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Collection The March King: John Philip Sousa

About this Collection

Painting of Sousa during US Marine Band era, [n.d.]. Performing Arts Reading Room.

An online presentation of selected music manuscripts, photographs, printed music, historical recordings of the Sousa Band, copies of programs and press clippings, and more from the Sousa Collection at the Library of Congress.

About the John Philip Sousa Collection at the Library of Congress

John Philip Sousa began donating his music manuscripts to the Music Division of the Library of Congress in 1914. Over the years, Sousa family members and others have presented additional Sousa-related materials to the Library. The John Philip Sousa Collection now contains approximately 10,000 items including music and literary manuscripts, printed music, photographs, and business records of the Sousa Band. John Philip Sousa IV, the composer’s great-grandson continues to enrich the collection with additional research materials.

This online presentation makes available all music manuscripts of works in the public domain from the Sousa Collection, a selection of photographs, and the manuscript of Pipetown Sandy, Sousa’s semi-autobiographical novel of a boy’s adventures in Civil War-era Washington, D.C. From the General Collections and a private collection are over 450 pieces of printed music. Also included are historical recordings of the Sousa Band from the Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division’s Emile Berliner Collection. Copies of programs and press clippings from the Sousa Band’s 1919-20 North American tour scrapbooks appear courtesy of the U.S. Marine Band Library.