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Posted by: Cait Miller
This blog post highlights the work of American composer Ulysses Kay (1917-1995), particularly his “Forever Free: A Lincoln Chronicle” for wind band, commissioned by Broadcast Music Inc. for the Civil War Centennial Commission in 1962.
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Holidays
Posted by: Cait Miller
On Thursday, January 19th, 2023 at 7pm in the James Madison Building’s Montpelier Room, Dr. Karen Bryan, Dean of the Arts at Pima Community College, is presenting a lecture: “Self-Determination on the Operatic Stage: Mary Cardwell Dawson and African American performance in Washington, DC and New York City.” Music educator, choir director, opera director, and administrator Mary Cardwell Dawson (1894-1962) founded the National Negro Opera Company, the country's first African-American opera company, in 1941. The Library of Congress is home to the National Negro Opera Company Collection, which documents the Company's productions, operations, fundraising efforts, as well as as Dawson's career and impact.
Posted in: African American History, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
As we recognize the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial, the Music Division highlights Marian Anderson's iconic 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial by sharing a program and related telegram from the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation Collection.
Posted in: African American History, Women in Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is one of the most significant hymns in American history. Read more about the genesis of the song and download sheet music published in 1900 and 1921.
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Sheet Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
As Black History Month comes to a close, the Music Division is pleased to announce three recently published research guides that highlight Black history in our collections: "Harry Thacker Burleigh: A Guide to Resources," "Early African-American Music: A Bibliography," and "Black Composers in Music Division Collections."
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Musicians, Research Guides
Posted by: Cait Miller
The Library of Congress is home to the Charles Mingus Collection, the institution's first acquisition of a jazz composer's personal papers and the first multi-format jazz collection process by the Music Division of the Library of Congress.
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Conservation, Guest bloggers, Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post from Ben West, writer, director, producer, performer, and musical theatre historian. He is currently a curator for the forthcoming Museum of Broadway in Times Square, New York City. He is also currently writing and developing several stage projects including The Show Time! Trilogy, three new documentary musicals about the evolution …
Posted in: African American History, Composers, Guest bloggers, Musical Theater, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
Today marks the opening of a new exhibition at the Library of Congress dedicated to civil rights activist Rosa Parks. “Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words” draws from material in the Library’s Rosa Parks Collection to tell the life story of this remarkable woman, including her early life and activism, the Montgomery bus boycott, the …
Posted in: African American History, Exhibitions
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post from Music Reference Specialist Sam Perryman. Some people know that the Music Division is home to the National Negro Opera Company Collection. They also know that, while it’s not the first African American opera company, it was one of the largest. It was founded and managed by Mary Lucinda …
Posted in: African American History, Guest bloggers, Musicians, Special Collections, Women in Music