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Research for documentaries like Meredith Willson: America’s Music Man is made possible by the Songbook Library & Archives. The Songbook Foundation’s historical collections hold more than a half million items representing the performers, composers, lyricists, arrangers, and other artists behind those beloved pop, jazz, Broadway, and Hollywood standards that still resonate today. Your support for our Preservation efforts impacts educational content and programming around the country. 

Iowa PBS producer-director Tyler Brinegar says the concept of a Willson documentary has floated around for at least two decades, but only recently have two key pieces have fallen into place: funding to secure the necessary music and film rights, and the availability of the Willson collection as cataloged and preserved by the Songbook Foundation.

We hope you enjoy your special access to the Meredith Willson collection!

Researching the Meredith Willson Papers

Who is Meredith Willson?

Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson (18 May 1902 – 15 June 1984) – known to the world as Meredith and to his friends as “Mere” – will always be celebrated for writing The Music Man. And with good cause! Willson’s nostalgic masterpiece remains a classic decades after its creation, and it will undoubtedly remain so for as long as musical theatre exists.

But Willson was far more than the creator of Harold Hill and Marian Paroo. An artist of many talents, he was a virtuoso musician, a talented conductor and bandleader, a composer of symphonies, and a beloved celebrity and philanthropist.

Learn more in the online exhibit The Unsinkable Meredith Willson.

Songwriter Spotlight: Meredith Willson

Willson Processing Archivist's Favorite Artifact

Meredith Willson was known for his very prolific and popular pen pals, but it wasn’t strictly business in his correspondence. In February of 1964, Willson received a letter from then-president Dwight Eisenhower thanking the musician for his congratulatory message. Earlier in the year, Eisenhower had been golfing and scored a hole-in-one and Willson wrote to him immediately. Eisenhower went on to say that he had been “looking forward to such an event for the past 20 years” and was thrilled that Willson had acknowledged it. The letter also includes a handwritten P.S. that reads “Mamie joins us in best wishes and greetings. -D.E.”

Willson! Oh, Meredith Willson! ― The Talking People

In the documentary Meredith Willson: America's Music Man audiences meet The Talking People. The eccentric group was comprised of five singers ― Norma Zimmer, Betty Allen, Maxwell Smith, John Rarig and Bob Hanlon ― who spoke in unison as one individual. They were featured on radio programs hosted by Meredith Willson. The Talking People were originally created for a sponsorship with General Foods to sell Jell-O.

Listen to the audio clip digitized from the Meredith Willson Papers house in the Songbook Library & Archives below. 

Willson sings an early draft of "Seventy-Six Trombones"

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