About this Reading Room
The Performing Arts Reading Room is the access point for the vast and diverse collections in the custody of the Music Division at the Library of Congress. Numbering over 25 million items and spanning more than 1000 years of Western music history and practice, these holdings include the classified music and book collections, music and literary manuscripts, iconography, microforms, periodicals, musical instruments, published and unpublished copyright deposits, and over 600 special collections in music, theater, and dance.