Scope and arrangement
These pre-publication lead sheets come from the range of publishers that encompass the "Brill Building Sound" not simply those published at the Brill Building's 1619 Broadway address. They are part of the popular song collection in the Music Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, and were acquired in 1966 from George Goodwin. Goodwin was a sheet music collector, radio station director, and developer of the Tune-Dex, a comprehensive 25,000 card catalog index of popular songs used extensively in the music industry.
Each lead sheet entry contains the exact copyright information for each song exactly as it appears along with the publisher's street address at the time of publication. There is also a note on each song (probably written by Mr. Goodwin) as to the recording artist and label on which the recorded song was issued. The markings on many of these sheets may have been made possibly during demo recording. For more information on this collection see: George Boziwick, "Brill Building Pop: Music Division Lead Sheets Document an Era". Research Libraries Notes. Vol. 7, nos. 1 & 2, Winter/Spring, 1995.