James Hubert "Eubie" Blake was one of the most popular performers of the #ragtime era and one of the first African American composers of a #Broadway musical. The Eubie Blake Manuscript and Ephemera Collection at the Maryland Historical Society consists a large amount of Eubie's personal correspondence, legal correspondence, financial records, programs from performances, public press, lyrics and scripts for Eubie's musicals including In Bamville and #ShuffleAlong. Blake's practice #piano and his traveling pump #organ -- perhaps the first instrument he ever played -- were in the care of Blake's longtime entertainment lawyer, Elliott Hoffman, and his wife, Nancy. They developed a deep friendship with the #mastermusician and #composer and in May, 2016, donated the items to the Maryland Historical Society. You can see these fascinating items as part of our "What & Why: Collecting at the Maryland Historical Society" exhibit, which contains more than 50 objects spanning four centuries of don...