The Library's Paul Sommerfeld demonstrates how Erich Wolfgang Korngold's compositional techniques proved to be a powerful influence in defining the sound and style of music in Hollywood film. Examples from the film Captain Blood, in addition to Korngold's own musical sketches, correspondence and other ephemera such as production stills and marketing materials, weave the story of how the sounds of classical Hollywood film music continue to shape our interpretations of film in the present.

Aaron Copland composed several film scores in the 1930s and 1940s. This digital collection includes film stills, promotional materials, and drafts of some of Copland's thoughts on film music.

Following the professional lives of the husband-wife artistic duo, this digital collection includes film scores, scripts, photographs, sound recordings, and video clips that document both Kaye's and Fine's lengthy careers in film.

The Silent Film Scores and Arrangements digital collection includes over 3,000 items published or created for use in silent film accompaniment between 1904 - 1927. These items include scores written for specific films, cue sheets that compile melodies for use at certain moments in specific films, and stock music composed or arranged for general use in silent film. Scores and arrangements included in this collection include piano scores, full or reduced orchestral scores, instrumental parts, or just melodic incipits. The majority of the items come from music publishers based in the United States and Europe, but some arrived as copyright submissions by everyday citizens. Composers from the famous to the obscure (many used pseudonyms) appear throughout the collection. Items in this collection came from copyright submissions, the Jack Butterworth collection, and a gift from Mrs. Charles Moore. Also included, courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), are microfilm scans of over 800 items physically held by the museum.

The Motion Picture Copyright Descriptions Collection, Class L, consists of forms, abstracts, plot summaries, dialogue and continuity scripts, press kits, publicity and other material, submitted for the purpose of enabling descriptive cataloging for motion picture photoplays registered with the United States Copyright Office under Class L from 1912-1977.

“Molto Animato!" - a digital exhibit - explores the unparalleled collections in the Library’s Music, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound, and Prints and Photographs divisions. Juxtaposing music scores, lyrics and drawings with film clips and sound recordings, the exhibition provides a glimpse into the intricate merging of art forms that brings drawings to life.

This site features 341 motion pictures, 81 disc sound recordings, and other related materials, such as photographs and original magazine articles. Cylinder sound recordings will be added to this site in the near future. In addition, histories are given of Edison's involvement with motion pictures and sound recordings, as well as a special page focusing on the life of the great inventor. Edison managed to become not only a renowned inventor, but also a prominent manufacturer and businessman through the merchandising of his inventions. The collections in the Library of Congress's Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division contain an extraordinary range of the surviving products of Edison's entertainment inventions and industries.

The development of early American animation is represented by this collection of 21 animated films and 2 fragments, which spans the years 1900 to 1921. The films include clay, puppet, and cut-out animation, as well as pen drawings. They point to a connection between newspaper comic strips and early animated films, as represented by Keeping Up With the Joneses, Krazy Kat, and The Katzenjammer Kids. As well as showing the development of animation, these films also reveal the social attitudes of early twentieth-century America.

The 61 motion pictures in the Variety Stage Sound Recordings and Motion Pictures include animal acts, burlesque, dance, comic sketches, dramatic excerpts, dramatic sketches, physical culture acts, and tableaus. The films date from 1897 to 1920; the majority are drawn from the Library's extensive Paper Print Collection. The remaining films were produced by Hans A. Spanuth in Chicago from 1919 to 1920 for the series "Spanuth's Original Vod-A-Vil Movies." These motion pictures present a rare animated record of vaudeville acts from the turn of the century. Although not actually filmed on a theatrical stage, they sought to recreate the atmosphere of a theater performance by showing the types of vaudeville acts and performers that were popular at the time.