The Library of Congress has added music and lyric sketches written for the landmark 1939 MGM movie-musical The Wizard of Oz to its archives, joining the Harold Arlen Collection. The materials will give researchers a behind-the-scenes look on the creation of the perennial favorite, which features music by Arlen and lyrics by E.Y. "Yip" Harburg.
Perhaps most exciting in the collection is the only known lyric sketch for the Academy Award-winning song "Over the Rainbow," a hastily scrawled note on the top of a yellow legal paper. The line sketched, "Some day I'll wish upon a star + wake + find the darkness far behind me," survived almost completely to the final lyric, which Harburg later changed to "Some day I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me."
The collection also includes three pages of musical sketches, a music manuscript of "Off to See the Wizard," lyrics for the "Lollipop League," lyric sketches for "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead," music sketches for the "Mayor of Munchkin Land," seven pages of music sketches of preliminary concepts labeled "Oz possibilities," Arlen's Academy Award statue for "Over the Rainbow," draft song lists, and correspondence from one of the film's directors, Mervyn Leroy.
Unrelated to The Wizard of Oz, the new acquisition also includes a rare self-portrait of composer George Gershwin dated 1929 that the Porgy and Bess composer had himself sent Arlen.
See photos of the newly acquired items below:
Musical numbers in The Wizard of Oz
Musical numbers in The Wizard of Oz
Original lyric sketch of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"
Original music manuscript of "We're Off to See the Wizard"
Original music manuscript of "We're Off to See the Wizard"
Original music manuscript of "We're Off to See the Wizard"
Original music manuscript from The Wizard of Oz
Original music manuscript from The Wizard of Oz
Original music manuscript from The Wizard of Oz
Original music manuscript from The Wizard of Oz
Original music manuscript from The Wizard of Oz
Original music manuscript from The Wizard of Oz
Original lyric sketch of "If I Only Had a Brain"
Original manuscript from The Wizard of Oz
Original lyric sketch from "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead"
Manuscript of "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead"
Manuscript of "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead"
Manuscript of "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead"
Harold Arlen's Academy Award for "Over The Rainbow"
“Harold Arlen's contributions to The Wizard of Oz have profoundly shaped American culture," says Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres, acting chief of the Library’s Music Division, in a statement. "The donation of these manuscripts and papers represents a treasured addition in conjunction with our various Oz-themed holdings. This gift not only honors Arlen and Harburg’s imaginative genius but also preserves the legacy of the music that has captured the hearts of generations. The Library is grateful to the late Mrs. Arlen and the Arlen family for sharing these artifacts with the American people.”
A small display tracking the creation of The Wizard of Oz, including some of the newly acquired items, will be featured in the Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building October 23, 2025-January 7, 2026.
The Arlen Collection includes a musical sketchbook, sketch materials from the 1954 musical House of Flowers, hundreds of photographs, Arlen's typescript screenplay for The Wizard of Oz, and correspondence between Arlen and many of his family, friends, and colleagues.
Visit LOC.gov.
