Digital Collections

This page connects researchers with digitized Bernstein-related collection material available in curated digital collections as well as digital exhibits representative of past physical exhibits mounted at the Library of Congress.

The Leonard Bernstein Digital Collection

Leonard Bernstein Digital Collection
The Leonard Bernstein digital collection makes available a significant selection of material from the Leonard Bernstein Collection, including correspondence both to and from Bernstein, musical sketches for several of his major works, writings, including the scripts for his Young People's Concerts, Thursday Evening Previews, Omnibus, and Ford Presents, his scrapbooks, photographs, and audio-visual materials.

Digital Collections with Bernstein-Related Material

The following digital collections include digitized items by or about Leonard Bernstein. Once you open a digital collection, you can keyword search "This Collection" at the top right corner of the page.

Aaron Copland Digital Collection
The Aaron Copland digital collection includes photographs of Copland with Bernstein, drafts of writings about Bernstein, and a draft of an essay called "American Music Since 1930" that highlights numerous American composers, including Bernstein. In addition, the digital collection includes two transcriptions of articles by Bernstein: "An Intimate Sketch" and "Aaron and Moses."
Irving Fine Digital Collection
The Irving Fine Digital Collection includes photographs of Fine with Bernstein, mostly at Tanglewood but also at Carnegie Hall.
Andrew Kostelanetz Digital Collection
The Kostelanetz digital collection includes a 1942 letter from Bernstein to Kostelanetz, a 1942 letter from Aaron Copland to Kostelanetz about Bernstein, and a 1971 signed photograph of Pierre Boulez, Bernstein, and Kostelanetz.
William P. Gottlieb Digital Collection
The Gottlieb Collection consists of jazz photographs taken by writer-photographer William P. Gottlieb, from 1938 to 1948, the "Golden Age of Jazz" when swing reached its peak and modern jazz developed. The collection includes 13 photographs of Bernstein, fully available for download.

Online Exhibits

Library of Congress exhibitions document present and past exhibits that feature unique material from our collections to center on a specific topic. These online exhibitions feature digital content, though there may be limits as to what you can download due to rights issues. The following exhibits, listed as examples, feature material by and about Bernstein:

West Side Story: Birth of a Classic
The West Side Story exhibition celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of this landmark musical. Drawn from the Library’s extensive Leonard Bernstein Collection, the exhibition offers a rare view into the creative process and collaboration involved in the making of this extraordinary production.
A Century of Creativity - The MacDowell Colony 1907–2007
Leonard Bernstein was already famous when he first came to work at The MacDowell Colony in 1962. He returned in 1970 and 1972. “All of those times I was writing works which had, at least in intent, a vastness, which were dealing with subjects of astronomical if not mystical and astrological dimension,” Bernstein reminisced in 1987. “This vastness is inherent somehow in this place.” See the list of Exhibition Items to view a photograph of Bernstein at The MacDowell Colony as well as materials related to Mass, which he worked on at the Colony.
Hope for America: Performers, Politics and Pop Culture
Hope for America draws from the personal papers, joke files, films, radio and television broadcasts, and other materials donated to the Library of Congress by Bob Hope and his family. To put the history of the involvement of entertainers in politics into perspective, the exhibition also profiles the politically oriented activities of other prominent figures represented in the Library's vast collections. See the list of Exhibition Items to find materials related to Bernstein and his political associations and expression.

In the Muse Blog

Banner for "In the Muse Performing Arts Blog" with photographs of a Civil War band, Leonard Bernstein, rare violins, and a drawing of a dog listening to gramophone.

The Music Division maintains a blog, In the Muse, which promotes Library-sponsored performing arts events and features articles about the Music Division's unique collections. Keyword search across the blog for any posts that mention Leonard Bernstein.

Leonard Bernstein: A Guide to Resources at the Library of Congress

Performing Arts: Ask a Librarian

Digital Collections

The Leonard Bernstein Digital Collection

Digital Collections with Bernstein-Related Material

Online Exhibits

In the Muse Blog