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1. George and Ira Gershwin collection, 1895-2008

   60,705 items. 8 mapcase folders. 145 containers. 71 linear feet. -- Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   Composer George Gershwin (1898-1937) and his lyricist brother Ira (1896-1983) wrote some of the most significant American popular songs of the first half of the twentieth century. Working with novelist and poet DuBose Heyward, they created the great American opera Porgy and Bess. Additionally, George Gershwin composed several singularly American concert works, including An American in Paris and Rhapsody In Blue, and both brothers produced many distinguished songs working with other collaborators. The George and Ira Gershwin Collection contains music manuscripts, handwritten and typewritten lyric sheets, printed music, correspondence, photographs, programs and publicity materials, legal and financial documents, and thirty-one scrapbooks, which present nearly a complete record of the Gershwins' lives and work as they were chronicled in the contemporary press.