Professional Awards & Scholarships
Call for Applications
Click here for nomination information: Louis Rachow Award for Distinguished Service in Performing Arts Librarianship 2025 (Nominate by August 29th, 2025!)
Click here for application information: Brooks McNamara Performing Arts Librarian Scholarship 2024 (Applications will re-open in 2026.)
Louis Rachow Distinguished Service in Performing Arts Librarianship Award
Theatre Library Association celebrates the excellence of our profession by bestowing the Louis Rachow Distinguished Service in Performing Arts Librarianship Award on individuals who embody its best qualities.
Louis Rachow had a long and distinguished career in performing arts librarianship, highlighted by a quarter century as Curator/Librarian of the Hampden-Booth Theatre Library at The Players, followed by another decade as Library Director of the International Theatre Institute of the United States. His publications, as author and editor, helped to educate several generations of performing arts librarians in the practices and history of the field. Over the course of more than 50 years as a TLA member, he served as an executive board member, President, Vice President, chair of the nominating committee, editor of the newsletter, and liaison to the Special Libraries Association, the Council of National Library Associations, and the Library/Information Network-New York. He remained active in the organization throughout his life, holding the post of TLA Historian and attending events and board meetings whenever he was able. He passed away on August 28, 2017; he was 90.
In recognition of his exemplary record of service, the Distinguished Service Award was renamed in honor of Louis Rachow in 2013.
For questions about the Louis Rachow Distinguished Service Award, contact Drew Barker, Chair of the TLA Professional Awards Committee.
Click here for nomination information: Louis Rachow Award for Distinguished Service in Performing Arts Librarianship 2025 (Nominate by August 29th, 2025!)
2025 LOUIS RACHOW DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD WINNER
Mark Eden Horowitz is a senior music specialist in the Music Division of the Library of Congress, where among the collections for which he’s been curator or co-curator are the papers of Leonard Bernstein, Leslie Bricusse, Vernon Duke, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe, Cole Porter, Hal Prince, Richard Rodgers, and Vincent Youmans. Among the collections he’s acquired for the Library are the papers of Howard Ashman, Burt Bacharach, Adam Guettel, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Larson, Arthur Laurents, Andrew Lippa, Neil Simon, Stephen Sondheim, and Jeanine Tesori. He’s the author of the books Sondheim on Music, and The Letters of Oscar Hammerstein II. For ten years was the contributing editor for The Sondheim Review. Horowitz taught the history of musical theater at Catholic and Georgetown universities. He’s also the author of the liner notes for Sondheim: The Story so far…, Hugh Martin: Hidden Treasures: Songs for Stage and Screen, and Anthony De Mare’s Liaisons: Re-imagining Sondheim from the piano, and chapters in the books A Cole Porter Companion, and The Oxford Handbook of Musical Theatre Adaptations.
Brooks McNamara Performing Arts Librarian Scholarship
Theatre Library Association is pleased to sponsor the Brooks McNamara Performing Arts Librarian Scholarship in memory of the achievements of this beloved theater historian, scholar, educator, and mentor.
Brooks McNamara – beloved theater historian, scholar, educator, and mentor – was Professor of Performance Studies at New York University and founder of the Shubert Archive.
The Brooks McNamara Performing Arts Librarian Scholarship acknowledges outstanding professional accomplishments of promising students currently enrolled in MLIS or archival training programs specializing in performing arts librarianship. The winner receives a $750 check and a one-year complimentary TLA membership.
The scholarship is offered every other year. Click here for the current form application.
For more information about the McNamara Scholarship, contact the chair of the Professional Awards Committee, Drew Barker (dbarker@umd.edu).
2024 BROOKS MCNAMARA PERFORMING ARTS LIBRARIAN SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
Courtney Thomas is a second-year MLIS student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. She holds a B.A. in Theatre & Dance and a B.A. Humanities with minors in English and Art History and certificates in Museum Studies and Core Texts & Ideas. Her previous work includes roles at the Library of Congress, Ballroom Marfa, Crystal Bridges, Mass MoCA, and other cultural institutions. Her research and writing on the intersection of art and politics has appeared in academic journals and at conferences, as well as in publications including Slate, Glasstire, Texas Monthly, Texas Highways, and others.