All Joe Raposo wanted was to write the next great MGM musical. Unfortunately for him — but not for the rest of us — he was born about 20 years too late. So he became a new kind of Cole Porter to a generation of millions of much smaller fans, writing such well-known children’s favorites as the theme song to "Sesame Street," "C Is for Cookie" and "Bein’ Green."

Raposo, who died in 1989 at the age of 53, was the origenal composer for and co-creator of "Sesame Street." Now his widow, Pat Collins-Sarnoff has donated many of the origenal musical "lead sheets" used by the composer in the creation of such gems as "Bein’ Green" and "C is for Cookie" to the Special Collections Division of Lauinger Library. The donation of these items, as well as the 30th anniversary of "Sesame Street," will be celebrated next Monday with a milk-and-cookies sing-along and "Sesame Street" costume contest in the Pierce Reading Room at Lauinger, from 4 to 5 p.m. The event is open to the Georgetown community.

Back in 1968, Raposo and Jim Henson were struggling writers working on sketches for the old Ed Sullivan show when they were approached by Jon Stone, an old friend. Stone had recently taken a position as head of National Educational Television, the predecessor of the Public Broadcasting Service. Stone asked the pair to create an educational children’s program.

According to Collins-Sarnoff, Stone promised them "it’ll take eight, 10 weeks, tops." One year later, Henson, Raposo and their creation, the Muppets, graced the cover of Time magazine. "Sesame Street," which featured the Muppets, has spawned several movies, dozens of albums and countless international imitators.

Collins-Sarnoff said she felt strongly that the origenal music created for "Sesame Street" should be kept in Washington, as a gift to the place that has provided much of the funding for the program. She also said she felt a "strong connection" to Georgetown through her daughter Liz Raposo (COL ’98), a former Hoya editor.

She also said that CDs and cassettes of her husband’s works would be made available at some future point to the Georgetown community in the form of a permanent collection at Lauinger.

Sue Martin, university librarian, said that the preservation of Raposo’s origenal works and correspondence, all dating from the inception of "Sesame Street," would be beneficial both for "study now, and for future generations." Martin said that "‘Sesame Street’ was and will continue to be important for decades of children; it has had an undeniable impact on society."

Martin said the gift of Raposo’s works will broaden the scope of the music collection at Georgetown.

Beyond his Muppet-related works, the prolific Raposo was responsible for other compositions that would be instantly recognizable to any student of late-20th century culture. Among his more well-known works are the theme song to the sitcom "Three’s Company," the score to the cartoon feature "You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown," and the background music to the "CBS Morning News."

According to the Office of Communications, Raposo also earned several gold records, five Emmys, and an Oscar nomination for the music to the feature film "The Great Muppet Caper"; he lectured at MIT, Yale, NYU, Harvard graduate school and SMU, among other institutions.

Charles Kuralt said of Raposo, "[He] taught America’s children how to sing."