Frank Sinatra memorabilia, including his gold records and a signature fedora, has gone on display at a US university.

The performer's Congressional Gold Medal and the Oscar he won for From Here To Eternity will also be housed in the University of Southern California's Frank Sinatra Hall, which opened on Monday.

The memorabilia was donated by Sinatra's daughters, Nancy and Tina, who spent more than a year gathering the collection together.

The items they found among their belongings will form the largest collection of memorabilia ever assembled to mark Sinatra's career.

Sinatra was a big believer in education

"He had a nearly 60-year career and nobody else can claim that in the music business," said daughter Nancy.

"He went from the megaphone to the fibre-optic," she added.

Sinatra's first wife and the mother of his children, Nancy Barbato Sinatra, attended the opening of the display.

Jazz impresario Quincy Jones, a longtime friend of Sinatra's, was also there.

The family decided to gift the memorabilia to the university after Sinatra's eldest granddaughter graduated from the institution.

"Sinatra believed passionately in education and was eager that his children graduate from college, a chance he never had," said Nancy.

Tribute

Nancy Sinatra, who has been lobbying for a national museum of American music for a decade, said the Sinatra memorabilia would remain with USC for now.

The collection is just miles from the Beverly Hills mansion, the Malibu beach house and the desert ranch where Sinatra spent most of his final years.

The tribute came as Tina Sinatra, a film and movie producer, confirmed she had signed with Paramount Pictures to produce an updated remake of the 1962 political thriller The Manchurian Candidate.

Denzel Washington is pencilled-in to take the role originally played by Sinatra.