Online Resources

These highlighted resources are available online from the Library of Congress and include additional research guides, online exhibitions, blog posts written by performing arts specialists, and webcasts of performances at the Library.

Related Research Guides

The Music Division has published the following research guides on American women composers well represented in the Library's collections:

Amy Beach: A Guide to Primary and Secondary Resources at the Library of Congress
Amy Beach (1867-1944) was one of the most significant American women composers of the early 20th century. This guide provides an overview to the print, manuscript, and digital collections in the Library’s Music Division related to her career and music.
Eleanor Everest Freer: A Guide to Resources
This guide provides resources to research the life and work of American composer Eleanor Everest Freer (1864-1942), who was an advocate for American opera as well as a skilled composer.
Gena Branscombe: A Guide to Resources
This guide provides resources to research the life and work of American composer Gena Branscombe (1881-1977), who was well-known for her art songs, choral, piano, and chamber music.

Online Exhibitions

The Library of Congress presents public exhibitions of its unique materials both onsite and electronically through the website. The online exhibitions below are grouped thematically and highlight the work of American women performing artists.

Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine: Two Kids from Brooklyn
This online exhibition explores the many talents of the powerful entertainment duo Danny Kaye (1911–1987) and Sylvia Fine (1913–1991), both raised in Brooklyn, New York. Kaye’s career as an entertainer spanned six decades and encompassed nearly every aspect of the performing arts. He had the perfect partner in his wife, Fine, who not only wrote the music and lyrics of hundreds of songs tailored specifically to Kaye’s talents but also produced many of his eclectic engagements and brilliantly managed his career.

Jazz Singers
This exhibit offers perspectives on the art of vocal jazz from the 1920s to the present. Drawn largely from the Library of Congress Music Division’s collections, including the photographs of William P. Gottlieb and the papers of Max Roach, Chet Baker, and Shirley Horn, among others, it features singers and song stylists from both on-stage and off. Rare video clips, photographic portraits, candid snapshots, musical scores, personal notes, correspondence, drawings, and watercolors reveal the sometimes exuberant, sometimes painful, but always vibrant art and life of jazz singers.
#Opera Before Instagram: Portraits, 1890-1955
The photographs on exhibit in #Opera Before Instagram: Portraits, 1890–1955 represent a cross section of important singers who performed in the United States. Some artists are presented in formal attire, which would have been used for general publicity and concert appearances, and others are costumed as characters from their operatic repertoire.

A Century of Creativity: The MacDowell Colony 1907-2007
Since 1907, the MacDowell Colony has offered a creative sanctuary to artists, writers, and composers. Founded by American composer Edward MacDowell and his wife Marian, the Colony's underlying philosophy is that artists working in different disciplines can benefit from contact with one another. This exhibition, drawn from collections across the Library, provides an opportunity to appreciate the MacDowell experience, from its most recent fellows to its earliest colonists.
Chamber Music: The Life and Legacy of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
In 1925 Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (1864–1953) established the Coolidge Foundation at the Library of Congress, an unprecedented gift that ensured her support for contemporary music would continue for many generations. Coolidge’s passion was chamber music and to make chamber music available to all, she built at the Library of Congress an intimate, finely-tuned auditorium that bears her name.

American Ballet Theatre: Touring the Globe for 75 Years
In 1939, a group of dancers, choreographers, and producers associated with Russian-born Mikhail Mordkin's ballet company joined together to establish a new, innovative dance company they called Ballet Theatre. The company premiered in New York City on January 11, 1940, to great critical acclaim. Early in its organization, Ballet Theatre—renamed American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1957—began to tour, representing the United States both domestically and internationally. The exhibition highlights ABT's vibrant seventy-five year history with objects drawn primarily from the American Ballet Theatre Collection at the Library of Congress, as well as from the Library's extensive dance and music collections.
Politics and the Dancing Body
This online exhibition explores how American choreographers between World War I through the Cold War used dance to celebrate American culture, to voice social protest, and to raise social consciousness. The exhibition also examines how the U.S. government employed dance as a vehicle for cultural diplomacy and to counter anti-American sentiment. Featuring materials drawn mostly from the rich dance, music, theater, and design collections of the Music Division of the Library of Congress, Politics and the Dancing Body demonstrates how dance was integral to the twentieth-century American cultural and political landscape.
Grand Illusion: The Art of Theatrical Design
This online exhibit draws from collections that document virtually all genres of theater: ballet, modern dance, opera, musical theater, comedy, dramatic theater, and the variety stage. Featured artists include lighting designer Peggy Clark and production designer Elizabeth Montgomery, as well as costume designers Lucinda Ballard and Florence Klotz.

In the Muse Blog Posts

In the Muse, a Library of Congress blog maintained by the Music Division, showcases and advertises our rich collections and public programs. Explore blog posts in the following categories to discover fascinating stories about:

Performing Arts Webcasts

In 1925 Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge established the Coolidge Foundation and built at the Library of Congress an intimate, finely-tuned auditorium that bears her name. Since the auditorium's opening, world-class artists have appeared on its stage in free public concerts, many of which are broadcast on radio and, today, via the Library's events videos and YouTube channel External. The following lists provide a sample of performances, interviews, and lectures sponsored by the Library that feature and highlight women in the performing arts.

Bach & the Landowska Legacy
Harpsichordist Skip Sempé performed on Wanda Landowska's unique Pleyel instrument and on her clavichord, speaking about her Bach performances and the Library's substantial Landowska archives.
Broadway Composers Concert: Jeanine Tesori, Steven Lutvak & David Yazbek
Three of Broadway's most popular musical creators -- Steven Lutvak, Jeanine Tesori and David Yazbek -- perform their own work in an intimate evening of music. Special guests include Catherine Walker, Jacqueline Echols, Joshua Henry, Dean Sharenow and Mike Chiavaro. Part of the Library's Songs of America project.
Meredith Monk
In concert with her acclaimed vocal ensemble, Meredith Monk illustrates her range as a composer and her engagement with performance as a vehicle for spiritual transformation.

In Conversation with the Librarian of Congress: Leaders in the Arts
In celebration of Women's History Month at the Library of Congress, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden hosted a discussion with three dynamic leaders in the arts: Marin Alsop (Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra), Deborah Rutter (president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), and Molly Smith (Artistic Director at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater).
Conversation with the Cecilia String Quartet & Kati Agócs in Conversation
Members of the Cecilia String Quartet discuss their experience preparing a concert using the Library's historic Stradivari instruments and their collaboration with composer Agócs, whose work "Tantric Variations" was commissioned by the quartet and received its U.S. premiere at the Library on December 17, 2016.
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Uncut: Conversation with Coolidge Exhibit Curators & Filmmaker Marjorie Short
Marjorie Short joins exhibit curators Robin Rausch and Caitlin Miller to discuss the challenges of telling a life story in the briefest way possible, from an eight-minute film to a 50-item exhibit. Created to commemorate Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge's 150th birthday and the 90th anniversary season of concerts at the Library of Congress, Chamber Music features approximately 50 items -- letters, photos, original music manuscripts, and more -- that document Coolidge's remarkable story.
A Leading Role: A Conversation on Women in the Music World
A pre-concert panel discussion featuring Jane Chu, Margaret Lioi and Astrid Schween. October 30, 2015.
Maria Schneider on "Data Lords"
Composer Maria Schneider discusses her Library of Congress commission, "Data Lords," with Larry Appelbaum of the Music Division. "Data Lords," made possible by the Reva and David Logan Foundation, was premiered at the Library by the Maria Schneider Orchestra on April 15, 2016.
Maria Schneider on the Creative Process
Jazz artist Maria Schneider discusses her approach to the creative process and her collaboration with David Bowie in an interview with Larry Appelbaum. Recorded in conjunction with the world premiere of Schneider's Library of Congress commission "Data Lords," presented in association with the Reva and David Logan Foundation.
Pre-Concert Conversation with Kim Kashkashian & Péter Nagy
A pre-concert conversation with Kim Kashkashian and Péter Nagy. March 13, 2015
Preconcert Interview with Jennifer Higdon
Composer Jennifer Higdon discusses her viola concerto. March 07, 2015
Preconcert Talk: David Nelson & Chaya Czernowin
Composer Chaya Czernowin and Orchestra 2001 percussionist David Nelson discuss an evening concert of works by George Crumb and a Library of Congress Dina Koston and Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music commission by Czernowin, "Slow Summer Stay II: Lakes" (2012).

Women Composers Hiding in Plain Sight
Melissa Wertheimer discusses her research to identify women composers in a glass negative from 1924. Wertheimer explores the careers and Library primary sources related to composers Amy Beach, Gena Branscombe, Phyllis Fergus, Ethel Glenn Hier, Mary Turner Salter and Harriet Ware, who were photographed in Washington, D.C., during the League of American Pen Women's biennial convention. She also discusses the repertoire and performers on the concerts, as well as Library of Congress primary sources related to the events.
The Audacity of Hopekirk: Cultural Identity in the Songs of Helen Hopekirk
A lecture-recital featuring a rare performance of Helen Hopekirk's "Five Songs on Poems of Fiona MacLeod," published in 1904. November 04, 2014.
Discovering Creative Connections: The Collaboration of Erick Hawkins & Lucia Dlugoszewski
Libby Smigel and Kate Doyle discuss the collaborations of modern dance choreographer Erick Hawkins and experimental music composer Lucia Dlugoszewski. Now accessible in the artists' papers in the Library, correspondence, choreographic notation and music charts and scores shed light on the note-taking system Hawkins developed that show his creative process as well as create movement scores for his dances. April 11, 2017.
Meaning & Myth in Louise Talma's First Period Works
Kendra Leonard discusses meaning and myth in the first-period works of 20th century composer Louise Talma. September 24, 2013.
Peggy Seeger: A Life of Music, Love, and Politics
Drawing from her recently published biography of Peggy Seeger's life and contributions as a performer, song writer and activist, author Jean Freedman discussed Seeger's career from the 1950s to the present. September 07, 2017.
Sidney Robertson Cowell & the WPA California Folk Music Project, 1938-1940
Catherine Hiebert Kerst discusses how, as a young woman of 35, Sidney Robertson proposed, organized and directed a California Work Projects Administration project designed to survey musical traditions from a wide range of English-speaking and immigrant communities in Northern California. May 09, 2017.
Soundwaves of Feminism: The Women's Music Movement
Women's history professor Bonnie J. Morris discussed on the women's music movement. Her talk explored rare materials and cultural changes introduced onstage by feminist and lesbian artists. March 08, 2017.
The Yank with the Box: Sidney Robertson Cowell
The American folk music collector Sidney Robertson Cowell (1903-1995) has been marginalized in the histories of the many places where she worked during her twenty-year career, including North America, Europe, India, Asia, and the Middle East. The talk focuses specifically on her work in Ireland on the music of Conamara and the Aran Islands in 1955 and 1956, work that is largely unknown to music historians, ethnomusicologists, and folklorists. September 20, 2012.

American Women: Resources from the Performing Arts Collections

Performing Arts: Ask a Librarian

Online Resources

Related Research Guides

Online Exhibitions

In the Muse Blog Posts

Performing Arts Webcasts