Blog Posts

Many blog posts—from the Music Division blog, In the Muse, the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center blog, Now See Hear! and the main Library of Congress blog—discuss relevant LGBTQ+ materials and artists in performing arts collections. Included here are a selection of these blog posts.

You can also search using the LGBTQ tag in each blog:

In the Muse Blog Posts

Pride Month at the Nation's Library
This blog post describes the Library of Congress's events for Pride Month in 2015. Although the events have passed, the post also includes images of relevant items in the Music Division's holdings such as materials from La Cage aux Folles.
Protest Songs Roundtable: Civil Rights, Unions, Immigrants and Stonewall
This post describes a past event presented by the Music Division about protest songs and how different communities use them.
Alvin Ailey and the Black Experience
Intern Jacquelyn Chin discusses her experience seeing the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform and processing the papers of the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation Collection.
Be Our Guest: The Howard Ashman Papers
This post announces the completion of the finding aid for the Howard Ashman Papers and describes some of Ashman's many accomplishments throughout his career.
Happy 100th Birthday, Samuel Barber!
This post announces the creation of an online exhibit about Barber to celebrate his 100th birthday as part of the Performing Arts Encyclopedia.
Embodying Bernstein: An Open Letter to Jake Gyllenhaal and Bradley Cooper from Daniel Callahan, Presenting “Bernstein Conducting Himself”
Dr. Daniel Callahan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Music at Boston College, writes to Bradley Cooper and Jake Gyllenhaal about portraying Bernstein and his performances as a conductor.
#Britten100: Benjamin Britten & Peter Pears at the Library
This post describes some of the materials pertaining to Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears held by the Library of Congress in celebration of Britten's 100th birthday anniversary.
Henry Cowell and the Joys of Noise
Henry Cowell, one of the ultramodernists of the 1920s and 1930s, experimented with new pianistic sounds in his compositions. A new finding aid published by the Music Division showcases these compositions and many other works by Cowell.
The Devotions of David Diamond
This blog post celebrates composer David Diamond’s contributions to the enrichment of Jewish synagogue music. The Music Division of the Library of Congress is home to the David Diamond Collection.
The Gaze of Benjamin Garber
Announces the completed processing of the Benjamin Garber Papers and Garber’s relationship with choreographer Martha Graham.
Higdon’s Viola Concerto: A Library of Congress Commission and a Grammy Nom!
This blog post announces that Jennifer Higdon's Viola Concerto, co-commissioned by the Library of Congress, was nominated for a Grammy in 2018. The post also includes links to an interview with Higdon and a video recording of the premiere performance at Coolidge Auditorium.
Happy Birthday Lady Day
This post celebrates Billie Holiday's birthday. It also includes links to Library of Congress collections in which materials about Holiday can be found.
Reflections on the Jonathan Larson Collection
This blog post describes how the Library of Congress acquired the Jonathan Larson Collection and some of the materials it includes, particularly those pertaining to RENT.
John Herbert McDowell: Composer, Choreographer, Writer, and All-Around Delightful Mischief-Maker
This post introduces the John Herbert McDowell Papers, which include McDowell’s musical scores for film, modern dance, Off-Off Broadway, and sacred and secular music, as well as programs, scripts, and photographs.
Remembering Terrence McNally
Music Division Archivist Morgen Stevens-Garmon reflects upon American playwright, screenwriter, and librettist Terrence McNally, who died of complications due to COVID-19 on March 24, 2020.
Richard Robbins and the Music of Merchant-Ivory
This blog post describes Richard Robbins's work scoring most of the Merchant-Ivory films, including The Europeans, Maurice, and The Remains of the Day.
Celebrating Bessie Smith: "Empress of the Blues"
This blog post celebrates Bessie Smith for International Jazz Day and showcases some of the Music Division's photographs, copyright deposit scores, books, and other materials pertaining to Smith.
Oliver Smith Collection...On Display!
Oliver Smith created the stage designs for many well-known musicals, plays, and operas, and this post describes some of the materials included in the recently acquired collection.
Finding Strayhorn: Reflections from Chris Potter
Saxophonist Chris Potter describes his experience presenting at the Finding Strayhorn panel discussion and discusses Strayhorn's importance for jazz history.
Kendra Preston Leonard on Louise Talma
This post by musicologist Kendra Preston Leonard describes her experience using the Louise Talma Collection and some of her favorite items from that collection.
A Taste of Tanglewood at the Library of Congress
This post describes the Tanglewood Music Center and its connections to many of the Music Division's special collections, particularly those of Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland.
Miles White Costume Designs
This post describes the importance and history of the materials in the Miles White Costume Designs, including works for theater, film, nightclub, ice revue, and circus.

Now See Hear! Blog Posts

Lilli Vincenz and the Power of Pride
This post describes some of the films in the Lilli Vincenz Papers and includes digitized versions of The Second Largest Minority and Gay and Proud.

Library of Congress Blog Posts

Pride in the Library: LGBTQ+ Voices in the Library's Collections
The collections of the Library of Congress tell the rich and diverse story of LGBTQ+ life in America and around the world. To share this story, the Library organized a three-day “pop-up” display from June 8 through 10 featuring selections from its extensive LGBTQ+ holdings.
“Dearest Lenny”: Leonard Bernstein's Love Letters from Japan
Scholar Mari Yoshihara's latest book, published fall 2019, is Dearest Lenny: Letters from Japan and the Making of the World Maestro. She researched it using the Leonard Bernstein Collection in the Library’s Music Division. Here she answers a few questions about the book and her experience at the Library.
"Queer Eye" for the Library
The cast of the Netflix series “Queer Eye” came to the Library for an on-stage conversation with Jonathan Capehart, the Pulitzer-Prize winning Washington Post columnist and MSNBC commentator.
Learning the Backstory to "Rent"
Members of the touring cast of Rent come to view Jonathan Larson's materials about the show.
Documenting Dance: The Making of "Appalachian Spring"
This post tells the story of the ballet Appalachian Spring, which was commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge and premiered at the Library of Congress's Coolidge Auditorium. The ballet, with choreography by Martha Graham and music by Aaron Copland, is one of the most well-known dance works of the twentieth century.

LGBTQ+ Performing Arts Resources at the Library of Congress

Performing Arts: Ask a Librarian

Blog Posts

In the Muse Blog Posts

Now See Hear! Blog Posts

Library of Congress Blog Posts