The Music and Theatre Department is a special section of the University Library Frankfurt am Main. Founded in 1947, its roots go back to the music collection of the Municipal Library, the Rothschild Library and the Manskopfschen Music-Historical Museum.
Its main functions are:
1. Supplying city inhabitants and university members with literature on music and theatre and with notes.
2. The intensive collection of literature on the special fields of theatre and film sciences (1950-2013 special collection section for the supply of pan-regional literature in Germany, with the financial support of the German Research Society).
3. Filing and documenting Frankfurt's theatre materials and the legacies of Frankfurt musicians.
The collection covers around 127 000 pieces of notes (keynote: total musician editions, commemorative editions and music of the 19. century), a wide selection of professional literature on music and theatre (e.g. around 800 magazines), approximately 80 legacies of musicians, actors and directors, special theatre collections (stage scripts, libretti, stage-set designs, graphic prints, photos, posters, archive of Frankfurt's municipal dramatic arts) and a large collection of hand-written music and letter autographs. This material can be used at 16 workplaces (special material by prior arrangement only). In the reference library (encyclopaedias, bibliography, manuals) and reference magazines, direct access is possible to around 30,000 volumes. The Department is equipped with a photocopier, several PCs, microfiche and microfilm reading units.