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Music for Silent Film: A Guide to Resources at the Library of Congress

Digital Collections

The Library has curated several digital collections with materials relevant to research in music for silent film. This page provides information on and access to them, as well as links to external digital collections of silent film music.

Digital collections can include music scores, music manuscripts, plot summaries and scripts, audio recordings, as well as digitized films and other footage. Several of the following resources do not directly contain music for silent film, but they provide further background on the film and entertainment industry in which film music existed. Several of these digital collections include short essays that provide that additional historical context.

External Digital Collections of Music for Silent Film

Several institutions and organizations have digitized their own collections of music for silent film, which complement the Library's own holdings. Some of the most notable digital collections are listed below.