Special Collections

Weissberger, photographer. *Bernstein with composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim.* 1978. ibrary of Congress Music Division.

The Music Division acquired its first special collection related to Musical Theater in 1935 with the deposit of the Victor Herbert Collection. Since then, the Library of Congress has amassed the music manuscripts and personal papers of some of musical theater's greatest innovators and interpreters, including composers, lyricists, directors, performers, set designers, costume designers, lighting designers, and others.

Every special collection is unique and includes its own array of materials; generally speaking, however, special collections provide researchers with primary source material such as music sketches and manuscripts, correspondence, writings, business contracts, photographs, and more.

There are two important gateways to discovering the Music Division's special collections and their contents:

Alphabetical List of Special Collections in the Music Division
The Performing Arts Reading Room website provides an alphabetical list of the Music Division's special collections with links to finding aids that describe the background and content of those collections.
Search Finding Aids Database
The Search Finding Aids Database allows you to keyword search across all of the Library's published finding aids. To limit your search to the Music Division's collections, select "Performing Arts" from the drop-down menu when searching. Keep in mind, however, that there may be relevant special collections to consult in the Library's Recorded Sound Research Center, Moving Image Research Center, Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room, Prints & Photographs Reading Room, and other reading rooms.

Additionally, Music Division staff often highlight special collections, newly-published finding aids, and new acquisitions via the Library's performing arts blog, In the Muse. Musical theater-related blog posts are tagged and easy to browse.

Planning for On-site Research

Some collections are housed off site and require advance notice for delivery to the Performing Arts Reading Room. If you have questions about researching a specific collection, please contact us via Ask a Librarian.

Highlighted Special Collections

The following is a representative list of processed special collections of composers who have written for the musical theater stage or screen. The links will display a searchable finding aid for each collection.

To see a full list of the Music Division's special collections, including unprocessed collections, be sure to read the alphabetical list of special collections on the Performing Arts Reading Room website. Please contact us through Ask a Librarian with at least two weeks notice if you wish to consult a specific collection in person to confirm that the collection is readily accessible.

The following is a representative list of processed special collections of lyricists and book writers who have worked in musical theater. The links will display a searchable finding aid for each collection.

The following is a representative list of processed special collections of arrangers and orchestrators who have worked in musical theater. The links will display a searchable finding aid for each collection.

The Music Division also holds several arrangers' collections or collections of arrangements that, while not entirely devoted to musical theater, feature notable musical theater selections and/or connections:

Charlie Barnet Collection of Big Band Arrangements
The Barnet Collection is comprised of approximately 700 full score arrangements made for the Barnet band between 1939 and 1946, by arrangers that include: Ralph Burns, Benny Carter, Andy Gibson, Neal Hefti, Conn Humphrey, Billy May, Billy Moore, Abe Osser, George Siravo, and Eddie Stress. The titles represent a virtual inventory of songs and dance numbers that were popular during World War II. Approximately twenty percent of the titles are also represented with parts.
Billy Byers Collection
The Byers Collection contains full scores of arrangements Byers made for dozens of performers, including: Julie Andrews, Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Carol Burnett, Diahann Carroll, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr., Joel Grey, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, Peggy Lee, Shirley MacLaine, Bernadette Peters, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughan, and Stevie Wonder.
Ella Fitzgerald Collection
The Fitzgerald Collection features full scores and parts for hundreds of arrangements for recordings and concerts by Ella Fitzgerald. Arrangers include: Count Basie, Buddy Bregman, Benny Carter, Frank DeVol, Duke Ellington, Tommy Flanagan, Russ Garcia, Quincy Jones, Billy May, Marty Paich, Nelson Riddle and Gerald Wilson.

The following is a representative list of processed special collections of directors and producers who have worked in musical theater on stage and film. The links will display a searchable finding aid for each collection.

The following is a representative list of processed special collections of musical theater performers, both musicians and dancers. The links will display a searchable finding aid for each collection.

The following is a representative list of processed special collections of designers who have contributed to musical theater productions. The links will display a searchable finding aid for each collection.

The following is a representative list of processed musical theater-related special collections that do not fit in the other categories listed here. The links will display a searchable finding aid for each collection.

American / Century Play Company Scripts and Business Papers
This collection holds approximately 1,000 scripts (and related papers) covering the first half of the 20th century, including plays and musicals by Philip Barry, Guy Bolton, George M. Cohan, Edna Ferbur, Joseph Fields, George S. Kaufman, Howard Lindsey and Russell Crouse, Eugene O'Neill (early performance drafts of Anna Christie, Mourning Becomes Electra, Strange Interlude, and others), Sigmund Romberg, Preston Sturges, and Tennessee Williams (including an early annotated draft of The Glass Menagerie).
Burt Boyar Collection of Sammy Davis, Jr. Biographical Materials
Author Burt Boyar (1927-2018) was the biographer of American entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.
Federal Theatre Project Collection
The FTP, established as part of the arts program of the WPA, produced thousands of plays, radio programs, and other entertainments, and provided work in the arts to many unemployed persons during the Depression. The bulk of the collection covers the years 1935-39, though there is material from as early as 1932 and as late as 1943. The collection includes scripts, correspondence, reports and memoranda, costume and set designs, posters and billboards, clippings, photographic materials, scrapbooks and musical scores. Both The Cradle Will Rock and The Swing Mikado are represented.
Edward Jablonski Papers
Edward Jablonski (1922-2004) was an author and biographer of American songwriters Harold Arlen, Irving
Berlin, George Gershwin, and Alan Jay Lerner.
Tams-Witmark Collection
The Tams-Witmark Music Library was established in 1925 through the merger of the Arthur W. Tams Music Library and the rental library of M. Witmark & Sons. The Tams-Witmark Collection contains music (manuscript and
printed scores) that was being performed in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including operettas and musicals.
Warner/Chappell Collection
Warner/Chappell Music is an American music publishing company that traces its establishement to Chappell & Co. in London in 1810. Warner/Chappell grew in part due to its acqusition of other music publishers, many of which played prominent roles in New York City's Tin Pan Alley and in the production of shows on Broadway and elsewhere. The Warner/Chappell Collection primarily consists of scores for musicals, most intended for Broadway, but some for film, television, and other venues. The majority of the scores are manuscripts in the hands of arrangers, songwriters, and copyists, and includes combinations of full scores, piano-vocal scores, parts, and lyric sheets. The collection also contains manuscripts for popular songs and works for orchestra, band, and chamber ensembles, as well as a small number of business papers and cancelled checks.

Related Special Collections in Other Reading Rooms

While the Performing Arts Reading Room holds the majority of special collections related to musical theater research, it is not the only reading room in the Library of Congress that features pertinent collections. Use the Search Finding Aids tool to keyword search across all special collection finding aids, or focus your search on collections from a specific reading room.

Search Finding Aids
Keyword search for terms like "Broadway" or "musical theater" across all Library of Congress finding aids, or limit the search to a specific reading room in the drop-down menu.

See the following information and links for more information about specific reading rooms and collections:

The Library of Congress holds the nation's largest public collection of sound recordings (music and spoken word) and radio broadcasts. In addition to its recorded sound collections, the Recorded Sound Research Center also holds limited special collections.

* Note that many Performing Arts Reading Room special collections include audio/visual material that was transferred to the Recorded Sound Research Center and/or the Moving Image Research Center. Finding aids will note such transfers in the introductory material. You can make a listening appointment via Ask a Librarian.

The following special collection stands out for its relevance to the history of the American Musical:

Playbills, research materials, and other papers from the David G. Hummel American musical theatre collection
The papers consist of approximately 2,800 original playbills, plus extensive research materials and data sheets covering the historical breadth of American musical theatre.

The Manuscripts Reading Room is home to hundreds of special collections that document American history, politics, innovation, and culture.

The following special collections stand out for their relevance to the history of the American Musical:

Rouben Mamoulian Papers
Theatrical and film director. Correspondence, diaries, scripts, production material, speeches, writings, printed matter, scrapbooks, memorabilia and other papers relating to Mamoulian's life and career.
Joshua Logan Papers
Theatrical producer, director and playwright. Personal papers documenting Logan's career as producer, director, and author of theatrical, musical, and motion picture productions, chiefly from 1940 to 1980.

The Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room holds books, broadsides, pamphlets, theater playbills, title pages, prints, posters, photographs, medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, and more. The division's materials have come into its custody for a variety of reasons--their monetary value, importance in the history of printing, binding, association interest, or fragility; however, they have one point in common: the collections offer scholarly documentation about the western and American traditions of life and learning.

The following special collection stands out for its relevance to the history of the American Musical:

Theater programs, playbills and miscellany from the Rouben Mamoulian Collection
Call Number: PN1590.P75 M36
Published/Created: 1942-1982
Collection of theater, film and concert programs for performances in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, London, England and other locations. Also includes individual issues of film, theatre or entertainment journals, presentation copies and ephemera. Many items include annotations by Rouben Mamoulian. Includes presentation copy of "The History of the Theater" by Hannelore Marek inscribed by Helen C. Newman and inscribed copy in Russian of motion picture program "Liberation" to Mamoulian from Yuri Ozerov.
Richard L. Coe Theater Programs Collection : American theater programs of the twentieth century.
Call Number: PN2093.C64 1995
Published/Created: 1896-1979
Consists of programs from American theaters and some foreign productions published from the early 1900's to the late 1970's, many with the collector's annotations. Musicals, dramas, and comedies predominate. Notable playwrights include Edward Albee, T.S. Eliot, Gilbert & Sullivan, Lillian Hellman, Anita Loos, W. Somerset Maugham, Terrence McNally, Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Bernard Shaw, and Tennessee Williams. Prominent actors include Pearl Bailey, Hume Cronyn, Henry Fonda, John Gielgud, Julie Harris, Helen Hayes, Dudley Moore, Laurence Olivier, Jessica Tandy, Orson Wells, and Mae West. Well-known directors and designers include Cecil Beaton, Jose Ferrer, Tyrone Guthrie, Elia Kazan, Joshua Logan, and Bob Mackie. The following theaters are particularly well represented: in Washington, D.C., Arena Stage, Ford's Theater, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Theater, New Gayety Theater, and the Shubert Theater and the Olney Theatre in Maryland; in New York City, Belasco Theater, Ethel Barrymore Theater, Guild Theater, Henry Miller's Theater, and the New York Shakespeare Festival as well as many off-Broadway venues. Also contains programs from England and France, press releases, newspaper clippings, miscellaneous announcements, and typewritten and handwritten notes.

Unique in their scope and richness, the Prints & Photographs collections today number more than 15 million images. These include photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in or documenting the history of the United States and the lives, interests, and achievements of the American people.

Prints & Photographs Reading Room Website
Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)
PPOC contains catalog records and digital images representing a rich cross-section of still pictures held by the Prints & Photographs Division. The catalog provides access through group or item records to about 95% of the Division's holdings. Many of the records are accompanied by one or more digital images. In some collections, only thumbnail images display to those searching outside the Library of Congress because of potential rights considerations.
Collection and Subject Guides
Collection and subject overviews provide tips for locating images in the Prints & Photographs Division collections and context that may help in understanding what is found. Overviews are gradually being converted to Library of Congress Research Guides.

The following special collections stand out for their relevance to the history of the American Musical:

Posters: Performing Arts Posters
The Performing Arts Posters illustrate the wide range of popular, live entertainment in America from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. The approximately 2,100 posters in the online Performing Arts Posters category represent the entire contents of three collections: the Magic Poster Collection, the Minstrel Poster Collection, and the Theatrical Poster Collection.
Look Collection
The Look Magazine Photograph Collection is a vast photographic archive created to illustrate Look magazine and related publications. The cataloged portion of the collection totals some four million published and unpublished images made by photographers working for Look, most dating 1952-1971. With its coverage of U.S. and international lifestyles, celebrities, and events, the collection offers insight into the magazine's photojournalistic documentation of aspects of society and culture--particularly American society and culture--in the middle decades of the twentieth century.
Prints & Photographs Research Guides
See a list of the Prints and Photographs Division's published research guides, categorized according to subject.

Musicals of Stage and Screen: A Guide to Resources at the Library of Congress

Performing Arts: Ask a Librarian

Special Collections

Planning for On-site Research

Highlighted Special Collections

Related Special Collections in Other Reading Rooms