Abstract Howard Ashman (1950-1991) was a lyricist, librettist, playwright and director. The papers chiefly consist of materials from his work, including his collaborations with composer Alan Menken, such as Little Shop of Horrors and the Disney animated musicals The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. Materials include scripts, piano-conductor scores,...

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Composer, conductor, record producer, and performer Burt Bacharach (1928-2023) wrote hundreds of popular songs, 52 of which were U.S. Top 40 hits, as well as film scores and musicals. His arrangements are known for their unusual instrumentation, shifting meters, and unique chord progressions. The collection contains many of his compositions as well as photographs, correspondence, promotional materials, production files, and awards.

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Author and dramatist. Chiefly literary manuscripts, including notebooks, journals, drafts, and manuscripts of prose fiction, dramas and screenplays, and other writings.

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Alfred Drake was an American actor, singer, director, and author. The collection primarily documents Drake's theatrical career, and includes scripts, music scores, photographs, programs, writings, production materials, correspondence, scrapbooks, clippings, and other miscellaneous materials.

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Vernon Duke (born Vladimir Dukelsky) was an American composer and songwriter. He rose to success in the 1930s with hit songs such as "April in Paris" and "Autumn in New York" and later collaborated with many leading composers and lyricists of the period, including George and Ira Gershwin, Serge Prokofiev, and Serge Koussevitzky. The collection contains manuscript and printed music, correspondence, subject files, photographs, and other materials related to his career.

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Vinton Freedley (1891-1969) was a producer of American musical theater, including works by Vernon Duke, George and Ira Gershwin, Burton Lane, and Cole Porter. The Vinton Freedley Papers consist chiefly of scripts and manuscript and printed music for these and other composers such as Hoagy Carmichael, Ray Henderson, Herbert Johnson, and Jimmy McHugh.

Abstract 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 ...

Abstract 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. After George's untimely death in 1937, Ira worked with many other notable composers and diligently kept his brother's legacy alive. After Ira's death, his wife, Leonore, created the Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Trusts in 1987 to function as a philanthropic fund endowing organizations in areas such as the arts,...

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Marvin Hamlisch (1944-2012) was an American composer, pianist, and conductor. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his work on A Chorus Line . The material primarily consists of music manuscripts, but also includes photographs, awards, correspondence, clippings, scripts, programs, and personal papers.

Abstract Luther Henderson was an American arranger, orchestrator, conductor, music director, and composer. He worked on over fifty Broadway musicals, including Ain't Misbehavin' and Jelly's Last Jam. He was a frequent arranger and orchestrator for Duke Ellington. The collection contains music manuscripts, correspondence, business and financial papers, photographs, promotional materials, clippings, realia, and other materials related to...

Abstract Victor Herbert was a composer, conductor, cellist, and co-founder of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). The music materials include mostly manuscript scores, parts and sketches for Herbert's stage, screen and orchestral works, and arrangements. The collection also contains Victor Herbert Orchestra encore part books and music by other composers. Additional materials include correspondence, programs, clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, promotional materials,...

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The papers consist of approximately 2,800 original playbills, plus extensive research materials and data sheets covering the historical breadth of American musical theatre.

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Playwright and newspaperman. Typescripts of plays by Kaufman. Coauthors include Marc Connelly, Edna Ferber, Moss Hart, Ring Lardner, Isabel Leighton, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Robert Nathan, Irving Pichel, W.W. de Renne, Morrie Ryskind, Herbert Seligman, and Alexander Woollcott.

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The collection consists primarily of Kern's show music and holograph sketches, most of which are manuscript full and vocal scores of Kern's orchestrators and arrangers, especially Frank Saddler and Robert Russell Bennett. Film and other music is also represented, as well as a small amount of correspondence.

Abstract Burton Lane composed popular songs and music for Broadway and film musicals. Among his most notable works are the musicals Finian’s Rainbow (lyrics by E. Y. Harburg) and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner). The materials in the collection document Lane's professional life with both holograph and printed music, annotated scripts, photographs, programs, posters, correspondence, clippings, and...

Abstract Jonathan Larson (1960-1996) was an American composer, lyricist, playwright, and performer who wrote primarily for the musical theater. The collection contains materials relating to his musicals, musical revues, club acts, films, and dance works, in particular Superbia, tick, tick...BOOM!, and RENT, his successful rock musical adaptation of La Bohème. These materials include manuscript and...

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Alan Jay Lerner was an American lyricist, librettist, playwright and screenwriter. The papers include stage scripts and screenplays in multiple drafts, music, correspondence, photographs, writings, programs, biographical materials, clippings and collected lyrics.

Abstract Frederick Loewe was a German-born composer who wrote, with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, the scores for such musicals as My Fair Lady, Camelot, Gigi, and Brigadoon. The collection contains music manuscripts from Loewe's stage and screen musicals, as well as individual songs not associated with a particular show. In addition, the collection contains photographs, a...

Abstract Henry Mancini (1924-1994) was an award-winning American composer of music for film, television, and commercial recordings. Throughout his career, he amassed four Academy Awards, twenty Grammy awards, one Golden Globe Award, and two Emmy Award nominations in addition to many other accolades. Mancini was a prolific conductor who collaborated often with prominent directors, performers, arrangers, and lyricists. The Henry Mancini Papers contain original scores and printed music for his films,...

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Mary Rodgers (1931-2014) was an American composer, author, and screenwriter. She served as chair of The Juilliard School Board of Trustees and director of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization. The collection contains music, scripts, correspondence, photographs, clippings, and personal and professional papers.

Abstract John McGlinn (1953-2009) was an American conductor and musical historian best known for his reconstructions, performances, and recordings of original Broadway orchestrations, including Show Boat and Anything Goes. The collection largely consists of scores and parts for music by Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Arthur Schwartz, Harry Warren, and other notable Broadway composers. It also contains librettos, programs, writings, and other materials related to McGlinn's life and...

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Ethel Merman (1908-1984) was an American actress and singer. She was a legendary figure in the history of the American musical theater and during her career on Broadway, in Hollywood, and on television, and was known for her belting voice and strong stage presence. The collection chiefly consists of scripts, lyric sheets, photographs, and notes from the various productions in which Merman starred, but also includes correspondence, music, clippings, and programs.

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Charles Miller was an arranger, orchestrator, copyist, and editor who worked with many prominent Broadway composers of the early twentieth century. The collection primarily contains holograph and manuscript piano-vocal scores and scores for piano by Victor Herbert, Victor Jacobi, Werner Janssen, Jerome Kern, Fritz Kreisler, and Vincent Youmans, as well as a typescript article about Victor Herbert written by Miller.

Abstract George H. Moss (1923-2009) was a local historian in Monmouth County, New Jersey, who also had an interest in early American theater. The collection consists of printed sheet music dating between 1885 and 1935, the majority of which is for American popular songs dating from 1900 to 1925. The composers and music publishers represented in the collection include Irving Berlin, Fred Fisher, George Gershwin, Charles K. Harris, Victor Herbert, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Sigmund...

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Alex North (1910-1991) was an American composer of music for feature films, dance, theater productions, and the concert hall. He brought a new and uniquely "American" sound to his works. The collection contains performance materials for dance works, incidental music for theater productions, songs, musical comedies and revues, and concert works. A small amount of scripts, promotional materials, and clippings are also included.