Collection Overview

Special Collections

• Bob Johnson Sheet Music Collection: 60,000-piece sheet music collection of songs from films, stage and more than twenty other categories ranging from rock and pop to wars and world's fairs. (See list)
  

• Joseph Marchi Musical Theater Collection: 10,000 musical theater related LPs, CDs, books, scripts, scores, magazines, videos, sheet music, and posters.
  

• Bruce Walker Musical Theater Recording Collection: 3,000 original Broadway, London, revival, studio, film and television cast recordings (See list)
  

• Richard F. Larson Opera Libretti Collection: 3,000 opera libretti representing some 1,000 composers (1686- present)
  

• Alan Farley Radio Interview Collection: 2,759 radio interviews featuring Bay Area, national, and international creators and performers from theater, film, television, opera, dance and music (1977-present)
  

• Bernard Taper Balanchine Photo Collection: 623 photographs documenting the life and career of George Balanchine
  

• Wylie Wong Photo Collection: 400 vintage photographs of Chinese theatrical productions and performers (See online Image Collection)
  

• Joel E. Rubin Theatre Periodicals Collection: 50 years of stage design, theatre architecture, and technology journals from 15 countries
  

• Legacy Oral History Collection: 70 oral histories of significant members from the Bay Area performing arts community
  

• Center to Preserve Music Culture Collection: 10, 673 books, periodicals, posters, and albums related to rock, pop, and jazz
  

• Theatrical Design Research Collection: 25,000 books, periodicals, fashion plates, hand-colored engravings and postcards documenting centuries of theatrical costumes, theater architecture, set and costume design, masks, fashion, and clothing
  

• KSAN Radio Archive: 2, 200 recordings of live rock, blues, and folk concerts and interviews broadcast on KSAN radio from 1967-1981
  

• Chevron Standard Hour Collection: 396 recordings from the historic Standard Hour broadcasts (1941-1953) featuring world renowned opera singers, musicians, and conductors
  

• Fantasy Records Collection: 76 cartons of publicity and biographical files of Fantasy Records artists
  

• David Selvin Duke Ellington Recording Collection: 216 LPs and 193 CDs featuring recordings of Duke Ellington and his music

• Mary Fisher Greenfield Collection: Over 1,000 videotapes by Ted Helminski of Bay Area dance, music, opera and theatre productions from 1988 to 2013 of companies such as Oakland Ballet, Smuin Ballet, Lines Comtemporary Ballet, ODC, Pocket Opera, Joe Goode Performance Group, Harupin Ha, Merce Cunningham, Margaret Jenkins, Lamplighters, American Conservatory Theatre.

  View list of videos, recorded from 1989-2000, that were digitized as part of a Recordings at Risk Grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) from May 2021 to October 2022. The grant program is made possible by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. All videos digitized from this grant are available to view onsite at MP+D.

  Select videos from the CLIR Recordings at Risk Grant available for viewing online HERE