Remove selection, leave white background on monochrome images

[ChipZ]

I apologize for such a simple question, and the problem is since I'm not a photo person I'm not entirely sure of the correct vocabulary to use. I have a very simple need that I'm not seeing how to address. I'm certain it's stupid and I'm overlooking something obvious.

 

I have scans of some old music scores I need to remove some artifacts from. These are scanned in 1-bit mode (monochrome/black-and-white). For example, I would like to remove some over inking artifacts such as

 

 

When I select the area in question and delete it, it removes even the white background. I just want to have a plain white background and remove the black inking. Again, I don't know the proper terminology for this, and I apologize.

 

Can I get a quick point in the right direction here, please?

[toe_head2001]

1) Set the Primary Color to White

2) Create your Selection

3) Press Backspace on your keyboard

[ChipZ]

Perfect, thank you very much. I knew it was stupidly simple.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

1 hour ago, toe_head2001 said:

1) Set the Primary Color to White

2) Create your Selection

3) Press Backspace on your keyboard

 

As White is the default Secondary color, you can also use these steps

1. Create your selection
2. Press Shift + Backspace

Backspace uses the Primary color as the selection fill. Shift+Backspace uses the Secondary color.