George and Ira Gershwin collection, 1895-2008 (bulk 1920-1960).

ArchivalResource

George and Ira Gershwin collection, 1895-2008 (bulk 1920-1960).

The centerpiece of the George and Ira Gershwin collection is the music material, which spans their entire careers and primarily relates to their stage and screen musicals but includes George's concert works as well. The music material includes music manuscripts, many in George's hand or in the hand of orchestrators, arrangers, or copyists; handwritten and typewritten lyric sheets; musical sketchbooks; and printed music. The collection also contains correspondence to family, friends and colleagues, including Merle Armitage, Benjamin and Henry Botkin, Walter Damrosch, Rose Gershwin, Aileen Pringle, Albert Sirmay, Selma Tamber, Rosamond Walling Tirana, and Kurt Weill. There are thirty-one scrapbooks, which present nearly a complete record of the life and work of the Gershwin brothers as chronicled in the contemporary press. In addition, the collection contains photographs, several drawings by George, programs and publicity materials, legal and financial documents, George's piano, and Ira's typewriter.

60,000 items (136 boxes, 53 linear feet)

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7886569

Library of Congress

Related Entities

There are 21 Entities related to this resource.

Armitage, Merle, 1893-1975

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z42rpq (person)

Merle Armitage was born in 1893 on a farm outside Mason City, Iowa. He had many jobs over the years, beginning as a train engineer before taking a job as a graphic designer for the Packard Motor Car Company. His next career was as a set designer for New York theaters, which later turned into a long stint in the theater promotion business. Armitage also managed various performers and their concert tours. He co-founded the Los Angeles Grand Opera Association and was its business manager, and also ...

Gershwin, Ira, 1896-1983

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60w94tm (person)

Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his brother George Gershwin to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 20th century. Born in Brooklyn, the oldest of four children. It was not until 1924 that Ira and George teamed up to write the music for what became their first Broadway hit Lady, Be Good. Some of their more famous works include "The Man I Love", "Fascinating Rhythm", "Someone to Watch Over Me", "I Got Rhythm" and "They Can't Take That A...

Gershwin, George, 1898-1937

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6204wfj (person)

George Gershwin was a composer and pianist; his best-known works are Rhapsody in Blue (1924), An American in Paris (1928), "I Got Rhythm" (1930), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), which included the hit "Summertime". Gershwin moved to Hollywood and composed numerous film scores. He died in 1937 of a malignant brain tumor....

Pringle, Aileen, 1895-1989

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jt08pb (person)

Aileen Pringle, 1895-1989, silent film star. From the description of Aileen Pringle papers, 1887-1970. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702132888 ...

Bennett, Robert Russell, 1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67p8zt8 (person)

Composed 1931. First performance Rochester, 9 December 1932, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Howard Hanson conductor.--Cf. Fleisher Collection. From the description of Concerto grosso : for small dance band and symphony orchestra / Robert Russell Bennett ; in the form of "Sketches from an American Theatre." [19--?] (Franklin & Marshall College). WorldCat record id: 42886632 Robert Russell Bennett was an American composer, orchestrator and conductor. From th...

Damrosch, Walter, 1862-1950

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rv0nvb (person)

Walter Johannes Damrosch (1862-1950) was a German-born conductor and composer in the U.S. From the description of Walter Damrosch presentation volume, 1928. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122517384 From the guide to the Walter Damrosch presentation volume, 1928, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.) American conductor and composer. From the description of Autograph letter signed : New York, to "My dear and heaven sent Isadora ...

Swift, Kay, 1897-1993

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n882nv (person)

Composer of "Can't we be friends" and other songs, friend and protegeĢe of Gershwin. From the description of Autographed page of concert program : New York, to James Fuld, 1978 May 20. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270910507 American musical theater composer. From the description of The Kay Swift papers, 1894-1993 (inclusive). (Yale University). WorldCat record id: 702152168 Kay Swift (1897-1993) is known today primarily for her close assoc...

Sirmay, Albert

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cn7phf (person)

Musician. From the description of Typewritten letter signed, on Chappell & Co. letterhead : New York, to David Paramor, 1965 May 25. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270935599 ...

Kaufman, George S. (George Simon), 1889-1961

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sq8xnx (person)

George Simon Kaufman (November 16, 1889 - June 2, 1961) was a playwright, director, producer, humorist, and drama critic noted for his many collaborations with other writers and his contributions to 20th century American comedy. His most successful solo script was The Butter and Egg Man, 1925. As a collaborator, Kaufman was prolific: with Marc Connelly he wrote Merton of the Movies, Dulcy, and Beggar on Horseback; with Ring Lardner he wrote June Moon; with Edna Ferber he wrote The Royal Family, ...

Tamber, Selma

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6798mb2 (person)

Gershwin, Rose, 1875-1948

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z06f5d (person)

Rose Gershwin, born St. Petersburg, Russia, arrived in New York in 1892; changed her name to Rose Bruskin. She married Moische (Morris) Gershowitz; Morris changed the family name to "Gershwine" (or alternatively "Gershvin") well before their children rose to fame; it was not spelled "Gershwin" until later. She was the mother of the famous composers George and Ira Gershwin....

Corbett, Rosamond Walling Tirana, 1910-1999

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65t5423 (person)

Spialek, Hans

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61k0252 (person)

Ryskind, Morrie, 1895-1985

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qz2nq1 (person)

Morrie Ryskind, playwright, poet, and columnist, was born on October 20, 1895 in Brooklyn. After high school he attended The Columbia University School of Journalism where he served as editor of Columbia's humor magazine The Jester . In 1917, six weeks from graduation, Ryskind was expelled for writing an editorial which called Columbia President Nicholas Murray Butler, "Czar Nicholas". Ryskind was later awarded his degree in 1942. Ryskind's professional career as a write...

DePackh, Maurice, 1896-1960

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6712hbs (person)

Saddler, Frank.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63b7bqd (person)

Botkin, Benjamin Albert, 1901-1975

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6348vz2 (person)

Benjamin A. Botkin was born in 1901 in Boston, Mass. He began Harvard at age 15, graduating magna cum laude at 19, and earned a MA in English literature from Columbia. He then taught english at the University of Oklahoma before studying with folklore scholar Louise Pound at the University of Nebraska where he received a Ph.D. in 1931. In 1937, Botkin accepted a position as the national folklore editor for the Federal Writers' Project. He also served as the co-founder and chairman of the WPA Join...

Weill, Kurt

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rr1x51 (person)

As a result of the success of his Broadway musical Lady in the dark in 1941, German-born composer Kurt Weill and his wife, the singing actress Lotte Lenya, were able to buy "Brook House," in Rockland County, New York, moving there during their sixth year in the United States. From Brook House, and a couple of addresses in Los Angeles during his trips there, Weill kept in touch, until a month before his death, with his parents, who had emigrated to Israel in 1935. From the description...

Heyward, DuBose, 1885-1940

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66q28zj (person)

Author. From the description of Letter : to Henry Ravenel Dwight, 1931 Jan. 4. (The South Carolina Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 37521975 From the description of Letters to Robert N.S. Whitelaw, 1940. (The South Carolina Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 37522020 Author, of Charleston, S.C. From the description of Peter Ashley promotional poster [picture] ; [1932]. (University of South Carolina). WorldCat record id: 38943426 Po...

Daly, William, d. 1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6798mtb (person)

Botkin, Henry Albert, 1896-1983

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m61mt2 (person)

Henry Botkin (1896-1983) was an American abstract, modern and expressionist painter and illustrator; he was known for his figure-views, still lifes, and non-objective paintings. He was active in artistic circles, served as president of four major art organizations (Artists Equity Association, American Abstract Artists, Group 256 Provincetown, and Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors), and in 1955 organized the first exhibition of American abstract art at the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo,...