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Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post from retired cataloger Sharon McKinley. I’ve always enjoyed living vicariously through the Music Division’s special collections. Staffers who work in the Acquisitions and Processing Section become quite intimate with the collections they process. The rest of us are more likely to happen upon wonderful finds by serendipitous means. The …
Posted in: Exhibitions, Guest bloggers, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The music world lost one of its most influential voices last Sunday. Lou Reed (1942-2013) headed a legendary rock band before embarking on a solo career that led him from glam-rocker to elder rock statesman. The Velvet Underground released a handful of albums, each with a distinct personality that veered from blistering sonic experimentation to …
Posted in: Composers, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Stephanie A. Hall, American Folklife Center. World Mosquito Day, August 20th, commemorates the day in 1897 when Dr. Ronald Ross of Great Britain discovered that female mosquitoes transmit malaria. Many items in the Music Division of the Library of Congress and other performing arts materials throughout the Library …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following blog post was adapted from an essay by Senior Music Specialist Ray White and Digital Conversion Specialist James Wolf. This week the Music Division launches a new online collection of Yiddish American Sheet Music. The Library’s holdings of Yiddish American popular songs include the Irene Heskes Collection of Yiddish American sheet music as well …
Posted in: Jewish American History, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following post is by Carlos Martinez III, Office of Strategic Initiatives. In a recent blog post, I discussed a World War I Sheet Music digitization project and some of my contributions to it. I had the pleasure of working alongside several team members and Paul Fraunfelter, Digital Conversion Specialist from the Music Division. Over …
Posted in: Interviews, Sheet Music, Special Collections, Staff, Staff Interviews
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Carlos Martinez III, Office of Strategic Initiatives. The centennial of World War I gives the American public the opportunity to learn about and commemorate the sacrifices of our country’s war heroes. The digital collections of the Library of Congress offer a broad range of materials related to World …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Special Collections, World War I
Posted by: Pat Padua
Senior Music Specialist Mark Horowitz alerts In the Muse that one of our esteemed colleagues can be heard on the BBC this week. Last fall, a crew from the British Broadcasting Corporation visited the Library of Congress to produce a segment on four treasures from the Music Division’s storied vaults for the program Tales from …
Posted in: Composers, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
In the Muse was saddened to learn that classic country singer George Jones died today. The 81-yr old performer was in the process of completing what was to be his farewell concert tour. George Glenn Jones was born in 1931 inSaratoga,Texas. His early career reads like something out of American myth. When Jones turned 16 he …
Posted in: In Memoriam, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Like the tale of the blind men and the elephant, an artifact of popular culture as vivid as today’s featured sheet music at right has a variety of angles worth pursuing. What of the career of Austrian composer Heinrich Reinhardt, or lyricist Robert Bache Smith? And what of that fantastic cover art, which features besotted …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections, Theater