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Category: Special Collections

Engraving depicting a scene from Verdi's opera adaptation of Macbeth

Shakespeare Everywhere: From the Stacks to the Coolidge Stage

Posted by: Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres

This autumn, many of Washington, D.C.’s arts and culture venues are collaborating to present the Shakespeare Everywhere Festival. The Library of Congress is pleased to participate in this gathering of theatrical productions, concerts, lectures, and educational events on offer through December 31, 2023. Bibliophiles and music lovers can experience two special events as part of …

Image of four musicians onstage performing with a city backdrop

Founder’s Day 2023: Piece Offerings—Focused Encounters with Recent Works by Roger Reynolds and Kate Soper

Posted by: David Plylar

*** SPECIAL START TIME OF 7 p.m. FOR THIS YEAR’S FOUNDER’S DAY CONCERT!!!*** Each year on Founder’s Day (October 30th) we celebrate the legacy of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, the visionary patron whose gifts of the Coolidge Auditorium and an endowment to support a concert series in that space have helped make Concerts from the Library …

Curator James Wintle points out a detail on Renaissance sheet music while bassist Duff McKagan and two of his guests look on.

Be Like Duff McKagan and Experience Treasures in the Music Division’s Collections

Posted by: Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres

The Music Division’s wide-ranging collections in music, dance, and theater offer countless points of connection for visitors, researchers, and musicians alike. One of the great joys of working in the Music Division is curating treasures displays for groups of students, touring musicians, and special guests. While the displays are always tailored to the interests or …

Leonard Bernstein playing a shofar

High Holiday Music in the Music Division

Posted by: Melissa Wertheimer

Tonight at sunset (Friday, September 15, 2023) through Sunday after nightfall, Jewish Americans and Jews around the world celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, to welcome the year 5784 in the Jewish calendar! The Music Division does not disappoint with its holdings of both religious and secular music for this time. Here is a small sample of the gems in our holdings so that we may celebrate together.

Jo Stafford fixes her hair in a mirror, an assortment of beauty products and perfumes in front of her.

Performing Arts Reading Room Website gets a Makeover!

Posted by: Heather Darnell

Hey, everyone! The Performing Arts Reading Room website has undergone a makeover. Our streamlined design is more accessible, mobile-friendly, and responsive — making it easy for researchers to find the information they need while discovering new resources. Here are just a few highlights: A simple landing page directing researchers to our various services and resources …

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 …

Black and white photograph portrait of Mary Cardwell Dawson seated at a table, elbow rested on table and hand posed under her chin.

Mary Cardwell Dawson: Upcoming Lecture at the Library of Congress

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.