Publicity photographs of musicians and entertainers, mostly jazz musicians, such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and Dizzy Gillespie, but including many rock and even a few classical performers. The collection also contains tape recorded radio interviews conducted between 1970 and 2003. In addition there are posters relating to musical performances.
Scope and Contents:
This collection was formed by W. Royal Stokes in the course of his professional work as a music and arts critic. It is composed primarily of publicity portraits of musical performers, both single acts and groups. The emphasis is on jazz musicians and singers, although many rock stars and groups, and other popular musical performers are included. Even a few classical musicians are represented. The pictures are primarily mass-produced black and white publicity photographs distributed to newspapers, writers, etc., by agents for entertainment personalities. Some prints were made from the original negatives, while others clearly were made from copy negatives after typography was stripped together with a print and re-photographed. However, there are some rarer original photographs included in the collection, such as personal color snapshots, higher quality prints by art photographers, etc. Nearly all the prints are unmounted, and are 8 x 10 inches or smaller in size. The bulk of the photographs date from circa 1970 to 2000, however, a number of the earlier photographs are included as well as slightly later examples.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into nine series.
Series 1, Photographs of Musicians and Ensembles, circa 1970-2000; undated
Subseries 1.1, Musicians and Ensembles
Subseries 1.2, Recording Company Photographs
Subseries 1.3, Unidentified Musicians
Series 2, Photographs of Performances, 1987-2002; undated
Subseries 2.1, Music Festivals, 1987-2002; undated
Subseries 2.2, Concerts, Music Clubs and Other Venues, 1920s-1940s and circa 1980s-1990s; undated
Series 3, Formal and Informal Groups, circa 1980s-2000; undated
Series 4, Photographs of Musicians in Films, Radio, Television and Theater, 1940s-2000; undated
Series 5, Photographs of Subjects and Products related to Musicians and Music, 1970-2000; undated
Series 6, Photographs of Non-Musicians, circa 1980s-2000; undated
Series 7, Interviews with Musicians, 1970-2003
Series 8, Audiovisual Materials, 1970-2003
Subseries 8.1, Audio Recordings - Audiocassettes
Subseries 8.2, Audio Recordings-Audiotapes
Series 9, Posters, 1976-1990; undated
Biographical / Historical:
Born in Washington, D.C., W. Royal Stokes served in the Army and then embarked on an academic career, teaching at the University of Pittsburgh, Tufts University, Brock University and the University of Colorado. He left the academic profession in 1969 and become a writer, broadcaster and lecturer, journalist, and critic and authority on jazz music. A follower of jazz since his teens in the 1940s, Stokes has written about music for such publications as Down Beat, Jazz Times, and the Washington Post, and hosted the public radio shows "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say . . ." and "Since Minton's". Today he is the editor of the quarterly Jazz Notes, and is the author of The Jazz Scene: An Informal History From New Orleans to 1990 and Swing Era New York: The Jazz Photographs of Charles Peterson.. He is also the author of Living the Jazz Life: Conversations with Forty Musicians about Their Careers in Jazz (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). Dr. Stokes lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of Ameican History:
Duke Ellington Collection, 1928-1988 (AC0301)
Herman Leonard Photoprints, 1948-1993
Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Reference Prints [copyprints], 1923-1972
Jazz Oral History Collection, 1988-1990
Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, 1910s-1970s (mostly 1930s-1960s)
Jeffrey Kliman Photographs
Stephanie Myers Jazz Photographs, 1984-1987, 2005
Chico O'Farrill Papers
Paquito D'Rivera Papers, 1989-2000.
Louis Armstrong Music Manuscripts, undated
Tito Puente Papers, 1962-1965.
Audrey Wells "Women in Jazz Radio Series, 1981-1982
Mongo Santamaria Papers, 1965-2001
Ramsey Lewis Collection, 1950-2007
Earl Newman Collection of Monterey Jazz Festival Posters, 1963-2009
James Arkatov Collection of Jazz Photographs, 1995-2003
Francis Wolff Jazz Photoprints, 1953-1966
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, circa 1920s-2006
Jazz Oral History Program Collection, 1992-2009
Leslie Schinella Collection of Gene Krupa Materials
Provenance:
Donated by W. Royal Stokes to the Archives Center in 2001.
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.
Topic:
Jazz musicians -- 1950-2000 -- United States Search this
Audiotapes, CDs and digital files: an ongoing project to interview and preserve the memories of people important in the jazz world, including jazz musicians, singers, dancers, producers, arrangers, and others. A list of interviewees and interviewers follows.
The following is a list of the individuals who conducted the interviews.
1. Brown, Anthony
2. Baker, Lida
3. Burstein, Julie
Interviewer
2. Bluiett, Hamiet
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into six series.
Series 1, DAT and CD Original Interview Recordings, 1992-2012
Series 2, Cassette Reference and Master Interview Tapes, 1992-2012
Series 3, Audio CD Reference Copies, 2000-2012
Series 4, Video/CD, 1994-2012
Series 5, Transcripts and Abstracts, 1992-2014
Series 6, Supplemental Documentation, 1992-2012
Biographical / Historical:
The Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program, a project of "America's Jazz Heritage, A Partnership of the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and the Smithsonian Institution" initiative was created in 1992. More than 150 in-depth oral history interviews were conducted from 1992 through 2002. The collection was transferred to the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History in 2000. Now part of the National Museum of American History's American Music History Initiatives, the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program continues to conduct interviews as funding is available.
The Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program was established to document significant jazz musicians, performers, producers, and business associates in their own words and voices. Program staff contacted and worked with potential interviewees to arrange for interviews. Each interview was conducted by a jazz authority and was recorded on digital audiotape by a professional audio engineer. The interviews averaged 6 hours in length and covered a wide range of topics including early years, initial involvement in music, generally, and jazz specifically, as well as experiences in the jazz music world, including relationships to musicians. The original DAT interview tapes were then dubbed to audiocassettes and CD to create protection and access copies. More recent interviews have been recorded using fully digital technology and the interviews are preserved and made availbel as digital files.
A number of the interviews were conducted as part of the Ella Fitzgerald Oral History Project of the Jazz Oral History Program. Funded by the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, these interviews focus on the life and work of Ella Fitzgerald. The National Endowments for the Arts Jazz Masters Oral Histories Program continues to support new interviews with NEA Jazz Masters.
For more information about jazz concerts, education, collections, Jazz Appreciation Month, and the Jazz Master orchestra, visit Smithsonian Jazz.
Provenance:
The interviews were made for the Smithsonian Institution under the auspices of the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program supported by America's Jazz Heritage, funded by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Oral Histories Program. Additional interviews were conducted with support from the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Researchers must use reference copies.
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. Release forms exist for most interviews.
[Interviewee name] Interview, Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, 1992-2014, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
The interviews were made for the Smithsonian Institution under the auspices of the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program and supported by America's Jazz Heritage, funded by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Oral Histories Program. Additional interviews were conducted with support from the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation.
An interview of Alison Knowles conducted 2010 June 1-2, by Judith Olch Richards, for the Archives of American Art's Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project, at Knowles' home and studio, in New York, N.Y.
Knowles speaks of her family background; her father's (an English professor) influence on her education; her love of nature and isolation as a young girl; her French studies at Middlebury College; her transfer to Pratt Institute to study art; the social and academic environment at Pratt; her inclinations towards abstraction; her first marriage to Jim Ericson; her first studio at 423 Broadway; her early jobs as a commercial artist; her first gallery show at Nonagon, in 1958, and how she subsequently burned the paintings in that show; her second marriage to Dick Higgins in 1960; her Judson Gallery Show in 1962 and how she subsequently discarded those works; her involvement in the Fluxus group; her involvement with the "Cage class," and its early performances; her collaboration with John Cage on the book, "Notations" (1968); her collaboration with Marcel Duchamp on a print (1967); the circumstances surrounding her performance piece, "Make a Salad" (1962), her travels through Europe with Higgins; the birth of her twins; her computerized poetic piece and installation, "House of Dust" (1967) and how it was later vandalized; her move to Los Angeles to teach at CalArts; the rebuilding of "House of Dust" at CalArts; her move back to New York; the processes leading up to several projects and collaborations including "Loose Pages," "Big Book," "Bread and Water," and more; where she finds her inspiration; her thoughts on performance art; her studio environment in Barrytown, N.Y.; the influence and support of Germany on her work and Fluxus in general; her recent work, including "Identical Lunch"; and current challenges she faces as an artist.
She recalls Richard Lindner, Adolph Gottlieb, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Judy Chicago, Josef Albers, Dorothy Podber, Ray Johnson, Dick Higgins, Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, Klaus Schöning, Jon Hendricks, Gilbert Silverman, George Maciunas, George Brecht, Jack Mac Low, Yoko Ono, Mieko Shiomi, Takako Saito, Joe Jones, Marcel Duchamp, Daniel Spoerri, Richard Hamilton, Nam June Paik, Charlotte Moorman, Helmut Becker, Coco Gordon, Jim Tenney, Cornelia Lauf, Rirkrit Tirvanija, Allan Kaprow, Simone Forte, Carolee Schneemann, Richard Teitelbaum, Miriam Schapiro, Miguel Abrau, James Fuentes, Cyrilla Wozenter, Kathy Kuehn, Ryszard Wasko.
Biographical / Historical:
Alison Knowles (1933- ) is an artist and a founding member of Fluxus in New York, N.Y. Judith Olch Richards (1947- ) is a former director of iCI in New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 mini discs. Duration is 5 hr., 45 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Occupation:
Conceptual artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The records of Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) measure 64.4 linear feet and 317.43 gigabytes and date from circa 1974-2018. The bulk of the records consist of extensive video and sound recordings of events organized by the group featuring artists, critics, historians, dealers, curators and writers discussing contemporary issues in the American art world in hundreds of panel discussions, open screenings, and dialogues held in New York City. Events began in 1975 and continue to the present; recordings in the collection date from 1977 and 2016. A smaller group of records include administrative files, panel flyers, three scrapbooks, as well as photographs, slides, and negatives of panel discussions and participants.
Scope and Contents:
The records of Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) measure 64.4 linear feet and 317.43 gigabytes and date from circa 1974-2018. The bulk of the records consist of extensive video and sound recordings of events organized by the group featuring artists, critics, historians, dealers, curators and writers discussing contemporary issues in the American art world in hundreds of panel discussions, open screenings, and dialogues held in New York City. Events began in 1975 and continue to the present; recordings in the collection date from 1977 and 2016. A smaller group of records include administrative files, panel flyers, three scrapbooks, as well as photographs, slides, and negatives of panel discussions and participants.
ATOA's recordings chronicle the American art world, covering critical discussions and significant art world issues over five decades. Thousands of artists such as Will Barnet, Louise Bourgeois, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Robert De Niro, Agnes Denes, Michael Goldberg, Robert Longo, Ana Mendieta, Robert Morris, Elizabeth Murray, Alice Neel, Philip Pavia, Howardena Pindell, Larry Rivers, Sylvia Sleigh, Kahinde Wiley, Hannah Wilke, David Wojnarowicz, and others speak about their work. The original recordings exist in a variety of formats, including U-Matic and VHS videotape, MiniDVs, sound cassettes and sound tape reels. ATOA digitized most of the video and sound recordings prior to donating the collection.
The collection also includes printed histories, board and program committee meeting minutes, financial statements, general correspondence files of the president and chair, attendance statistics, grant files, panel participant release forms, sixteen panel transcripts, a complete set of panel flyers (many are annotated) and other printed materials, three dismantled scrapbooks, as well as photographs, slides, and negatives of panels and panel participants.
Arrangement:
The records are arranged into nine series.
Series 1: Adminstrative Files, 1974-2013 (0.4 linear feet, Box 1)
Series 2: Director's and Chairman's Correspondence, 1977-2006 (0.4 linear feet, Box 1)
Series 3: Grant Files, 1977-2009 (1 linear foot, Boxes 1-2)
Series 4: Panel Release Forms, 1978-2012 (1 linear foot, Boxes 2-3)
Series 6: Printed Materials, 1975-2015 (0.8 linear feet, Boxes 3-4; 0.434 GB, ER02)
Series 7: Scrapbooks, 1975-1989 (0.2 linear feet, Box 4)
Series 8: Photographic Materials, circa 1975-circa 2000 (1 linear foot, Boxes 4-5)
Series 9: Video and Sound Recordings of Events, 1977-2016 (59 linear feet, Boxes 6-65; 317.43 GB, ER03-ER04)
Biographical / Historical:
Established in 1974 and still active in New York, Artists Talk on Art is the art world's longest running and most prolific aesthetic panel discussion series organized by artists for artists. Founded by Lori Antonacci, Douglas I. Sheer, and Robert Wiegand, the forum has presented 6,000 artists in nearly 1,000 documented panels or dialogues. ATOA held its first panel, "Whatever Happened to Public Art," on January 10, 1975 and it drew a "crowd" of 77 people. In the decades that followed, ATOA presented dozens of panels or dialogues a year, tackling such diverse topics as "What is Happening with Conceptual Art," with Louise Lawler and Lawrence Weiner; "Painting and Photography: Defining the Difference," with Sarah Charlesworth, Jack Goldstein, Joseph Kosuth, Barbara Kruger, and Robert Mapplethorpe; "Organizing Arts Activism," with Lucy Lippard; "The Artist and the Epidemic—an information panel about AIDS"; "Cross-generational Views of Feminism"; and hundreds more.
Provenance:
The Artists Talk on Art (ATOA) records, including digital files of the video and sound recordings, were donated to the Archives in 2016 by Douglas Sheer, Chairman of ATOA.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
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 Citation:
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
