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Elmer Bernstein papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2644

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Scope and Content

This collection contains music scores and sketches, audio and video, office records and other related materials created during the life and career of Elmer Bernstein. From Bernstein's early works and juvenilia through his transition from radio to film and television in the early 1950's all the way to his later compositions which include works for theatre, recordings, and live concert performance, the collection contains material spanning more than 50 years.

Dates

  • Creation: 1945 - 2004

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

Advance notice required for access.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Cinematic Arts Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Cinematic Arts Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Rights Statement for Archival Description

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Biographical / Historical

Born on April 4th, 1922, in New York City, Elmer Bernstein's career in the arts began very young. Having been introduced to composer Aaron Copland at 12, Bernstein decided upon music as his course of study. Beginning with composing for Army Air Corps shows on radio during the second World War, Bernstein's career spanned more than half a century, and resulted in 14 Academy Award nominations, 1 Academy Award win (in 1967 for his score for Thoroughly Modern Millie), as well as numerous other awards in film, television, theatre, and commercial recordings. Having been "gray-listed" in Hollywood during the 1950's, Bernstein struggled to find work easily, but he was brought back into the mainstream with his score for Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. Bernstein later broke new ground with his jazz scores to The Man With The Golden Arm, and The Sweet Smell of Success,, as well as his scores for The Magnificent Seven (1960) and To Kill A Mockingbird (1962). Bernstein continued to compose until his death in 2004 at the age of 82.

Extent

343.25 Linear Feet (255 boxes)

Abstract

This collection contains music scores and sketches, audio and video, office records and other related materials created during the life and career of Elmer Bernstein.

Organization

This collection is organized into the following series:



Film Music; Television Music; Concert Works; Recordings; Film Music Collection (set of LP's produced by Elmer Bernstein in the 1970's); Theatre; Radio; Juvenilia; Songs; Other and Unidentified Music; Plaques and Awards; Audio; Office Records; Video; Additions (subsequent collection material donated after initial cataloging).

The series are broken down further into sub-series according to project, form, subject, or other suitable criteria. Most materials are housed in acid free, white banker's boxes, whereas music scores too large to fit into bankers boxes are housed in larger gray drop-front boxes. The boxes are sequentially numbered 1-215.

Processing Information

This collection is unprocessed.

Title
Finding aid for the Elmer Bernstein papers
Status
Completed
Author
John Brockman
Date
2015 March
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Revision Statements

  • 2023 March: Finding aid updated by Marissa Chavez and Sarah Jardini for History Associates Incorporated

Repository Details

Part of the USC Libraries Cinematic Arts Library Repository

Contact:
Doheny Memorial Library G4
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0185 United States