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5d ago

Library of Congress Adds Stephen Sondheim Archive to Its Collection

Nearly 5,000 items from the collection will open to the public on July 1.

FILE -American multi-award-winning composer and lyricist, Stephen Sondheim poses with his framed 'Copy of Freedom', after being awarded the Freedom of the City of London at a ceremony at the Guildhall in London, Sept. 27, 2018. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

Overview

  • The Library of Congress finalized its acquisition in June and received the archive’s nearly 5,000 items in March 2025.
  • The trove spans notebooks, music scores, lyric drafts and scrapbooks from landmark shows such as Company, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods.
  • Sondheim agreed to donate his papers in 1993 after a meeting with music specialist Mark Horowitz, and the collection survived a fire in his office in 1995.
  • Among the materials are specialty songs Sondheim wrote for friends, a jingle for a public TV contest and drafts that never reached rehearsal.
  • The archive joins manuscripts by Oscar Hammerstein II and Leonard Bernstein and offers fresh insight into Sondheim’s meticulous creative process.