September 21, 1998

Contact:
Press Contact: Helen Dalrymple (202) 707-1940

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George and Ira Gershwin Room Features Gershwin Collections

Library's Gershwin Curator Available for Interviews

WHAT: Photo op/interviews available this week in Library's George and Ira Gershwin Room, ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, with Music Division specialist and Gershwin curator Raymond White. Call Helen Dalrymple, (202) 707-1940, to make arrangements.

FOR: Commemoration of 100th anniversary of the birth of George Gershwin on Sept. 26

BACKGROUND:

The Gershwin Collection at the Library of Congress is the world's preeminent resource for the documentary legacy of George and Ira Gershwin. It contains a wealth of materials that provide insight into the brothers' careers and personalities, from manuscript and printed music, lyric sheets and librettos to photographs, scrapbooks and royalty statements.

The Gershwin Room in the Thomas Jefferson Building, which opened earlier this year, is a permanent tribute to the Gershwins and their work. Highlights of the current exhibition, "Here to Stay: The Legacy of George and Ira Gershwin," are George Gershwin's piano, self-portraits of both brothers, their Congressional Gold Medals, and original manuscripts from Rhapsody in Blue, Porgy and Bess, and other Gershwin stage and screen shows such as Lady Be Good, Funny Face, Girl Crazy and Of Thee I Sing.

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PR 98-153
9/21/98
ISSN 0731-3527