Musical Theater Collection - UPDATE

We are halfway through 2016, so I want to do a quick update for one of the projects I discussed in the first post of this year (go check it out if you haven’t read it!).

Pictured: (left) Enchanted Evenings; (right)
Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks; (center)
Broadway Musicals
Beginning in March, I started to catalog the large number of biographies in the Barbara A. Cooke Musical Theater Collection. It was decided these books are best served as reference materials, which means they do not circulate. You might ask why, since this is a library and shouldn’t all books circulate? Normally, yes. However, the books add context to the songs, lyricists, composers, and shows the archived sheet music emphasizes, so I think they are more useful as reference books.

Some of the influential people in the musical theater and motion picture world includes: Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim and many more. Now they all have a place in the reference collection. 

Toward the end of May I finished the cataloging biographies I moved onto the behind-the-scenes type books. These feature timelines of musical theater and Hollywood musicals, never before seen photographs, stories from producers and actors, etc.

Hollywood Musicals by Ted Sennett, featuring
"Betty Grable in Springtime in the Rockies"


As of today, nearly 200 books have been cataloged! The next batch of books will be about specific shows, like Wicked and The Sound of Music. There are still a couple hundred to go, but I’m very happy with the progress of this project.

If you’re interest in viewing the Barbara A. Cooke MusicalTheater Collection and all these wonderful books, please stop in to the library Monday-Friday. 


Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 5, 2016 at 2:18 PM

    This is wonderful news. I viewed this collection, and it is a "must see" for anyone interested in history, music, and theater.

    ReplyDelete

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