In response to Paul Meehan and Rowland Lee, Thank you!  Yes, it has
also greatly bothered me that the composer takes a silent backseat
to the performer and publisher.

I have been collecting rolls and original sheet music for only three
years now but am trying to gather together a good collection of
ragtime, stride, blues, etc., hopefully played by the composer.  In
some cases there is only a title and roll company listed, so if wanting
to find different versions of the same title by different artists, even
that is a problem.  Once in a while there is more info on the roll, but
not usually.

As to "most people would organize their popular music rolls
alphabetically by title, so the absence of a composer's name would not
necessarily be an irritation as it undoubtedly would be in the case
of classical rolls, which are perhaps more likely to be organized
alphabetically by composer", I intend to shelve my rolls and sheet
music also by composer in the order of publication dates.  But then
that's just me.

Funny, I hated history in school, now I can't get enough of knowing
who wrote what and when!

Best ragards,
Linda Howson