The International Sweethearts of Rhythm Collection focuses on the all-female, racially and ethnically diverse big band group that started in 1937 and disbanded in 1949. The collection contains news clippings, photographs, correspondence, ephemera from USO travels, and newsletters. Also included are books related to the group, as well as a tribute CD and a 33 rpm vinyl sound recording.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists mostly of photographs and news clippings documenting the International Sweethearts Band of Rhythm's performances, rehearsals, and travels. It also includes tribute materials to the band, including books and audio CDs.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into three series.
Series 1: Piney Woods School, 1937-1944
Series 2: Rosalind Cron Materials, 1933-2005
Series 3: Dixie Hardy Moon Materials, 1935-1951
Biographical / Historical:
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm were a racially and ethnically mixed swing band, all of whose members were women. They were organized in 1937 by Laurence Clifton Jones, who started the Piney Woods School near Jackson, Mississippi. He formed the band from students at Piney Woods and the band toured to raise money for the school, performing at fairs, dance halls, churches, and theaters. In 1939, the band began to tour outside of Mississippi and traveled across the American South and Midwest. In 1941 they separated from Piney Woods, started out on their own as professional musicians and relocated to Arlington, Virginia. While in Arlington, the band recruited professional musicians to replace the underage students who stayed in school. The band's venues included the Apollo Theatre and Savoy Ballroom in New York and the Howard Theatre in Washington DC They performed frequently at military bases and were quite popular during World War II. In response to requests from GIs serving overseas, the Sweethearts undertook a six month tour of Europe starting in July 1945. The tour was supported by the United Service Organization (USO) Camp Shows. The band played in Paris, France and throughout Germany, including the cities of Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Munich, and Mannheim. The group disbanded in 1949, but reunited for a reunion in 1980 at the Third Annual Women's Jazz Festival in Kansas City.
Rosalin Cron was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1925 and began playing music at nine years old. She joined the band in 1943 and primarly played the alto saxophone, but was also trained to play the clarinet and flute. Cron was a part of the overseas tour. She was with the band until 1946. Dixie Hardy Moon is the niece of founder Laurence Clifton Jones. Catherine (Cathy) Hughes, was born in 1947 in Omaha, Nebraska. She is the granddaughter of founder Laurence Clifton Jones and her mother, Helen Jones Woods (1923-2020), played the trombone with the Sweethearts. Hughes is considered a media pioneer and founder of Radio One/TV One.
Provenance:
Collection donated to the Archives Center in 2011 by Rosalind Cron.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Families of Anita Williams Christopher and David Owen Williams
Object number:
2013.79.10ab
Restrictions & Rights:
Unknown - Restrictions Possible
Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Families of Anita Williams Christopher and David Owen Williams
Object number:
2013.79.11
Restrictions & Rights:
Unknown - Restrictions Possible
Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of W. Allen Taylor, son of "Walkin' Talkin' Bill Hawkins," The First Black Disc Jockey of Cleveland, Ohio
Object number:
2018.91.2.20
Restrictions & Rights:
Unknown – Restrictions Possible
Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of W. Allen Taylor, son of "Walkin' Talkin' Bill Hawkins," The First Black Disc Jockey of Cleveland, Ohio
Object number:
2018.91.2.21
Restrictions & Rights:
Unknown – Restrictions Possible
Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item
Container:
Box 61
Culture:
African Americans -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Pennsylvania Avenue (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Scope and Contents:
Men in military uniforms precede a marching band.
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005 Search this
Extent:
1 Item (Silver gelatin on cellulose acetate film sheet, 8" x 10".)
Container:
Box 63
Culture:
African Americans -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Washington (D.C.) -- African Americans
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
No ink on negative. Group portrait of a military band with Christmas tree in the background. Red coloring added to some musicians' faces to decrease contrast in final print. "KODAK - SAFETY - FILM 61" edge imprint. No Scurlock number.
Subseries Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Subseries Rights:
When the Museum purchased the collection from the Estate of Robert S. Scurlock, it obtained all rights, including copyright. The earliest photographs in the collection are in the public domain because their term of copyright has expired. The Archives Center will control copyright and the use of the collection for reproduction purposes, which will be handled in accordance with its standard reproduction policy guidelines. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Photographs -- 1940-1950 -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film
Subseries Citation:
Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The collection was acquired with assistance from the Eugene Meyer Foundation. Elihu and Susan Rose and the Save America's Treasures program, provided funds to stabilize, organize, store, and create digital surrogates of some of the negatives. Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Includes 7 VHS videotapes and 1 audio tape produced by Florice Whyte Kovan, containing interviews and recollections by some band members. Studio portraits and snapshot photographs in 3 scrapbooks, which also contain display advertisements and newspaper clippings from about the band, 1940s. Snapshots include documentation of the band's travels and leisure activities while on the road, including swimming, horseback riding, etc. Packaged hotel soap bars collected by Betty Hansen during the bands' touring documents their itinerary, as do picture postcards written by Alice Smaus Jacoby.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into seven series.
Series 1: Unmounted snapshots
Series 2: Scrapbooks
Series 3: Alice Smaus Jacoby's postcards
Series 4: Packaged soap samples
Series 5: Audiovisual Materials
Series 6: Framed Portrait Photoprints
Series 7: Oversized Photoprints
The scrapbook pages are arranged in original order, apparently partly chronological, but series 1 snapshots are in topical order.
Biographical / Historical:
Founded 1942 in Racine, Wis., by Virgil Whyte, his "all-girl" band was composed of young Racine women. Whyte was instructor, manager, and the initial leader on drums; later his sister Alice took over as drummer. After initial success in Racine and elsewhere in Wisconsin, the band began to accept engagements in other parts of the country, eventually touring the U.S. The band's success drew other acts and performers, including Jill Fontaine and the Wilford Mae Trio, Sam Hearn (known as "Schlepperman"), the Woodson Sisters, and Paul La Verre and Bro. They did U.S.O. tours, entertaining servicemen.
The principal donor, a free-lance researcher and writer, is the daughter of Virgil Whyte.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Florice Kovan, 1993.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Glamour portrait, autographed "To 'Roz' / I shall never forget / you and your fine / sax playing with the / "Sweethearts" -- also our / tour in Europe, remember? Vocally, / Evelyn, / Kassel, Germany / Nov. 23 - 45". John E. Reed, Hollywood, photographer.
Displayed in Archives Center exhibition, "Women and Jazz: The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, 1937-1949", from March 25, 2011 through May 31, 2011. Craig Orr, curator.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Three saxophone playiers in bottom row, three trombonists in top row. Rosalind "Roz" Cron sitting in the bottom row on the left. On verso: "This is really a shot of our old trombone section made in the Club Plantation, Culver City, CA, in May, 1944. The band was really jumping at the time. We three saxes are not supposed to be seen -- so overlook us. Since then, we have added a white girl to the Bone section -- which makes it a section of 4." / "Supposed to be short of 3 trombones".
Arrangement:
Series #2: Rosalind "Roz" Cron, Box No.1, folder no. ?
Local Numbers:
AC1218-0000064.tif (AC Scan No.)
Exhibitions Note:
Displayed in Archives Center exhibition, "Women and Jazz: The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, 1937-1949", from March 25, 2011 through May 31, 2011. Craig Orr, curator.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Two advertisements concerning Piney Woods School published in the "Chicago Defender" on April 20, 1940, and one advertisement for the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, published in the "Afro-American" on July 22, 1940.
Local Numbers:
AC1218-0000077.tif (AC Scan No.)
Exhibitions Note:
Displayed in Archives Center exhibition, "Women and Jazz: The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, 1937-1949", from March 25, 2011 through May 31, 2011. Craig Orr, curator.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper., 10-1/4"(?) x 8".)
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Scope and Contents:
Top: Helen Saire, Rosilind "Roz" Cron, Vi Burnside. Bottom: Grace Bayron, Willie Mae Wong. "Bloom / Chicago" signature in lower left (in negative?).
Local Numbers:
AC1218-0000081.tif (AC Scan No.)
Exhibitions Note:
Displayed in Archives Center exhibition, "Women and Jazz: The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, 1937-1949", from March 25, 2011 through May 31, 2011. Craig Orr, curator.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Displayed in Archives Center exhibition, "Women and Jazz: The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, 1937-1949", from March 25, 2011 through May 31, 2011. Craig Orr, curator.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Displayed in Archives Center exhibition, "Women and Jazz: The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, 1937-1949", from March 25, 2011 through May 31, 2011. Craig Orr, curator.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Subject is playing the saxophone with the band. "This was taken in Seattle in the Black and Tan Club on Sept. 24, 1944. I was playing one of my solos, "Misery" at the time. The next day I had my hair cut. I hope you like it -- Roz". Photgraphed by Al Smith, Seattle, Wash.
Arrangement:
Series #2: Rosalind "Roz" Cron Box: Flat box.
Local Numbers:
AC1218-0000058.tif (AC Scan No.)
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Displayed in Archives Center exhibition, "Women and Jazz: The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, 1937-1949", from March 25, 2011 through May 31, 2011. Craig Orr, curator.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Displayed in Archives Center exhibition, "Women and Jazz: The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, 1937-1949", from March 25, 2011 through May 31, 2011. Craig Orr, curator.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Displayed in Archives Center exhibition, "Women and Jazz: The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, 1937-1949", from March 25, 2011 through May 31, 2011. Craig Orr, curator.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
