New Research guides available online in the Music Division of the Library of Congress

Asha Bajaj
2 min readJun 24, 2021

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#LoC; #MusicDivision; #OnlineReserchGuides; #Covid19Pandemic

Washington/Canadian-Media: Since the beginning of the pandemic, Library of Congress (LoC)’s Music Division’s specialists have been compiling and publishing online research guides to various subjects and composers represented in the music collections of LoC, LoC reports said.

Bert Grant, composer. A. Seymour Brown, lyricist. “That Broadway Glide.” 1912. Image credit: Library of Congress Music Division.

Three new guides that were recently published are Musicals of Stage and Screen: A Research Guide; Johannes Brahms: A Guide to Primary and Secondary Resources at the Library of Congress; and Clara Schumann: A Guide to Resources.

The first guide ‘Musicals of Stage and Screen: A Research Guide’ orients researchers to the Library’s musical theater holdings as well as connects you with our digitized collections and catalogs for research, video webcasts of lectures, and concerts, or discover related collections in other Library reading rooms.

Holdings for two 19th-century musical figures, Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann with special ties to one another are described in the next two research guides. and highlights the most significant collections in the world for composer Johannes Brahms (1833–1897).

The research guide Johannes Brahms: A Guide to Primary and Secondary Resources at LoC outlines those extraordinary holdings and teaches about the 1983 International Brahms Conference hosted by the Music Division.

Clara Schumann: A Guide to Resources connects researchers with digitized holdings, cataloged materials, blog posts, and webcasts related to Clara Schumann (1819–1896), one of the greatest piano virtuosi of the 19th century. Johannes Brahms was deeply connected with the Schumann family and provided emotional as well as financial support to Clara after Robert’s suicide attempt led him to an asylum. She and Brahms remained close friends and confidants until her death.

As of today, 25 research guides have been published by the Music Division highlighting topics from Jazz Research to Film Music, as well as composers ranging from big names like Beethoven and Stravinsky to lesser-known composers such as Eleanor Everest Freer and Gena Branscombe.

The LoC’s Musical Division is the preeminent repository of musical theater-related collections in the world. The Performing Arts Reading Room holds scores of books, periodicals, and special collections related to musical theater. Additionally, the Rare Book & Special Collections Reading Room houses the Rouben Mamoulian Collection of theater, film, and concert programs for performances in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, London, England, and other locations, many annotated by Armenian American film and theater director Rouben Mamoulian. The collection of Rouben Mamoulian Papers includes the director’s personal papers and is served in the Manuscript Reading Room.

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Asha Bajaj

I write on national and international Health, Politics, Business, Education, Environment, Biodiversity, Science, First Nations, Humanitarian, gender, women