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Library Special CollectionsWhat We Collect

Performing Arts (Music, Film and Television, and Theater)

UCLA Library Special Collections selectively acquires, through purchase and gifts, materials in all formats that document the performing arts created in and around Los Angeles and Southern California including film, television, dance, theater, and music.

Performing Arts Collection Development Priorities

Within each area, collecting priority is given to archival materials that are created by organizations and/or individuals that represent Los Angeles, and Southern California, and those that reflect the work of underrepresented voices in these industries.

Film

The collections document film in both aesthetic and technical aspects, spanning the history of the media from its beginnings to the present day. The holdings include the papers of artisans, writers, directors, and performers; the records of producers and studios; and a variety of posters, ephemera, and stills.

  • Under-represented independent and studio filmmakers
  • L.A. Rebellion papers and documentation
  • Industry: cinematography, production design, scenic design, editors
  • Community partner-related collections (e.g. – Outfest, Sundance Institute, etc.)
  • Selected notable UCLA alumni

Television

The collections document television in both aesthetic and technical aspects, spanning the history of the media from its beginnings to the present day. The holdings include the papers of artisans, writers, directors, and performers; the records of producers and studios; and a variety of posters, ephemera, and stills.

  • Local Los Angeles Television
    • Newsletters – newsletters of local stations
    • Local LA TV history, post-Kerner commission/late 1960s-1970s. In particular, producers representing marginalized communities via the work on local stations such as KCET and KMEX
  • Primetime network milestones (selected) – firsts, women, under-represented artists
  • Materials related to the reception of TV programming; ratings, letters, fan magazines

Music

The majority of the music holdings cover the Los Angeles region in the twentieth century and include American popular music,  papers of Los Angeles émigré composers, oral histories and papers of Los Angeles jazz musicians, and the music industry. Antiquarian music holdings date back to the ninth century and include music manuscripts, Italian libretti; early printed editions (including first editions) of full scores, and piano-vocal scores of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century operas, and original editions of musicology texts. 

  • Under-represented music-making communities in Southern California, particularly including musical traditions of immigrant communities
  • Women composers, musicians, and other women in the music industry (conductors, engineers, executives, etc.)
  • Collections that document the process for music in film, television, and media

Theater

Los Angeles theater is represented by the records of local theater groups and includes collections of playbills, scripts, and assorted production materials.

  • Los Angeles theater companies – particularly those that feature the work of local playwrights and theater designers, and whose performances center the lived experience of Los Angeles communities
  • Los Angeles-area playwrights and theater designers

More About the Collection 

Labor unions, an over-arching topic found in each subject area, will be considered in collaboration with Los Angeles Communities and Cultures collection development.

See the following Research Guides for more information about these materials: