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Music Library

Music Library Special Collections: List

Grawemeyer medallion

Grawemeyer Collection of Contemporary Music

All materials submitted to the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition competition become the property of the University of Louisville and are deposited in an archival collection housed in the Music Library.

Paul Brink Collection 

The Paul Brink Collection consists of items donated by his family. Materials include original, arranged, and edited works in the following formats: manuscript scores and parts, manuscript reproduction scores and parts, engraved scores and parts created with a variety of notation software programs. Also includes, sketches, early editions, incomplete works, a few programs and reference materials used for composition or arranging.

Mildred Hill photo

Mildred Hill Collection

The Mildred Hill Collection contains manuscripts, published music, articles, and clippings belonging to and related to Louisville native composer and musicologist Mildred J. Hill, who is most well-known for composing the music for the song "Good Morning to All," which would later become "Happy Birthday to You," one of the most well-known songs in the world.

Opera Teatrali drawing

Ricasoli Collection

The Ricasoli collection consists of some 400 manuscripts and prints of music, and a number of music books, collected by three branches of the Ricasoli family of the high nobility of Florence.

Photo of Isidore Phillipp

Isidore Philipp Archive

The Isidore Philipp Archive was established in 1977 at the University of Louisville under the aegis of the American Liszt Society and is recognized as the largest Isidore Philipp repository.

Photo of Jean Thomas

Jean Thomas Collection

The Jean Thomas Collection contains personal and official correspondence related to the American Folk Song Festival.

Player piano

Piano Roll Collection

The Piano Roll Collection consists of approximately 95 player piano rolls containing various popular songs of the 1910s and 1920s..

Mildred Hill signature

Kentucky Composer Manuscripts Collection

The Kentucky Composer Manuscripts Collection consists of music by composers from the state of Kentucky.

Louisville Lou cover

Kentucky Songs Collection

A small collection of popular songs on the topic of Kentucky.

Galt House Collection cover

Louisville Imprint Collection

A collection of sheet music that was published in the city of Louisville in the mid-nineteenth century.

Fantaisie cover

Ruppart Flute Collection

The Ruppart Flute Collection consists of 547 pieces of chamber music written primarily between 1830-1930 that are for flute and piano as well as other chamber music combinations involving flute.

     Jon Rieger Collection

           Coming soon

Photo of Nelson Keyes

Nelson Keyes Collection

The Nelson Keyes collection includes over 75 of his unpublished manuscript scores and facsimiles, published works, correspondence, photographs, and newspaper clippings.

Photo of Lee Luvisi

Lee Luvisi Collection

The Lee Luvisi Collection consists of 75 compact disc sound recordings donated by world-renowned pianist and Louisville native Lee Luvisi.

Sam Hodges photo

Sam Hodges Collection

The Sam Hodges Collection contains manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, and concert programs related to composer and pianist Samuel F. Hodges.

Hattie Bishop Speed photo

Hattie Bishop Speed Collection

The Hattie Bishop Speed collection contains correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, concert programs, published music, and other items belonging to Louisville musician and philanthropist Hattie Bishop Speed. 

William Shakespeare Hayes

William Shakespeare Hays Collection

The William Shakespeare Hays collection contains more than 100 published pieces of music by Hays.

Karl Schmidt photo

Karl Schmidt Collection

The Karl Schmidt Collection contains manuscripts, published works, correspondence, photographs, and memorabilia related to composer, cellist, and teacher Karl Schmidt.

barber shop festival image

Thoroughbred Chorus Archives

Items contained in the Thoroughbred Archives include scans of concert programs, album covers, photographs, and other memorabilia related to the history of the group. Processing of the collection began in December 2016. This page will be updated frequently as items are processed and digitized.

School of Music Guest Books

Among the most treasured historical items in the School of Music, the 2 guest books contain signatures from visitors to the School of Music from 1949 to 2014.