The collection consists of drawings, photographs, notes, programs, and ephemera related to the opera costume designs of Leo Van Witsen (1912-2009), ranging from 1935 to 1973. Many of the drawings are accompanied by fabric samples, either pinned or taped to the drawing in the upper left-hand corner. Costumes are from opera productions at the Goldovsky Opera Institute, the Juilliard School of Music, and the Brooks V. Horn Costume Company, all in New York City, New York, and the Berkshire Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, among others. The costumers were designed for specific productions, including De Vuurpijl, Marriage of Figaro, The Wrestlers, The Cloak, The Old Maid and the Thief, Idomeneo, Don Giovanni, A Turk in Italy, Albert Herring, Le Roi d'Yvetot, La Finta Giardiniera, Pique Dame, Ariadne on Naxos, Schauspieldirektor (The Impressario), The Tender Land, Zaide, The Rope, Griffelkin, Mavra, King Theodore of Venice, Oedipus Rex, Angelique, Cosi Fan Tutti, The Grande Masque, Mock Romanza, Venus and Adonis, Idomeneus, Guess What?, The Child and the Apparitions, Gianni Schicci, Il Matrimonio Segreto (The Secret Marriage), The Taming of the Shrew, Leave it to Jane, My Fair Lady, The Trojans, Faust. Additional designs are for A Festival of British Music as well as more generalized costumes, such as for school mascots, special events (a concert gown and dinner suit for a client), and regional costumes, including Mardi Gras ball ensembles appropriate for the Italian Renaissance and late nineteenth century and regional Dutch costumes. Item-level cataloguing numbers from the Museum of the City of New York are included within the Scope and Contents Note of each file.
