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Category: Women in Music

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

Performing Arts COVID-19 Response Collection

Posted by: Morgen Stevens-Garmon

The following is a guest post from Music Division Archivist Janet McKinney. By their very nature, the performing arts depend on the key element of live interaction. But what happens to this art when that component is taken away? In March 2020, concert halls, theaters, and other live performance venues were forced to close their …

Published lead sheet for Smyth's "March of the Women," published 1911.

Ethel Smyth and “The March of the Women”

Posted by: Cait Miller

British composer Ethel Smyth's 1911 song "The March of the Women," dedicated to Emmeline Pankhurst and the Women's Social and Political Union, became a suffrage anthem in the United Kingdom and abroad. Learn more about Smyth's involvement with the WSPU and access sheet music from the Library of Congress digital collection "Women's Suffrage in Sheet Music."

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

Florence Price’s Fantasie Nègre No. 1

Posted by: Library of Congress

On March 1, 2022, In the Muse published a blog post announcing a finding aid to the Music Division’s Florence B. Price Music Manuscripts. Although we are proud to enhance discoverability of the Library’s Florence Price manuscripts with the finding aid, the blog post contained some inaccurate information and lacked appropriate citations. After considering the concerns raised with the post, the …

Sheet music cover for "I'm Going to Be a Suffragette" featuring a woman dressed in a tuxedo and top hat.

By the People: Women’s Suffrage in Sheet Music

Posted by: Cait Miller

The Library of Congress By the People project launched its first campaign to feature sheet music in February 2022. "Women's Suffrage in Sheet Music" features approximately 200 titles created before 1923 either for, about, or against the suffrage movement. Once the campaign is transcribed and approved, researchers will be able to keyword search across all text included in the sheet music, including lyrics.

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

Reflecting on Jazz with New Resources from the Library of Congress

Posted by: Claudia Morales

The following is a blog post from first author Kaleena Black and co-author Claudia Morales. It was published on NAFME “Music Educators Journal”– September 2021 issue Kaleena Black is an Educational Resources Specialist at the Library of Congress.  She can be reached at [email protected]. Claudia Morales is a Concert Producer at the Library of Congress.  She …