Grants and Acquisitions

David Free

The Library of Congress has acquired the manuscripts, music and lyric drafts, recordings, notebooks, and scrapbooks of legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, widely considered one of the most influential and innovative musical theater songwriters of his generation. Winner of eight Tony Awards, including a special Tony for lifetime achievement, Sondheim was a prolific creator, as evidenced by the works found in this extensive collection.

The collection includes approximately 5,000 items documenting Sondheim’s creative acumen. The materials range from hundreds of music and lyric sketches of his well-known works to drafts of songs that were cut from shows or never made it to a production’s first rehearsal. There are notes about characters who would ultimately sing his compositions as well as multiple iterations of nearly each finished work, providing an evolutionary road map of inspiration. The collection also contains manuscripts for some of Sondheim’s most celebrated shows, including “Company,” “Follies,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “Into the Woods,” as well as lesser-known works such as his plays and screenplays. Of a more personal nature, dozens of scrapbooks hold programs, clippings, opening night telegrams, and more.

The Library of Congress has also acquired the historic 1690 Tuscan-Medici viola by Antonio Stradivari as a gift to the nation from David and Amy Fulton and The Tuscan Corporation. The contralto viola was previously on loan to the Library by The Tuscan Corporation (of the Cameron Baird family) in a collaborative custodial arrangement since December 1977. The viola joins the Library of Congress’s world-renowned instrument collection, which is anchored by the five Stradivari instruments donated by Gertrude Clarke Whittall in 1935. The viola, the second of the library’s collection, has been renamed to commemorate its newest chapter: Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1690, viola, Fulton, ex Baird, Tuscan-Medici.

The Hoover Institution has acquired the papers of Sándor Kopácsi. Kopácsi (born 1922) was an active participant in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and later chronicled the events in his memoir, In the Name of the Working Class: The Inside Story of the Hungarian Revolution, published in 1987. His account remains an important primary source on the revolution. The papers include his notebooks, correspondence, interviews, published and unpublished writings, reports, and photographs. This unique collection contains original documentation on MOKÁN (Magyarországi Kommunista Antifasiszta Committee/Anti-Nazi Committee of Hungarian Communists) during World War II as well as materials related to the 1958 trial of Imre Nagy, the Hungarian communist and leader of the 1956 revolution.

The collection is a vital resource for researchers studying Hungary’s political history during World War II, the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and the brutal Soviet repression that followed, resulting in significant casualties and widespread displacement.