Abstract American Ballet Theatre (ABT), established in 1940 as Ballet Theatre, is recognized as one of the world's largest and most distinguished dance companies. By act of Congress on April 27, 2006, ABT became America's National Ballet Company. The archive includes music scores, choreographic notes and Benesh dance notation scores, correspondence, business papers, scrapbooks, programs, clippings, photographs, posters, video recordings and films, and prints and drawings, including set and costume...

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,...

Abstract Unpublished and published textual materials, photographs, sound recordings, scrapbooks, artifacts, and a motion picture documenting the life and work of the German-born immigrant to America who invented the gramophone, the flat disc recording, the radio microphone, acoustic tile, and an early version of the helicopter. Included are unpublished and experimental gramophone records dating from the 1890s, some of them featuring the voices of Berliner and various family members, as well as...

Abstract Leonard Bernstein was an American composer, conductor, writer, lecturer, and pianist. The collection contains correspondence, photographs, writings, personal business papers, the archives from his corporate identity, Amberson Inc., scrapbooks, clippings and press materials, programs, datebooks and schedules, iconography, address books, and fan mail. In addition, it contains music manuscripts for many of his compositions, including The Age of Anxiety (Symphony no....

Abstract

Collection includes audio correspondence, home movie footage, a book, a scrapbook, and digital copies of photographs documenting Black’s service as an infantryman in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.

Abstract Collection of more than 500 audio recordings, plus digital audio files, video recordings, film, photographs, papers, and ephemera documenting the history of the Caffè Lena coffeehouse, a folk music club and theater in Saratoga Springs, New York, founded by Lena Spencer and Bill Spencer in 1960. The collection includes a large number of live concert performance recordings by folk musicians and singer-songwriters, as well as some theater, storytelling, and poetry performances. The collection...

Abstract

John Alden Carpenter was an American composer. The collection contains music materials, primarily holograph manuscripts of Carpenter's songs, chamber and orchestral pieces, and dramatic works; correspondence; writings; photographs and artwork; biographical materials; certificates and honors; programs; clippings; and scrapbooks.

Abstract Marge Champion (b. 1919) is an American actress, dancer, director, choreographer, and teacher. The collection, which documents her life and career, includes biographical materials, correspondence, photographs, programs, promotional materials, manuscript music scores and parts, articles, clippings, scripts, scrapbooks, awards and posters. The collection also holds materials related to Champion's former husband, director and choreographer Gower Champion, and her father, dancer, choreographer,...

Abstract Julia Vincent Cross (1901-1986) was a dancer, choreographer, actor, and teacher. The Julia Vincent Cross Papers consists primarily of documentation of her career through photographs, correspondence with organizations and artist agents, performance programs and flyers, two publications, and three notebooks, one of which is a collection of detailed choreographic notes. Cross's family history is documented through a family scrapbook kept by her father, materials detailing the artistic activity...

Abstract David Diamond was an award-winning American-Jewish composer and prominent symphonist of the mid-twentieth century. A former student of Roger Sessions and Nadia Boulanger, Diamond ultimately composed eleven symphonies and countless other chamber and vocal works, such as his influential Symphony no. 4 (1945), Elegy in memory of Maurice Ravel (1938), and Rounds (1944). His social circle of musical...

Abstract

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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Jane Dudley was an American dancer and choreographer known early in her career for her work with the Martha Graham Company, the New Dance Group, and as a co-founder of the Dudley-Maslow-Bales Trio. She went on to serve as artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company in Israel before joining the faculty of the London School of Contemporary Dance. Her papers primarily consist of clippings, correspondence, musical scores, photographs, and programs related to her professional life.

Abstract

Geraldine Farrar was an American opera singer and film actress. The collection consists of Farrar's personal papers relating to her life and career, including correspondence, scrapbooks and clippings, photographs and music materials containing sketches, autograph manuscripts, and printed music composed or edited by Farrar. In addition, the collection contains biographical materials, Farrar's writings, contracts, radio scripts, concert programs, awards, and other miscellaneous items.

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

Alma Gluck was a Romanian-born American soprano and voice teacher. This collection principally consists of scrapbooks related to her professional career. It also includes photographs, annotated sheet music, correspondence, clippings, and other assorted materials.

Abstract The Franko Goldman Family Papers are primarily related to the professional lives of brothers Sam (1857-1937) and Nahan Franko (1861-1930), their nephew Edwin Franko Goldman (1878-1956), and his son Richard Franko Goldman (1910-1980). Sam and Nahan were violinists and conductors; Edwin was a bandmaster and band composer; and Richard was a bandmaster, composer, educator, and music critic. The materials include correspondence from prominent musicians, composers and conductors; a selection of...

Abstract

American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist. The collection contains music, including holograph and copyist manuscripts, printed scores, orchestral parts, lyric sheets, and sketches of Gould's compositions and arrangements; correspondence; business papers; writings; photographs; scrapbooks; programs and promotional materials related to his career; and financial and legal documents.

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Martha Graham was an American modern dancer, choreographer, teacher and company director. The Martha Graham Collection is comprised of materials that document her career and trace the history of the development of her company, Martha Graham Dance Company, which became the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, and school, Martha Graham School, later to be called the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance.

Abstract Oscar Hammerstein II was an American librettist, lyricist, theatrical producer and director, and grandson of the impresario Oscar Hammerstein I. The collection, which contains materials relating to Hammerstein's life and career, includes correspondence, lyric sheets and sketches, music, scripts and screenplays, production materials, speeches and writings, photographs, programs, promotional materials, printed matter, scrapbooks, clippings, memorabilia, business and financial papers, awards,...

Abstract

Papers and audiovisual materials relating to the career and personal life of folk arts administrator, folklorist, filmmaker, musician, and teacher Bess Lomax Hawes.

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,...

Abstract American dancer and choreographer Harriet Hoctor (1905-1977) began performing on the vaudeville stage in the early 1920s. By the mid-1930s, she was a featured dancer on Broadway and in motion pictures. The collection documents Hoctor's professional life including items related to her early dance training at the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing in New York and her later career leading the Harriet Hoctor School of Ballet in Boston. Materials include choreographic notes, clippings,...

Abstract

George S. Kaufman was an American playwright, producer, director, drama critic, and humorist. The collection includes correspondence, photographs, scripts, and other materials related to his career. His daughter, Anne Kaufman Schneider (b. 1925), remained active in preserving Kaufman's legacy well into the 1990s. Her correspondence related to these efforts and family photographs are also included in the collection.

Abstract

Louis Kaufman was an American violinist. His wife, Annette Leibole Kaufman, was a pianist who served as his accompanist for over fifty years. The collection contains materials related to their personal lives and professional careers, including correspondence with many notable musical and artistic figures of the 20th century, concert programs, photographs, scrapbooks, subject files, and other miscellaneous materials.

Abstract

Danny Kaye (1911-1987) was an American actor, singer, dancer, comedian, and humanitarian. His wife, Sylvia Fine (1913-1991), was an American lyricist, composer, writer, lecturer, and producer. The collection, which documents their lives and careers, contains printed and manuscript music, scripts, correspondence, business and financial papers, promotional and publicity materials, speeches, oral history transcripts, photographs, scrapbooks, programs, posters, honors, and realia.