publisher= US Fed News Service, Including US State News. The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. via [[HighBeam Research]]}}</ref>
| notable_works      = "[[Beautiful Dreamer]]"<br />"[[Camptown Races]]"<br />"[[Hard Times Come Again No More]]"<br />"[[My Old Kentucky Home]]"<br />"[[Oh! Susanna]]"<br />"[[Old Black Joe]]"<br />"[[Old Folks at Home]]”<br />''[[List of songs written by Stephen Foster|among others...]]''
| style              = {{hlist|[[American folk music|American folk]]|[[Minstrel show|minstrels]]}}
| spouse             = {{marriage|[[Jane McDowell Foster Wiley]]|1850}}
| children           = [[Marion Foster Welch|Marion]]
| father             = [[William Barclay Foster]]
| mother             = [[Eliza Clayland Tomlinson Foster]]
| relatives          = {{ubl|[[Morrison Foster]] (brother)|[[Evelyn Foster Morneweck]] (niece)}}
}}

'''Stephen Collins Foster''' (July 4, 1826{{spaced ndash}}January 13, 1864), known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his [[parlour music|parlour]] and [[Folk music|folk]] music during the [[Romantic music|Romantic period]]. He wrote more than 200 songs, including "[[Oh! Susanna]]", "[[Hard Times Come Again No More]]", "[[Camptown Races]]", [[Old Folks at Home|"Old Folks at Home" ("Swanee River")]], "[[My Old Kentucky Home]]", "[[Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair]]", "[[Old Black Joe]]", and "[[Beautiful Dreamer]]". Many of his compositions remain popular today.

==Early life==

[[File:Daguerreotype of Eliza Tomlinson Foster and William Barclay Foster, restored and enhanced with digital tools.jpg|thumb|175px|left|Foster's parents, Eliza Tomlinson Foster and William Barclay Foster]]

There are many biographies of Foster, but details differ widely. Among other issues, Foster wrote very little biographical information himself, and his brother [[Morrison Foster]] may have destroyed much information that he judged to reflect negatively upon the family.<ref name="Howard1944">{{cite journal |last1= Howard |first1= John Tasker |title= The Literature on Stephen Foster |journal= Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association |volume=1 |issue=2 |date=March 1944 |pages= 10–15 |issn= 0027-4380 |doi= 10.2307/891301 |jstor= 891301 }}</ref><ref name="root-1990">{{cite web |last1=Root |first1=Deane L. |title=The "Mythtory" of Stephen C. Foster or Why His True Story Remains Untold |url=https://www.colorado.edu/amrc/sites/default/files/attached-files/0506-1991-001-00-000002.pdf |website=American Music Research Center |publisher=U. Colorado, Boulder |access-date=25 September 2018 |date=March 1990}}</ref>

Foster was born on July 4, 1826,<ref name=SAND>{{cite journal |last1=Sanders |first1=Paul |title=Comrades, Fill No Glass For Me: Stephen Foster's Medlodies As Borrowed by the American Temperance Movement |journal=Social History of Alcohol and Drugs |date=Fall 2008 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=24–40 |url=https://alcoholanddrugshistorysociety.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/shad-23-1-sanders1.pdf |access-date=October 13, 2015 |doi=10.1086/SHAD23010024 |s2cid=165454878 |archive-date=November 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117033203/https://alcoholanddrugshistorysociety.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/shad-23-1-sanders1.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> in [[Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh)|Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania]]. His parents, [[William Barclay Foster]] and [[Eliza Clayland Tomlinson Foster]], were of [[Ulster Scots people|Ulster Scots]] and [[English people|English]] descent. He had three older sisters and six older brothers. He attended private academies in [[Allegheny, Pennsylvania|Allegheny]], [[Athens, Pennsylvania|Athens]], and [[Towanda, Pennsylvania]], and received an education in English grammar, diction, the classics, penmanship, Latin, Greek, and mathematics.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

Foster taught himself to play the clarinet, guitar, flute, and piano. In 1839, his brother William was serving his apprenticeship as an engineer at Towanda and thought that Stephen would benefit from being under the supervision of Henry Kleber (1816–1897), a German-born music dealer in Pittsburgh. Under Kleber, Stephen was exposed to [[music composition]].<ref name=CFAM/> Together the pair studied the works of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], [[Carl Maria von Weber|Weber]], [[ Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]] and [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]].

The site of the [[Camptown Races]] – which would provide both the title and setting for events of one of Foster's best-known songs – was located {{convert|30|mi}} from Athens and {{convert|15|mi||}} from Towanda. Foster's education included a brief period at Jefferson College in [[Canonsburg, Pennsylvania]], now part of [[Washington & Jefferson College]].<ref name=doodah />{{#tag:ref | His grandfather James Foster was an associate of [[John McMillan (pastor)|John McMillan]] and a founding trustee of Canonsburg Academy, a predecessor institution to Jefferson College; his father William Barclay Foster attended Canonsburg Academy until age 16.<ref name=milligan>{{Cite book |last= Vincent Milligan |first= Harold |title= Stephen Collins Foster: a biography of America's folk-song composer |publisher= G. Schirmer |year= 1920 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/stephencollinsf00millgoog/page/n19 3]–4 |url= https://archive.org/details/stephencollinsf00millgoog}}</ref> | group="nb" }} His tuition was paid, but he had little spending money.<ref name=doodah /> He left Canonsburg to visit Pittsburgh with another student{{when|date=February 2023}} and did not return.<ref name=doodah>{{cite book |last= Emerson |first= Ken |title= Doo-dah! Steven Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture |publisher= Da Capo Press |year= 1998 |page= 79 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Ousn0lWqeisC |isbn= 978-0-306-80852-4 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==Career==
[[File:STEPHEN COLLINS FOSTER HOME IN HOBOKEN NEW JERSEY.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3| House in [[Hoboken, New Jersey]] where Foster is believed to have written "[[Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair]]" in 1854<ref name="nythobo">{{cite news|last=Sisario|first=Ben|author-link=Ben Sisario|title= On the Map; Stephen Foster's Old Hoboken Home |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/20/nyregion/on-the-map-stephen-foster-s-old-hoboken-home.html |access-date= July 4, 2016 |work=[[The New York Times]]|date= September 20, 1998}}</ref>]]

Foster married Jane Denny McDowell on July 22, 1850, and they visited New York and Baltimore on their honeymoon. Foster then returned to Pennsylvania and wrote most of his best-known songs: "Camptown Races" (1850), "Nelly Bly" (1850), "Ring de Banjo"&nbsp;(1851), "Old Folks at Home" (known also as "Swanee River", 1851), "My Old Kentucky Home" (1853), "Old Dog Tray" (1853), and "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" (1854), written for his wife Jane.

Many of Foster's songs were used in the [[blackface]] [[minstrel show]]s popular at the time. He sought to "build up taste...among refined people by making words suitable to their taste, instead of the trashy and really offensive words which belong to some songs of that order".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster/peopleevents/p_sfoster.html|title=American Experience &#124; Stephen Foster &#124; People & Events|website=Shoppbs.pbs.org|access-date=January 8, 2021|archive-date=April 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427192658/http://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster/peopleevents/p_sfoster.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, Foster's output of minstrel songs declined after the early 1850s, as he turned primarily to [[parlor music]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |jstor = 10.5406/americanmusic.30.3.0275|doi = 10.5406/americanmusic.30.3.0275|title = The Social Agenda of Stephen Foster's Plantation Melodies|year = 2012|last1 = Saunders| first1=Steven |journal = American Music|volume = 30|issue = 3|pages = 275–289|s2cid = 144617319}}</ref> Many of his songs had [[Culture of the Southern United States|Southern themes]], yet Foster never lived in the [[Southern United States|South]] and visited it only once, during his 1852 honeymoon. Available archival evidence does not suggest that Foster was an abolitionist.<ref name=":0" />

Foster's last four years were spent in New York City. There is little information on this period of his life, although family correspondence has been preserved.<ref name="Root">{{cite journal | last1=Root | first1=Deane L. | title= The 'Mythtory' of Stephen C. Foster or Why His True Story Remains Untold | journal= American Music Research Center Journal | date= March 12, 1990 | pages= 20–36 | url= http://www.colorado.edu/amrc/sites/default/files/attached-files/0506-1991-001-00-000002.pdf | access-date= October 4, 2015 | format= Lecture transcript at the American Music Center Research Conference}} Access provided by the [[University of Pittsburgh Library System]]</ref>

==Illness and death==
[[File:Illustration of SC Foster headstone in Alleghney cemetery 1900 monumen posibly.jpg|thumb|175px|right|A ''Pittsburgh Press'' illustration of the original headstone on Stephen Foster's grave]]Foster became sick with a fever in January 1864. Weakened, it is possible he fell in his hotel in the Bowery and cut his neck; he may also have sought to take his own life.<ref name=joc>{{Cite book|last=O'Connell|first=JoAnne|title=The Life and Songs of Stephen Foster: a Revealing Portrait of the Forgotten Man Behind Swanee River, Beautiful Dreamer, and My Old Kentucky Home|publisher=Rowman and Littlefield|year=2016|isbn=9781442253865|location=Lanham, Maryland|page=321}}</ref> His writing partner [[George Cooper (poet)|George Cooper]] found him still alive but lying in a pool of blood. Foster died in Bellevue Hospital three days later at the age of 37.<ref>{{cite web |work= American Experience |title= More about the film ''Stephen Foster'' |url= https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster/filmmore/pt.html |publisher= PBS |access-date= October 2, 2015 |archive-date= November 26, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151126092708/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster//filmmore/pt.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> His leather wallet contained a scrap of paper that simply said, "Dear friends and gentle hearts", along with 37 cents in Civil War scrip and three pennies.

Other biographers describe different accounts of his death.<ref name="ocon2007">{{cite thesis|last=O'Connell|first=JoAnne H.|date=2007|title=Understanding Stephen Collins Foster, His World and Music|publisher=University of Pittsburgh|url=http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/7365/1/OConnell_ETD2007.pdf|access-date=June 25, 2016}}</ref> Historian JoAnne O'Connell speculates in her biography, ''The Life and Songs of Stephen Foster'', that Foster may have killed himself.<ref name=joc/> As O'Connell and musicologist Ken Emerson have noted, several of the songs Foster wrote during the last years of his life foreshadow his death, such as "The Little Ballad Girl" and "Kiss Me Dear Mother Ere I Die." Emerson says in his 2010 ''Stephen Foster and Co.'' that Foster's injuries may have been "accidental or self-inflicted".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Emerson|first=Ken|title=Stephen Foster and Co.: Lyrics of America's First Great Popular Songs|publisher=Library of America|year=2010|isbn=978-1598530704|location=New York|pages=10}}</ref>

[[File:Western Union Telegram reporting Foster's death Jan 14 1864.JPG|thumb|Telegram that communicated Stephen Foster's death addressed to his brother Morrison Foster]]

The note inside Foster's wallet is said to have inspired [[Bob Hilliard]]'s lyric for "[[Dear Hearts and Gentle People]]" (1949). Foster was buried in the [[Allegheny Cemetery]] in Pittsburgh. After his death, Morrison Foster became his "literary executor". As such, he answered requests for copies of manuscripts, autographs, and biographical information.<ref name="Root"/> After his death, "[[Beautiful Dreamer]]", one of the best-loved of his works, was posthumously published in 1864.<ref>{{cite web |title= "The Last Chapter" |url= http://www.stephen-foster-songs.de/end.htm |work= Stephen Collins Foster |publisher= W. Tomaschewski |access-date= August 4, 2012 |author= W. Tomaschewski |archive-date= June 18, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120618130016/http://www.stephen-foster-songs.de/end.htm |url-status= dead }}</ref>

==Music==
{{see also|List of songs by Stephen Foster}}Foster grew up in Lawrenceville, now a neighborhood of Pittsburgh, where many European immigrants had settled and were accustomed to hearing the music of the Italian, [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scots-Irish]], and German residents. He composed his first song when he was 14 and entitled it the "Tioga Waltz". The first song that he had published was "Open thy Lattice Love" (1844).<ref name=CFAM>{{cite web | title= Foster Hall Collection, Collection Number: CAM.FHC.2011.01, Guide to Archives and Manuscript Collections at the University of Pittsburgh Library System |publisher= University of Pittsburgh, Center for American Music| url = http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?type=simple;c=ascead;view=text;subview=outline;didno=US-PPiU-camfhc201101
|access-date= October 13, 2015}} Access provided by the University of Pittsburgh.</ref><ref name=Barcousky2016>{{cite news |last= Barcousky |first=Len |title= Eyewitness 1916: Living link to Foster passes on |url= http://www.post-gazette.com/news/portfolio/2016/02/14/Eyewitness-1916-Living-link-to-Foster-passes-on/stories/201602140140 |access-date= April 27, 2016 |work= Pittsburgh Post Gazette |date= February 14, 2016}}</ref> He wrote songs in support of drinking, such as "My Wife Is a Most Knowing Woman", "Mr. and Mrs. Brown", and "When the Bowl Goes Round", while also composing temperance songs such as "Comrades Fill No Glass for Me" or "The Wife".<ref name=SAND/>

Foster also authored many church hymns, although the inclusion of his hymns in hymnals ended by 1910. Some of the hymns are "Seek and ye shall find",<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/WCH1863/106|title="Waters' Choral Harp: a new and superior collection of choice hymns and tunes, mostly new, written and composed for Sunday schools, missionary, revival, and social meetings, and for church worship 106. Who has our Redeemer heard" |work= Hymnary.org |access-date= August 23, 2016}}</ref> "All around is bright and fair, While we work for Jesus",<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.hymnary.org/text/all_around_is_bright_and_fair_while_we_w |title= All around is bright and fair, While we work for Jesus |work= Hymnary.org |access-date= August 23, 2016}}</ref> and "Blame not those who weep and sigh".<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.hymnary.org/text/blame_not_those_who_weep_and_sigh |title="Blame, not those who weep and sigh" |work=Hymnary.org |access-date= August 23, 2016}}</ref> Several rare Civil War-era hymns by Foster were performed by The Old Stoughton Musical Society Chorus, including "The Pure, The Bright, The Beautiful", "Over The River", "Give Us This Day", and "What Shall The Harvest Be?".{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}{{when|date=February 2023}} He also arranged many works by [[Mozart]], [[Beethoven]], [[Donizetti]], [[Joseph Lanner|Lanner]], [[Carl Maria von Weber|Weber]] and [[Schubert]] for flute and guitar.

Foster usually sent his handwritten scores directly to his publishers. The publishers kept the sheet music manuscripts and did not give them to libraries nor return them to his heirs. Some of his original, hand-written scores were bought and put into private collections and the [[Library of Congress]].<ref name=Root/>
<!--Foster is acknowledged as "father of American music".<ref name="npr_father">{{cite web |title= ''The Lyrics And Legacy Of Stephen Foster'' | url= https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126035325 |work=Fresh Air | publisher= NPR |access-date= June 29, 2010}}</ref>
He was inducted into the [[Songwriters Hall of Fame]] in 1970, and he was also inducted into the [[Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame]] in 2010.-->

===Popular songs===
"[[My Old Kentucky Home]]" is the official state song of Kentucky, adopted by the General Assembly on March 19, 1928.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

Foster's songs, lyrics, and melodies have often been altered by publishers and performers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Steel |first1=David Warren |title=The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture; Volume 12: Music|chapter=Foster, Stephen (1826–1864) Composer and Songwriter|date=2008 |pages=229–230 |publisher= University of North Carolina Press |jstor= 10.5149/9781469616667_malone.86|isbn=9780807832394 }} Access provided by the University of Pittsburgh</ref>

In 1957 [[Ray Charles]] released a version of "Old Folks at Home" that was titled "Swanee River Rock (Talkin’ ’Bout That River)", which became his first pop hit that November.<ref>Whitburn, Joel, Top R&B Singles, 1942–1999, p. 74.</ref>

In the 2000s{{when|date=February 2023}} "[[Old Folks at Home]]", designated the official state song of Florida in 1935,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.flheritage.com/facts/symbols/symbol.cfm?id=22 |title=The State Anthem: "Florida (Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky)" |publisher=State of Florida |access-date=April 29, 2011}}</ref> came under attack for what some regarded as offensive terms in the song's lyrics. Changes were made to them with the approval of the [[Stephen Foster Memorial]].{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}{{when|date=February 2023}} The modified song was kept as the official state song, while "[[Florida (Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky)]]" was added as the state anthem.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

A 1974 published collection, ''Stephen Foster Song Book; Original Sheet Music of 40 Songs'' (New York : Dover Publications, Inc.), of Stephen Foster's popular songs was edited by musicologist [[Richard Jackson (musicologist)|Richard Jackson]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |date=2001 |title=Jackson, Richard (Hammel)|encyclopedia=[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music Online]] |series=Oxford Music Online |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|author=Paula Morgan|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.47105}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
{{Multiple issues|section=yes|
{{excessive examples|section|date=February 2023}}
{{more citations needed|section|date=February 2023}}
}}

===Musical influence===
{{listen
| type         = music
| filename     = Oh Susanna.ogg
| title        = "Oh! Susanna" (1848)
| description  = Stephen Foster's "[[Oh! Susanna]]" performed by the United States Navy Concert Band
| filename2    = Foster - Schumann-Heink - Old Folks at Home (rec. 1918).ogg
| title2       = "Old Folks at Home"
| description2 = "Old Folks at Home" performed by [[Ernestine Schumann-Heink]] (1918)
}} 

===Songs===
* Professor of folklore and musician John Minton wrote a song titled "Stephen C. Foster's Blues".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://myspace.com/thepossumtrotorchestra/music/song/stephen-c.-foster-s-blues-74384088-82081738 |title=Stephen C. Foster's Blues |publisher=The Possum Trot Orchestra |access-date=May 10, 2015}}</ref>
* [[Walt Kelly]] recorded an a cappella rendition of Foster's "Old Dog Tray" on the 1956 album ''Songs of the Pogo''. Kelly regularly referenced "Old Dog Tray" as the theme song for his character Beauregard Hound Dog, from his comic strip ''[[Pogo (comic strip)|Pogo]]''.
* [[The Firesign Theatre]] makes many references to Foster's compositions in their CD ''Boom Dot Bust'' (1999, Rhino Records).
* [[Larry Kirwan]] of [[Black 47 (band)|Black 47]] mixes the music of Foster with his own in the musical ''[[Hard Times (musical)|Hard Times]]'', which earned a ''[[New York Times]]'' accolade in its original run: "a knockout entertainment". Kirwan gives a contemporary interpretation of Foster's troubled later years and sets it in the tumultuous time of the New York draft riots and the Irish–Negro relations of the period. A revival ran at the [[Cell Theater]] in New York in early 2014, and a revised version of the musical called ''Paradise Square'' opened at [[Berkeley Repertory Theatre]] in 2018.
* [[Gordon Lightfoot]] wrote a song in 1970 titled "Your Love's Return (Song for Stephen Foster)."
* [[Randy Newman]]'s 1970 album ''[[12 Songs (Randy Newman album)|12 Songs]]'' contained Newman's song "Old Kentucky Home" (originally titled "Turpentine and Dandelion Wine"), which is based on Foster's "[[My Old Kentucky Home|My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!]]" Newman told ''Billboard'' magazine, "It's a good song because Stephen Foster wrote the hook".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=White |first=Timothy |date=December 9, 2000 |title=Randy Newman's America: A Portrait of the Artist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rRAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17 |magazine=Billboard |volume=112 |issue=50 |page=17}}</ref> Under various titles, Newman's "Old Kentucky Home" was covered by [[the Beau Brummels]], the [[Alan Price Set]] and [[Johnny Cash]].
* [[Spike Jones]] recorded a comedy send-up "I Dream of Brownie with the Light Blue Jeans."
* Humorist [[Stanley Victor Freberg|Stan Freberg]] imagined a 1950s style version of Foster's music in "Rock Around Stephen Foster" and, with [[Harry Shearer]], had a sketch about Foster having writer's block in a bit from his "United States of America" project.
* Songwriter [[Tom Shaner]] mentions Stephen Foster meeting up with [[Eminem]]'s alter ego "Slim Shady" on the Bowery in Shaner's song "Rock & Roll is A Natural Thing".
* The music of Stephen Foster was an early influence on the Australian composer [[Percy Grainger]], who stated that hearing "[[Camptown Races]]" sung by his mother was one of his earliest musical recollections. He went on to write a piece entitled "Tribute to Foster", a composition for mixed choir, orchestra, and pitched wine glasses based on the melody of "Camptown Races".<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Source guide to the music of Percy Grainger|date=1991|publisher=Pro/Am Music Resources|author=Lewis, Thomas P.|isbn=9780912483566|edition= 1st |location=White Plains, New York|oclc=24019532}}</ref>
* [[Art Garfunkel]] was cast as Stephen Foster and sang his songs in an elementary school play in Queens, New York.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/236102/what-is-it-all-but-luminous-by-art-garfunkel/|title=What Is It All but Luminous by Art Garfunkel {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books|website=PenguinRandomhouse.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-25}}</ref>
* Foster's name is included in the rapid fire litany of musicians and songs that make up the lyrics of the 1974 pop novelty song "[[Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)]]" by Reunion.
* [[Neil Sedaka]] wrote and recorded a song about Foster and released it on his 1975 album, ''[[The Hungry Years]]''.
* [[Alternative country]] duo [[The Handsome Family]]'s song "Wildebeest", from their 2013 album ''[[Wilderness (The Handsome Family album)|Wilderness]]'', is about Foster's death.<ref name=allmusicHandsomeFamily>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/wilderness-mw0002499079|title=Wilderness – The Handsome Family|publisher=Allmusic.com|last=Monger|first=James|access-date=2013-07-08}}</ref>
* [[Squirrel Nut Zippers]] wrote and recorded a song in 1998 titled "The Ghost of Stephen Foster".
* [[Stace England]] released in April 2024, as part of the group Foster's Satchel, a full-length album entitled ''Over the River: Stephen Foster Reimagined''.
* [[John Fogerty]] of [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]] has said Foster's music inspired his own music, especially "[[Proud Mary]]".

[[File:1940 FamAmer e 1.png|thumb|200px| Foster commemorative stamp in the Famous American Composers series, 1940<ref>{{cite web |url= http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2028628 |title=1-cent Foster |publisher= Arago: people, postage & the post, Smithsonian National Postal Museum |access-date= May 10, 2015}}</ref>]]

===Television===
* Two television shows about the life of Foster and his childhood friend (and later wife) Jane MacDowell were produced in Japan, the first in 1979 with 13 episodes, and the second from 1992 to 1993 with 52 episodes; both were titled ''[[Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair (TV series)|Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair]]'' after the song of the same name.
* In the ''[[The Honeymooners|Honeymooners]]'' episode "The $99,000 Answer", Ralph Kramden studies decades' worth of popular songs for his upcoming appearance on a television [[game show]]. Before each song, Ed Norton warms up on the piano by playing the opening to "Swanee River". On the program, Ralph is asked his first question for just 100 dollars: "Who is the composer of 'Swanee River'?" Ralph freezes, then nervously responds "Ed Norton?" and loses.
* In a "Fractured Fairy Tales" segment of ''[[The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show]]'', Aladdin finds a lamp with a female [[Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair|genie with light brown hair]], who immediately asks, "Are you Stephen Foster?"
* [[Lucille Ball]], in an episode of ''[[The Lucy Show]]'', announces that she is about to play a record called "Bing Crosby Sings Stephen Foster." A Crosby impressionist is heard singing (to the melody of "Camptown Races") "A-bum-bum-bum-bum bum-bum-bum, Stephen, Foster..."

===Film===
Many early filmmakers selected Foster's songs for their work because his copyrights had expired and cost them nothing.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lerner |first=Neil |date=September 2006 |title=Review: ''Tunes for 'Toons': Music and the Hollywood Cartoon'' by Daniel Goldmark |journal=Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association |volume=63 |number=1 |pages=121–124 |jstor=4487739}}</ref> The 1935 technicolor musical short film ''[[Memories and Melodies]]'' depicts Collins trying to sell a song at the local music shop and reminiscing. Other Hollywood films include ''[[Harmony Lane]]'' (1935) with [[Douglass Montgomery]], ''[[Swanee River (1939 film)|Swanee River]]'' (1939) with [[Don Ameche]], and ''[[I Dream of Jeanie (film)|I Dream of Jeanie]]'' (1952), with [[Bill Shirley]]. The 1939 production was one of [[Twentieth Century Fox]]'s more ambitious efforts, filmed in [[Technicolor]]; the other two were low-budget affairs made by [[B-movie]] studios.
* In the film ''[[Tombstone (film)|Tombstone]]'' (1993), [[Billy Clanton]] (played by [[Thomas Haden Church]]) tries to bait [[Doc Holliday]] ([[Val Kilmer]]), who is playing a [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]] [[nocturne]] on the piano, by saying, "Is that 'Old Dog Tray'? That sounds like 'Old Dog Tray' to me." When the goad fails, Clanton asks whether Doc knows any other songs, like {{"'}}Camptown Races'?, 'Oh Susanna', You know, Stephen stinkin' Foster?!?"
* In the film ''[[A Million Ways to Die in the West]]'', [[Seth MacFarlane]]'s character, Albert, can't get Foster's song "If You've Only Got a Mustache", from the previous scene, out of his head. [[Charlize Theron]]'s character suggests singing a different song, to which he replies, "There are only like 3 songs", and she adds "And they're all by Stephen Foster."
* In the 1949 film ''[[Mighty Joe Young (1949 film)|Mighty Joe Young]]'' the character Jill Young ([[Terry Moore (actress)|Terry Moore]]) is able to calm her pet 12-foot-tall gorilla by whistling or playing "[[Beautiful Dreamer]]".
*In the movie ''[[Frankie and Johnny (1966 film)|Frankie and Johnny]]'' (1966), starring [[Elvis Presley]], Johnny (Elvis‘ character) talking to Cully (played by [[Harry Morgan]]) when reviewing a song says "Let's hear it Stephen Foster".

===Other events===
* "Stephen Foster! Super Saturday" is a day of [[thoroughbred]] racing during the Spring/Summer meet at [[Churchill Downs]] in [[Louisville, Kentucky]]. During the call to the post, selections of Stephen Foster songs are played by the track bugler, Steve Buttleman. The day is headlined by the [[Stephen Foster Handicap]], a Grade I dirt race for older horses at 9 furlongs.
* Taylor Mac's ''[[A 24-Decade History of Popular Music]]'' includes a "Father of American Music Smackdown" in hour eight putting Foster's more problematic qualities up against the figure of Walt Whitman. 
* [[36 U.S.C.]] §140 designates January 13 as [[Stephen Foster Memorial Day]], a [[List of observances in the United States by presidential proclamation|United States National Observance]]. In 1936, Congress authorized the minting of a silver half dollar in honor of the Cincinnati Musical Center. Foster was featured on the obverse of the coin.
* Stephen Foster Music Camp is a summer music camp held on [[Eastern Kentucky University]]'s campus of Richmond, Kentucky. The camp offers piano courses, choir, band, and orchestra ensembles.

===Art===
[[File:Stephen Foster Monument - Pittsburgh - IMG 0791.jpg|thumb|right|''Stephen Foster'' sculpture in [[Schenley Plaza]], Pittsburgh, by [[Giuseppe Moretti]] (1900)]]
* A public [[Stephen Foster (sculpture)|sculpture]] by [[Giuseppe Moretti]] honoring Foster and commemorating his song "Old Uncle Ned" sat near the Stephen Foster Memorial until 2018. The statue was removed following complaints about the banjo-playing slave seated next to Foster.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oh-susanna-songwriter-s-statue-removed-amid-criticism-n869321|title='Oh! Susanna' songwriter's statue removed from Pittsburgh park after criticism|website=NBC News|date=April 26, 2018 |language=en|access-date=2019-04-25}}</ref>
* In [[Alms Park]] in [[Cincinnati]], overlooking the Ohio River, there is a seated statue of him.
* [[The Hall of Fame for Great Americans]] in [[the Bronx]], overlooking the Harlem River, has a bronze bust of him by artist [[Walker Hancock]]. Added in 1940, he is among only 98 honorees from 15 classes of distinguished men and women.
* In [[My Old Kentucky Home State Park]] in [[Bardstown, Kentucky]], a musical called ''[[The Stephen Foster Story]]'' has been performed since 1958. There is also a statue of him next to the [[Federal Hill (Kentucky)|Federal Hill mansion]], where he visited relatives and which is the inspiration for "My Old Kentucky Home". A painting by [[Howard Chandler Christy]] entitled ''Stephen Foster and the Angel of Genius'' is on display in the park's art collection. The painting inspired [[Florence Foster Jenkins]] to author a tableau in which she plays the role of the angel depicted in Christy's painting. The scene was featured in the film ''[[Florence Foster Jenkins (film)|Florence Foster Jenkins]]'' in 2016.

==Accolades and honors==
[[File:1936 50C Cincinnati (obv).png|thumb|Foster is depicted on the obverse of the 1936 [[Cincinnati Musical Center half dollar]]]]
Foster is honored on the [[University of Pittsburgh]] campus with the [[Stephen Foster Memorial]], a landmark building that houses the Stephen Foster Memorial Museum, the Center for American Music, and two theaters: the Charity Randall Theatre and Henry Heymann Theatre, both performance spaces for Pitt's Department of Theater Arts. It is the largest repository for original Stephen Foster compositions, recordings, and other memorabilia his songs have inspired worldwide.

Two state parks are named in Foster's honor: the [[Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park]] in [[White Springs, Florida]], and [[Stephen C. Foster State Park]] in Georgia. Both parks are on the [[Suwannee River]]. Stephen Foster Lake at [[Mt. Pisgah State Park]] in Pennsylvania is named after him.

One state park is named in honor of Foster's songs, [[My Old Kentucky Home State Park]], a historic mansion formerly named Federal Hill, located in [[Bardstown, Kentucky]], where Foster is said to have been an occasional visitor according to his brother, Morrison Foster.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} The park dedicated a bronze statue in honor of Stephen's work.

The [[Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh)|Lawrenceville]] Historical Society, together with the [[Allegheny Cemetery]] Historical Association, hosts the annual Stephen Foster Music and Heritage Festival (Doo Dah Days!). Held the first weekend of July, Doo Dah Days! celebrates the life and music of one of the most influential songwriters in America's history. His home in the Lawrenceville section of [[Pittsburgh]], Pennsylvania, still remains on Penn Avenue near the [[Foster School|Stephen Foster Community Center]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:StephenFosterWinter.jpg|The [[Stephen Foster Memorial]] at the [[University of Pittsburgh]] contains two theaters
File:The Stephen Collins Foster sketchbook kept in a safe at the archives.jpg|Although most of Foster's original lyrics and manuscripts are lost, a sketchbook of his artwork is preserved at the Memorial's research library at the Pitt.
</gallery>

==Statue controversy and later views==
A 1900 [[Stephen Foster (sculpture)|statue]] of Foster by [[Giuseppe Moretti]] was located in [[Schenley Plaza]], in Pittsburgh, from 1940 until 2018. On the unanimous recommendation of the Pittsburgh Art Commission, the statue was removed on April 26, 2018.<ref name=PCGoneAmok>{{cite news |title= 'Oh Susanna' songwriter's statue removed amid criticism |url= https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/oh-susanna-songwriters-statue-removed-amid-criticism-145527999.html |access-date= April 26, 2018 |agency= Associated Press |date= April 26, 2018 |archive-date= April 26, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180426202539/https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/oh-susanna-songwriters-statue-removed-amid-criticism-145527999.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> Its new home has not yet been determined. It has a long reputation as the most controversial public art in Pittsburgh "for its depiction of an African-American banjo player at the feet of the seated composer. Critics say the statue glorifies white appropriation of black culture and depicts the vacantly smiling musician in a way that is at best condescending and at worst racist."<ref>{{cite news
|title=City's art commission unanimous: Statue of Stephen Foster needs to go
|first=Dan
|last=Majors
|newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]
|date=October 25, 2017
|access-date=May 5, 2018
|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2017/10/25/Pittsburgh-art-commission-recommends-removal-controversial-Stephen-Foster-statue/stories/201710250193}}</ref> A city-appointed Task Force on Women in Public Art called for the statue to be replaced with one honoring an African American woman with ties to the Pittsburgh community. The Task Force held a series of community forums in Pittsburgh to collect public feedback on the statue replacement and circulated an online form which allowed the public to vote for one of seven previously selected candidates or write in an alternate suggestion.<ref>{{cite news |title=City wants statue of African-American woman to replace Stephen Foster monument |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2018/03/14/Pittsburgh-statue-African-American-woman-replace-controversy-racist-Stephen-Foster/stories/201803140159 |access-date=16 September 2018 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=14 March 2018}}</ref> However, the Task Force on Women in Public Art and the Pittsburgh Art Commission have not reached an agreement as to who will be commemorated or if the statue will stay in the Schenley Plaza location.<ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Driscoll |first1=Bill |title=Initiative To Honor Women Of Color With Public Art Sparks Debate |url=http://www.wesa.fm/post/initiative-honor-women-color-public-art-sparks-debate#stream/0 |access-date=16 September 2018 |agency=WESA |publisher=WESA |date=2 July 2018}}</ref>

The musicologist Ken Emerson has suggested that some of Foster's songs are "a source of racial embarrassment and infuriation."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126035325|title=The Lyrics and Legacy of Stephen Foster|website=NPR.org|date=April 16, 2010 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Stephen Foster Collection and archive]]

==Notes==
<references group="nb" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | editor-last= Emerson | editor-first= Ken | title=Stephen Foster & Co.: Lyrics of the First Great American Songwriters| url= https://archive.org/details/stephenfostercol00fost | url-access= registration | location= New York | publisher= The Library of America | year= 2010 | isbn= 978-1-59853-070-4 | oclc= 426803667|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hamm|first1=Charles|title=Yesterdays: Popular Song in America|year=1983|publisher=W. W. Norton & Co.|location=New York City|isbn=978-0393300628|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/yesterdays00char|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hodges| first1=Fletcher Jr. |title=A Pittsburgh Composer and His Memorial|date=1939|publisher=Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania|location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|asin=B01A8YVHHM|url=https://archive.org/stream/pittsburghcompos00hodg#page/n5/mode/2up|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hodges| first1=Fletcher Jr. |title=The Research Work of the Foster Hall Collection|date=1948|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hodges| first1=Fletcher Jr. |title=The Swanee River and a Biographical Sketch of Stephen Collins Foster|year=1958|publisher=Literary Licensing|location=Whitefish, Montana|isbn=978-1258193980|ref=none}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Howard|first1=John Tasker|title=The Literature on Stephen Foster|journal=Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association|date=March 1944|volume=1|issue=2|pages=10–15|doi=10.2307/891301|jstor=891301|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Howard|first1=John Tasker|title=Stephen Foster: America's Troubadour|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.58669|date=1945|publisher=Tudor Publishing Company|location=New York City|asin=B0007ELPPI|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Milligan|first1=Harold Vincent|title=Stephen Collins Foster: A Biography Of America's Folk-Song Composer|year=1920|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|location=Whitefish, Montana|isbn=978-0548971864|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Morneweck|first1=Evelyn|title=Chronicles of Stephen Foster's Family|year=1973|publisher=Associated Faculty Press|isbn=978-0804617420|ref=none}}
* O'Connell, JoAnne (2016). ''The Life and Songs of Stephen Foster: a Revealing Portrait of the Forgotten Man Behind Swanee River, Beautiful Dreamer, and My Old Kentucky Home''. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield. p.&nbsp;321. {{ISBN|9781442253865}}.
* {{cite web|title=Foster Hall Collection.|url=http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=ascead;type=simple;q1=Stephen%20Foster;rgn=Entire%20Finding%20Aid;size=25;view=reslist;subview=standard;cc=ascead;sort=occur;start=1;didno=US-PPiU-camfhc201101;focusrgn=summaryinfo;byte=46438786|publisher=Center for American Music; University of Pittsburgh|access-date=March 24, 2017}}
* {{cite news|title=Pictorial Biography of Stephen Collins Foster|url=http://digital.library.pitt.edu/u/ulsmanuscripts/pdf/31735064661097.pdf|access-date=March 24, 2017|publisher=Musical Courier|year=1930}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|s=Author:Stephen Foster|commons=Category:Stephen Foster|wikt=no|b=no|q=Stephen Foster|n=no|v=no|species=no}}
* {{IMSLP|id=Foster, Stephen|cname=Stephen Foster}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Stephen Collins Foster}}
* {{iMDb name|0288062}}
* {{Find a Grave|360}}
* [https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/collection/data/13387419 Archives] of Stephen Foster at the University of Kentucky
* {{Discogs artist|Stephen Foster}}
* [https://sites.google.com/site/pittsburghmusichistory/pittsburgh-music-story/teachers-and-schools Pittsburgh Music History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321210158/https://sites.google.com/site/pittsburghmusichistory/pittsburgh-music-story/teachers-and-schools |date=March 21, 2019 }}
* [http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/CivilWarSongsandHymns.htm Hymns and songs by Stephen Foster]
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/101961 Stephen Collins Foster recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]].

'''Music scores'''
* Sheet music for [http://purl.lib.ua.edu/14395 "I see her still in my dreams"], Macon, GA: John C. Schreiner & Son, from the [http://purl.lib.ua.edu/18443 Confederate Imprints Sheet Music Collection]
* Sheet music for [http://purl.lib.ua.edu/14408 "Parthenia to Incomar"], Macon, GA: John C. Schreiner & Son, from the [http://purl.lib.ua.edu/18443 Confederate Imprints Sheet Music Collection]
* [http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/foster-songs/ "The Melodies of Stephen C. Foster" (online version)] Pittsburgh, PA: T.M. Walker, Full sheet music book, 307 pages

{{Stephen Foster}}
{{Hall of Fame for Great Americans}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Stephen}}
[[Category:Stephen Foster| ]]
[[Category:1826 births]]
[[Category:1864 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American composers]]
[[Category:19th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:19th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century American songwriters]]
[[Category:Accidental deaths in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Accidental deaths from falls]]
[[Category:American male composers]]
[[Category:American male lyricists]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent]]
[[Category:Blackface minstrel songwriters]]
[[Category:Burials at Allegheny Cemetery]]
[[Category:Hall of Fame for Great Americans inductees]]
[[Category:Musicians from Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Songwriters from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Washington & Jefferson College alumni]]