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Posted by: Libby Smigel
The Music Division staff spotlight the Top 5 acquisitions of 2025, including the 1690 Tuscan-Medici viola by Antonio Stradivari, Igor Stravinsky's holograph for "The Nightengale," the papers of the composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and the pianist Paul Wittgenstein, and the archives of master of musical theater Stephen Sondheim.
Posted in: Composers, Musical Instruments, Musicians, New Acquisitions, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Libby Smigel
The following blog post on composer Anthony Braxton is contributed by Dr. Stephanie Akau, senior archivist in the Library of Congress Music Division. She introduces the newly available resources in the Anthony Braxton Papers. In spring 2025, Processing Technician Jada Twitty and I processed the papers of composer, pedagogue and multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton. Not only …
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers, New finding aid, Special Collections
Posted by: Libby Smigel
Guest blogger Mary Galvin shares her exploration of the newly available music materials of Peggy Seeger, found in the Seeger Family Collection held by the Library of Congress Music Division.
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Libby Smigel
Ed Zanders, a British composer and musical director based in London, shares some of his discoveries of Sondheim's creative process, found amongst the Stephen Sondheim Papers held by the Library of Congress Music Division. The finding aid to the newly acquired Stephen Sondheim Papers is now available online, and a small set of materials from the collection is on display in the Performing Arts Reading Room.
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers, Musical Theater, New Acquisitions, New finding aid, Special Collections
Posted by: Libby Smigel
In a memorial blog post, Senior Music Specialist Loras John Schissel celebrates President Jimmy Carter's appreciation for music and the arts in a selection of letters and photographs from the Music Division's collections.
Posted in: American history, Composers, Guest bloggers, In Memoriam, Special Collections
Posted by: Libby Smigel
The Music Division staff spotlight the Top 5 acquisitions of 2024, including the papers of composers Burt Bacharach and Anthony Braxton, manuscripts from the iconic "Wizard of Oz," records of the Kronos Quartet, and two Lizst song manuscripts.
Posted in: Composers, Electronic Music, Film Music, Guest bloggers, New Acquisitions, Special Collections
Posted by: Libby Smigel
Film music and musical theater buffs can now explore the scores and papers of composer-arranger Marvin Hamlisch in the Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room. Archivist Janet McKinney describes the range of materials, which include photographs, programs, scrapbooks, staging lists, and even Hamlisch's entertainment trophies.
Posted in: Composers, Conductors, Film Music, Guest bloggers, Musical Theater, New finding aid
Posted by: Libby Smigel
Guest blog author Jane Cross highlights the music careers of Ada Richter, Anna Priscilla Risher, Louise Stairs, and Lily Strickland, four women composers found in the Theodore Presser Company Archive, available in the Music Division, Library of Congress.
Posted in: Composers, Music publishing, New finding aid, Women in Music
Posted by: Libby Smigel
Intern Jade Vaughn looks at the work of photographer Peter Angelo Simon and the directors, composers, and choreographers he captured, such as Robert Wilson, Lucinda Childs, and Philip Glass.