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Category: Webcasts

Still from video on "The Little Mermaid featuring Janet McKinney behind display.

Part of His World: The Little Mermaid in the Papers of Howard Ashman

Posted by: Morgen Stevens-Garmon

The following is a guest post from Music Division Archivist Janet McKinney. To watch Janet discuss Howard Ashman’s influence on “The Little Mermaid,” check out this video on the Library of Congress’s YouTube channel. The recent live-action remake of the Disney classic The Little Mermaid (1989) inspires those of us who preserve our cultural history …

Screenshot from collection announcement video for the Neil Simon Papers. Black and white photograph of Neil Simon.

Neil Simon Papers at the Library of Congress

Posted by: Cait Miller

The Library of Congress celebrated the acquisition of the Neil Simon Papers by hosting a conversation with actors Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker who currently star in the Broadway revival of Simon's comedy Plaza Suite. Watch a recording of their conversation with Plaza Suite director John Benjamin Hickey, as well as a video overview of the Simon Papers featuring Senior Music Specialist Mark Horowitz.

Portrait of Maia Bang seated holding her violin in the 1923 supplement of her violin method.

Who Was Maia Bang Hohn?

Posted by: Melissa Wertheimer

Back in October 2021, my dear colleagues in the Music Division Concert Office asked me to film a short curator talk about our world famous Nicolò Paganini holdings. As I learned more about Maia Bang Hohn, whose widower Charles sold the materials to the Library, I realized that she is more than just a collector in a footnote. In this blog post, I share some of my findings that couldn’t make it into my brief video as well as reiterate some key ones that did.

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

West Side Story: The Creation of a Classic

Posted by: Cait Miller

On November 9, 2021, Senior Music Specialist Mark Horowitz presented a webinar on the creation of the 1957 musical "West Side Story," drawing on materials from the Leonard Bernstein Collection, the Arthur Laurents Papers, and the Oliver Smith Papers to illustrate his talk. Learn more about the history of the musical and how to find digitized "West Side Story" material on the Library's website before viewing the Spielberg's new film adaptation.

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Allen Toussaint’s Treasures Found in L.A. Swapmeet

Posted by: Larry Appelbaum

In 2007, the Library presented back-to-back concerts with two quintessential New Orleans pianists Henry Butler and Allen Toussaint. Mr. Toussaint was in the news recently because his legacy studio recordings, long thought lost in the flood from Hurricane Katrina, turned up at a swap meet in Torrance, California. Toussaint wrote, arranged and produced many hits …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Finding Strayhorn: Reflections from Chris Potter

Posted by: Cait Miller

The following is a guest post from saxophonist Chris Potter, who participated in the Music Division’s Finding Strayhorn discussion panel on June 12, 2019. My visit to the Library of Congress fortunately coincided with the announcement that the Billy Strayhorn Music Manuscripts and Estate Papers are now available for the public to study. I was …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Happy 95th Birthday to Max Roach

Posted by: Larry Appelbaum

Today marks the 95th birthday of jazz drummer, bandleader and educator Max Roach (1924-2007). His papers are among the most heavily researched jazz archival collections in the Music Division revealing much about jazz and the intersection of modernism and the development of Black political consciousness in 20th-century music. And though the collection includes a draft …