The American musical has a history as long and colorful as the United States itself.  From an early point its development as an art form, the musical has reflected the rich, heterogeneous tapestry of American life, both in the content of its productions and in the array of uniquely American talent it has presented on its stage.  During the 19th century, musical theatre, particularly in New York, began to emerge as a distinctly American phenomenon, combining elements borrowed from British comic opera and music hall, Irish ballad singing, German and Viennese operetta, French opéra bouffe, circus, and pantomime traditions with indigenous song and dance styles from minstrelsy.  This complex mélange of styles and forms was essentially the same amalgam from which the masterpieces of Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Frank Loesser, and Leonard Bernstein in the 20th century were derived.  When talking pictures became a reality in the late 1920’s, America’s musical theatre traditions continued to be advanced on the screen.

For over thirty years, The Institute of the American Musical has been dedicated to the preservation of the American musical theatre and film.  Established in 1972 in New York City, the organization has produced many film retrospectives, exhibitions, and other public events to celebrate the twin histories of the American musical theatre and motion picture.  In addition, it has assisted thousands of researchers, from students to authors to documentary film makers, and has been represented on hundreds of radio and television programs about the American musical.  In 1979, with a matching grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Institute relocated from New York City to Los Angeles, where today it houses the world’s largest archives specifically dedicated to the Broadway and Hollywood musical. 

The archives contain thousands of theatre programs back to 1866; every script published from a Broadway musical and hundreds in manuscript (many given by Richard Rodgers and Cole Porter); tens of thousands of British and American piano vocal scores and pieces of sheet music back to the early 19th century; books on theatre back to the 18th century and film back to 1897; thousands of biographies; books on New York City history back to 1836; over 250,000 movie stills back to 1905; stage periodicals back to the early 19th century; histories of theatre buildings from all over the world; paintings, rare early photographs, and stone lithograph posters from the turn of the last century; detailed clipping files back to the 1920’s; and around 2,000 movies on film, tape, and disc.

The Institute also houses one of the world’s finest collections of theatre, film, spoken word, and popular music on records, dating back to a recording of Edwin Booth from 1890.  On every medium from brown wax cylinders to modern CD’s, the library has every Broadway original cast album and every album from a Hollywood movie musical, in addition to recordings by all the seminal musical stars:  Nora Bayes, Blanche Ring, Bert Williams, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice, Fred and Adele Astaire, Ethel Merman, etc.  It also has countless recordings of popular singers Bing Crosby, Russ Columbo, Kate Smith, Ruth Etting, Billy Murray, Ethel Waters, and many others, in addition to numerous British theatre and music hall favorites.  Early dramatic recordings are equally well represented, including every one by Sarah Bernhardt, Ellen Terry, E. H. Sothern, Julia Marlowe, and Sir Herbert Beerbohm-Tree.  Its many historical spoken-word records include the voices of William Jennings Bryan, General Pershing, Nicholas Murray Butler, Charles Lindbergh, James Whitcomb Riley, William Butler Yeats, and presidents back to Teddy Roosevelt.  Its vast collection of record catalogues goes back to the late 1890’s and includes one of the largest holdings of Victor catalogues in the world, while the Edison materials were almost all given by Teddy Edison, the inventor’s youngest son.  When M-G-M lost its studio several years ago, the Institute was given around 8,000 78’s from its music department; and, when Robert Lewis, co-founder of the Actors Studio, returned to New York, he donated 6,000 operatic, popular, and dramatic recordings.  Back in 1959, Richard Rodgers donated his personal collection of recordings of his songs and the cabinet (designed by his wife Dorothy) that shelved them.  The collection, dating back to 1924, is housed at the Institute.

Over the years, the Institute has been given many remarkable collections:  scores, scripts, correspondance, and recordings from conductor Jay Blackton; scripts and other materials from choreographer Onna White; all the scrapbooks, photographs, and memorabilia from vaudeville and Broadway favorite Violet Carlson; 19th and early 20th century theatre memorabilia of actor Hobart Bosworth; piano vocal scores from Harold Arlen (many inscribed to him by Vincent Youmans); extensive materials on Johnny Mercer, donated by his publisher Marshall Robbins; over 50,000 silent movie stills and rare Anna Pavlova photos from publicist Rutgers Neilson; the complete archives of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera (programs, photos, posters, thousands of letters from all the theatre giants), left to us by CLO founder Edwin Lester; the complete archives of the New York Paramount, which were rescued during the theatre’s demolition in 1967; numerous letters from Metropolitan Opera diva Emma Eames gossiping about her contemporaries; original scrapbooks of Abe Lyman, the first band leader from Los Angeles to achieve worldwide fame; original portraits, stage clothing, furnishings, publicity materials, and personal effects of Broadway star Anna Held; all of Vivienne Segal’s photos, contracts, and scrapbooks back to 1907; papers and manuscripts of librettist Anne Caldwell, and many others. 

The crown jewel of the Institute’s collection is 16mm silent film shot by theatregoer Ray Knight during actual performances of approximately 175 Broadway musicals from the Ziegfeld Follies of 1931 through the curtain calls for A Little Night Music (1973).  While many still photos abound to capture the look of the Broadway musical during its golden years, these priceless films document in movement 42 years of this country’s greatest contribution to the art of theatre; and they are all in color from 1935 onward!  It is a primary resource for the stage choreography of Balanchine, Alton, de Mille, Robbins, and Fosse.  Watch Ethel Merman belt a show-stopper or Gene Kelly hoof in Pal Joey or Gertrude Lawrence enchant Yul Brynner in The King and I.  The copying of these fragile films to digital videotape, with the addition of on-screen annotation, is one of the Institute’s most urgent priorities.  Libraries all over the world, every college theatre department, and musical theatre lovers will want these priceless documents for their collections.

Dr. Kevin Starr, California State Librarian Emeritus has called the Institute of the American Musical "a cultural resource of international importance," and Dr. James Billington, the Librarian of Congress, has dubbed the Institute "a national treasure."  In order to better serve students and scholars of the American musical and to secure the preservation of its priceless archives for posterity, the Institute seeks to build a permanent home in Los Angeles.  Once the library is established in a new, state-of-the-art facility, the organization would be equipped to produce research, publications, musical events, film screenings, lectures, and courses which would enrich the community and promote the Institute’s mission to preserve, document, and disseminate the extraordinary heritage of the American musical.