The Roemheld Collection contains no personal correspondence or other papers, except for a
brief biographical sketch written by the composer's sister Irmgard. Anecdotal in nature,
this sketch covers Roemheld's early years up to his 20s, and except for a brief skeletal
chronological outline which contains conflicting dates, it doesn't cover his Hollywood and
later years and activities. This biographical sketch also contains eleven pages of
photocopied photographs and musical programs. A small cut black paper silhouette of Roemheld
and several feature articles published in the Milwaukee
Sentinel in 1947, 1961, and 1964 are also included. While these feature stories
are useful, very little documented information regarding Roemheld's personal life and
professional career is available.
The collection contains a variety of musical compositions and consists of: Orchestral Music
and/or Arrangements; Oversize Scores; Piano Music; Published Music; Quartets/Quintets;
Songs-Manuscripts; and Strings with Piano.
The Orchestral Music and/or Arrangements comprises the bulk of the Roemheld collection. The
eleven works occupying eight of eleven boxes generally include the original pen or pencil
piano or vocal scores, the original onion and reproduced orchestral parts, and full
orchestral scores. Many of these full orchestral scores are written on oversize paper and
stored in the oversize box 11. This separation is indicated in the appropriate entries.
Music entitled "Ruby with Six Variations," from the film "Ruby Gentry" (1952) is included in
this series.
The Oversize Scores contains handwritten pencil full orchestral scores to eight works.
These scores have been separated from the main series stored in the first ten boxes due to
their size. These undated full orchestral scores are written on yellow score sheets which
are large, bulky, and in most cases, loosely bound with string ties.
Piano Music contains onion paper scores and reproductions of seven works, five of which are
dated 1968 to 1973, the composer's later years.
The Published Music consists of sheet music to four published songs written or orchestrated
by Roemheld in 1915, 1917, 1924, and 1930.
Quartets/Quintets consists of five works composed or arranged for stringed instrument
groups. A sixth folder contains an "ideas file" and includes "Cinema 1920" and other
unnamed, undated musical sketches.
The Songs-Manuscripts contains the manuscripts to eleven songs orchestrated and/or written
by Roemheld. Most of the handwritten originals and reproduced copies are undated.
The Strings with Piano contains three undated works for piano, and cello, violin, and
viola.
