Search Results

Creator:

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Names:

Duke Ellington Orchestra  Search this

Washingtonians, The.  Search this

Ellington, Mercer Kennedy, 1919-1996 (musician)  Search this

Strayhorn, Billy (William Thomas), 1915-1967  Search this

Collector:

National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Musical History  Search this

Extent:

400 Cubic feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Phonograph records

Papers

Photographic prints

Posters

Sound recordings

Scrapbooks

Music

Clippings

Awards

Audiotapes

Place:

New York (N.Y.) -- 20th century

Harlem (New York, N.Y.) -- 20th century

Washington (D.C.) -- 20th century

Date:

1903 - 1989

Summary:

The collection documents Duke Ellington's career primarily through orchestrations (scores and parts), music manuscripts, lead sheets, transcriptions, and sheet music. It also includes concert posters, concert programs, television, radio, motion picture and musical theater scripts, business records, correspondence, awards, as well as audiotapes, audiodiscs, photographs, tour itineraries, newspaper clippings, magazines, caricatures, paintings, and scrapbooks.

Scope and Contents:

Dating approximately from the time Duke Ellington permanently moved to New York City in 1923 to the time the material was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution in 1988, the bulk of the material in the Duke Ellington Collection is dated from 1934-1974 and comprises sound recordings, original music manuscripts and published sheet music, hand-written notes, correspondence, business records, photographs, scrapbooks, news clippings, concert programs, posters, pamphlets, books and other ephemera. These materials document Ellington's contributions as composer, musician, orchestra leader, and an ambassador of American music and culture abroad. In addition, the materials paint a picture of the life of a big band maintained for fifty years and open a unique window through which to view an evolving American society.

The approximate four hundred cubic feet of archival materials have been processed and organized into sixteen series arranged by type of material. Several of the series have been divided into subseries allowing additional organization to describe the content of the material. For example, Series 6, Sound Recordings, is divided into four subseries: Radio and Television Interviews, Concert Performances, Studio Dates and Non-Ellington Recordings. Each series has its own scope and content note describing the material and arrangement (for example; Series 10, Magazines and Newspaper Articles, is organized into two groups, foreign and domestic, and arranged chronologically within each group). A container list provides folder titles and box numbers.

The bulk of the material is located in Series 1, Music Manuscripts, and consists of compositions and arrangements by Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn and other composers. Series 6, Sound Recordings also provides a record of the performance of many of these compositions. The materials in Series 2, Performances and Programs, Series 3, Business Records, Series 8, Scrapbooks, Series 9, Newspaper Clippings, Series 11, Publicity and Series 12, Posters provide documentation of specific performances by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. Ellington was a spontaneous and prolific composer as evidenced by music, lyrical thoughts, and themes for extended works and plays captured on letterhead stationery in Series 3, Business Records, in the margin notes of individual books and pamphlets in Series 14, Religious Materials and Series 15, Books, and in the hand-written notes in Series 5, Personal Correspondence and Notes.

During its fifty-year lifespan, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra were billed under various names including The Washingtonians, The Harlem Footwarmers and The Jungle Band. The soloists were informally called "the band", and Series 3 includes salary statements, IOU's, receipts and ephemera relating to individual band members. Series 1, Music Manuscripts contains the soloists' parts and includes "band books" of several soloists (for example; Harry Carney and Johnny Hodges) and numerous music manuscripts of Billy Strayhorn. The changing role of Strayhorn from arranger hired in 1938 to Ellington's main collaborator and composer of many well-known titles for Duke Ellington and His Orchestra including "Take The A' Train" and "Satin Doll" can be traced in these music manuscripts. Series 7, Photographs and Series 2, Performances and Programs contain many images of the band members and Strayhorn. This Collection also documents the business history of Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. Series 3, Business Records contains correspondence on letterhead stationery and Series 11, Publicity contains promotional material from the various booking agencies, professional companies, and public relations firms that managed the Orchestra.

The materials in the Duke Ellington Collection provide insight into public and institutional attitudes towards African Americans in mid-twentieth-century America. The business records in Series 3 beginning in 1938 and published sheet music in Series 1 depict Duke Ellington's progression from an African-American musician who needed "legitimization" by a white publisher, Irving Mills, to a businessmen who established his own companies including Tempo Music and Duke Ellington, Incorporated to control his copyright and financial affairs. Programs from the segregated Cotton Club in Series 2, Performances And Programs and contracts with no-segregation clauses in Series 3: Business Records further illustrate racial policies and practices in this time period. The public shift in perception of Duke Ellington from a leader of an exotic "Jungle Band" in the 1930s to a recipient of the Congressional Medal Of Freedom in 1970 is evidenced in Series 2, Performances And Programs, Series 12, Posters, Series 7, Photographs and Series 13, Awards. Reviews and articles reflecting Ellington's evolving status are also documented in Series 8, Newspaper Clippings, Series 9, Scrapbooks, Series 10, Newspaper and Magazine Articles.

The materials in the Duke Ellington Collection reflect rapid technological changes in American society from 1923-1982. Sound recordings in Series 6 range from 78 phonograph records of three minutes duration manufactured for play on Victrolas in monaural sound to long-playing (LP) phonograph records produced for stereo record players. Television scripts in Series 4, programs in Series 2 and music manuscripts (for example, Drum Is A Woman) in Series 1 demonstrate how the development of television as a means of mass communication spread the Orchestra's sound to a wider audience. The availability of commercial air travel enabled the Ellington Orchestra to extend their international performances from Europe to other continents including tours to Asia, Africa, South America and Australia and archival material from these tours is included in every series.

Series 4, Scripts and Transcripts and Series 6, Audio Recordings contain scripts and radio performances promoting the sale of United States War bonds during World War II, and Series 7, Photographs includes many images of Duke Ellington and His Orchestra's performances for military personnel revealing the impact of historic events on Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. Series 2: Programs and Performances, Series 9, Newspaper clippings and Series 8, Scrapbooks document the 1963 Far East tour aborted as a result of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

The Duke Ellington Collection contains works by numerous twentieth-century music, literature, and art luminaries. Series 1, Music Manuscripts contains original music manuscripts of William Grant Still, Eubie Blake, Mary Lou Williams, and others. Series 4, Scripts and Transcripts contains a play by Langston Hughes, and Series 12, Posters contains many original artworks.

Arrangement:

Series 1: Music Manuscripts, circa 1930-1981, undated

Series 2: Performances and Programs, 1933-1973, undated

Series 3: Business Records, 1938-1988

Series 4: Scripts and Transcripts, 1937-1970

Series 5: Personal Correspondence and Notes, 1941-1974, undated

Series 6: Sound Recordings, 1927-1974

Series 7: Photographs, 1924-1972, undated

Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1931-1973

Series 9: Newspaper Clippings, 1939-1973, undated

Series 10: Magazine Articles and Newspaper Clippings, 1940-1974

Series 11: Publicity, 1935-1988

Series 12: Posters and Oversize Graphics, 1933-1989, undated

Series 13: Awards, 1939-1982

Series 14: Religious Material, 1928-1974

Series 15: Books, 1903-1980

Series 16: Miscellaneous, 1940-1974

Biographical / Historical:

A native of Washington, DC, Edward Kennedy Ellington was born on April 29, 1899. Edward was raised in a middle-class home in the Northwest section of Washington described by his sister Ruth--younger by sixteen years--as a "house full of love." Ellington himself wrote that his father J.E. (James Edward) raised his family "as though he were a millionaire" but Edward was especially devoted to his mother, Daisy Kennedy Ellington. In 1969, thirty-four years after his mother's death, Ellington accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom with these words, "There is nowhere else I would rather be tonight but in my mother's arms." Both his parents played the piano and Ellington began piano lessons at the age of seven, but like many boys he was easily distracted by baseball.

In his early teens, Ellington sneaked into Washington clubs and performance halls where he was exposed to ragtime musicians, including James P. Johnson, and where he met people from all walks of life. He returned in earnest to his piano studies, and at age fourteen wrote his first composition, "Soda Fountain Rag" also known as "Poodle Dog Rag." Ellington was earning income from playing music at seventeen years of age, and around this time he earned the sobriquet "Duke" for his sartorial splendor and regal air. On July 2, 1918, he married a high school sweetheart, Edna Thompson; their only child, Mercer Kennedy Ellington, was born on March 11, 1919. Duke Ellington spent the first twenty-four years of his life in Washington's culturally thriving Negro community. In this vibrant atmosphere he was inspired to be a composer and learned to take pride in his African-American heritage.

Ellington moved to New York City in 1923 to join and eventually lead a small group of transplanted Washington musicians called "The Washingtonians," which included future Ellington band members, Sonny Greer, Otto Hardwicke and "Bubber" Miley. Between 1923 and 1927, the group played at the Club Kentucky on Broadway and the ensemble increased from a quintet to a ten-piece orchestra. With stride pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith as his unofficial guide, Ellington soon became part of New York's music scene; Smith proved to be a long-lasting influence on Duke's composing and arranging direction. At the Club Kentucky, Ellington came under the tutelage of another legendary stride pianist, "Fats" Waller. Waller, a protege of Johnson and Smith, played solos during the band's breaks and also tutored Ellington who began to show progress in his compositions. In November 1924, Duke made his publishing and recording debut with "Choo Choo (I Got To Hurry Home)" released on the Blu-Disc label. In 1925, he contributed two songs to Chocolate Kiddies, an all-black revue which introduced European audiences to black American styles and performers. By this time Ellington's family, Edna and Mercer, had joined him in New York City. The couple separated in the late 1920's, but they never divorced or reconciled.

Ellington's achievements as a composer and bandleader began to attract national attention while he worked at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, from 1927 to 1932. The orchestra developed a distinctive sound that displayed the non-traditional voicings of Ellington's arrangements and featured the unique talents of the individual soloists. Ellington integrated his soloists' exotic-sounding trombone growls and wah-wahs, their high-squealed trumpets, their sultry saxophone blues licks and Harlem's street rhythms into his arrangements. In the promotional material of the Cotton Club, the band was often billed as "Duke Ellington and His Jungle Band." With the success of compositions like "Mood Indigo," and an increasing number of recordings and national radio broadcasts from the Cotton Club, the band's reputation soared.

The ten years from 1932 to 1942 are considered by some major critics to represent the "golden age" for the Ellington Orchestra, but it represents just one of their creative peaks. These years did bring an influx of extraordinary new talent to the band including Jimmy Blanton on double bass, Ben Webster on tenor saxophone, and Ray Nance on trumpet, violin and vocals. During this ten year span Ellington composed several of his best known short works, including "Concerto For Cootie," "Ko-Ko," "Cotton Tail," "In A Sentimental Mood," and Jump For Joy, his first full-length musical stage revue.

Most notably, 1938 marked the arrival of Billy Strayhorn. While a teenager in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Strayhorn had already written "Lush Life," "Something To Live For" and a musical, Fantastic Rhythm. Ellington was initially impressed with Strayhorn's lyrics but realized long before Billy's composition "Take the A' Train" became the band's theme song in 1942 that Strayhorn's talents were not limited to penning clever lyrics. By 1942, "Swee' Pea" had become arranger, composer, second pianist, collaborator, and as Duke described him, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine." Many Ellington/Strayhorn songs have entered the jazz canon, and their extended works are still being discovered and studied today. Strayhorn remained with the Ellington Organization until his death on May 30, 1967.

Ellington had often hinted of a work in progress depicting the struggle of blacks in America. The original script, Boola, debuted in Carnegie Hall in November of 1943, retitled Black, Brown and Beige. The performance met with mixed reviews, and although Ellington often returned to Carnegie Hall the piece was never recorded in a studio, and after 1944 was never performed in entirety again by the Ellington Orchestra. Nonetheless, it is now considered a milestone in jazz composition.

After World War II the mood and musical tastes of the country shifted and hard times befell big bands, but Ellington kept his band together. The band was not always financially self-sufficient and during the lean times Ellington used his songwriting royalties to meet the soloists' salaries. One could assign to Ellington the altruistic motive of loyalty to his sidemen, but another motivation may have been his compositional style which was rooted in hearing his music in the formative stage come alive in rehearsal. "The band was his instrument," Billy Strayhorn said, and no Ellington composition was complete until he heard the orchestra play it. Then he could fine tune his compositions, omit and augment passages, or weave a soloist's contribution into the structure of the tune.

In 1956, the American public rediscovered Duke and the band at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island. The searing performances of tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves on "Diminuendo and Crescendo In Blue," his premiere soloist, alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges on "Jeep's Blues", and the crowd's ecstatic reaction have become jazz legend. Later that year Duke landed on the cover of Time magazine. Although Ellington had previously written music for film and television (including the short film, Black and Tan Fantasy in 1929) it wasn't until 1959 that Otto Preminger asked him to score music for his mainstream film, Anatomy of a Murder, starring Jimmy Stewart. Paris Blues in 1961, featuring box-office stars Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier in roles as American jazz musicians in Paris, followed.

Ellington's first performance overseas was in England in 1933, but the 1960s brought extensive overseas tours including diplomatic tours sponsored by the State Department. Ellington and Strayhorn composed exquisite extended works reflecting the sights and sounds of their travels, including the Far East Suite, 1966. They wrote homages to their classical influences; in 1963, they adapted Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and celebrated Shakespeare's works with the suite Such Sweet Thunder in 1957. With Ella Fitzgerald, they continued the Norman Granz Songbook Series. Ellington also began to flex his considerable pianist skills and recorded albums with John Coltrane (1963), Coleman Hawkins (1963), Frank Sinatra, and Money Jungle (1963) with Charles Mingus and Max Roach. The First Sacred Concert debuted in San Francisco's Grace Cathedral in 1965. In his final years, Ellington's thoughts turned to spiritual themes and he added a Second (1968) and Third (1973) Concert of Sacred Music to his compositions.

In his lifetime, Duke received numerous awards and honors including the highest honor bestowed on an American civilian, the Congressional Medal Of Freedom. In 1965, Ellington was recommended for a Pulitzer Prize to honor his forty years of contribution to music but the recommendation was rejected by the board. Most likely he was disappointed, but his response at the age of sixty-six was, "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young."

Ellington never rested on his laurels or stopped composing. Whenever he was asked to name his favorite compositions his characteristic reply was "the next five coming up," but to please his loyal fans Ellington always featured some of his standards in every performance. Even on his deathbed, he was composing the opera buffo called Queenie Pie.

Duke Ellington died on May 24, 1974 at seventy-five years of age. His funeral was held in New York's Cathedral of St. John The Divine; he was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. His long-time companion Beatrice "Evie" Ellis was buried beside him after her death in 1976. He was survived by his only child, Mercer Kennedy Ellington, who not only took up the baton to lead the Duke Ellington Orchestra but assumed the task of caring for his father's papers and his legacy to the nation. Mercer Ellington died in Copenhagan, Denmark on February 8, 1996, at the age of seventy-six. Ruth Ellington Boatwright died in New York on March 6, 2004, at the age of eighty-eight. Both Mercer and Ruth were responsible for shepherding the documents and artifacts that celebrate Duke Ellington's genius and creative life to their current home in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Related Materials:

Materials in the Archives Center

William H. Quealy Collection of Duke Ellington Recordings (AC0296)

Rutgers University Collection of Radio Interviews about Duke Ellington (AC0328)

Duke Ellington Oral History Project (AC0368)

Duke Ellington Collection of Ephemera and realated Audiovisual Materials (AC0386)

Annual International Conference of the Duke Ellington Study Group Proceedings (AC0385)

Robert Udkoff Collection of Duke Ellington Ephemera (AC0388)

Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Prints (AC0389)

New York Chapter of the Duke Ellington Society Collection (AC390)

Earl Okin Collection of Duke Ellington Ephemera (AC0391)

William Russo Transcription and Arrangement of Duke Ellington's First Concert of Sacred Music (AC0406)

Ruth Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials (AC0415)

Music manuscripts in the Ruth Ellington Collection complement the music manuscripts found in the Duke Ellington Collection.

Carter Harman Collection of Interviews with Duke Ellington (AC0422)

Betty McGettigan Collection of Duke Ellington Memorabilia (AC0494)

Dr. Theodore Shell Collection of Duke Ellington Ephemera (AC0502)

Edward and Gaye Ellington Collection of Duke Ellington Materials (AC0704)

Andrew Homzy Collection of Duke Ellington Stock Music Arrangements (AC0740)

John Gensel Collection of Duke Ellington Materials (AC0763)

Al Celley Collection of Duke Ellington Materials (AC1240)

Materials at Other Organizations

Institute of Jazz Studies

Separated Materials:

Artifacts related to this collection are in the Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) and include trophies, plaques, and medals. See accessions: 1989.0369; 1991.0808; 1993.0032; and 1999.0148.

"

Provenance:

The collection was purchased through an appropriation of Congress in 1988.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research but the original and master audiovisual materials are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

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.

Copyright restrictions. Consult the Archives Center at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Paul Ellington, executor, is represented by:

Richard J.J. Scarola, Scarola Ellis LLP, 888 Seventh Avenue, 45th Floor, New York, New York 10106. Telephone (212) 757-0007 x 235; Fax (212) 757-0469; email: rjjs@selaw.com; www.selaw.com; www.ourlawfirm.com.

Occupation:

Composers -- 20th century  Search this

Topic:

Big bands  Search this

Pianists  Search this

Bandsmen -- 20th century  Search this

Jazz -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Musicians -- 20th century  Search this

Music -- Performance  Search this

African American entertainers -- 20th century  Search this

African Americans -- History  Search this

Popular music -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Music -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

African American musicians  Search this

Genre/Form:

Phonograph records

Papers

Photographic prints

Posters

Sound recordings

Scrapbooks -- 20th century

Music -- Manuscripts

Clippings

Awards

Audiotapes

Citation:

Duke Ellington Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:

Processing and encoding partially funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0301

See more items in:

Duke Ellington Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep850a376a1-6b6d-48bc-9076-cffef76fea2c

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0301

Composer:

Calloway, Cab, 1907-1994  Search this

Clark, Allan, 1896-1950  Search this

Palmer, Jack  Search this

Collection Creator:

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (manuscript, 31 cm.)

6 Items (copy scores, 31 cm.)

1 Item (conductor score and/or parts (Published sheet music), 30 cm.)

Container:

Box 22 (Series 1), Folder 4

Type:

Archival materials

Manuscripts

Conductor scores

Copy scores

Music

Parts (musical)

Piano vocal scores

Published sheet music

Date:

1941

Scope and Contents:

see also oversize

6 parts and 1 score.

Are you all reet? is contained in one folder consisting of 1 six-page score, 6 parts in Eb Major concert, and a published sheet in F Major -- in ink, and pencil. -- in unidentified hands (Whaley?).

Score is for 4 saxes - 1, 2, 3, 4; 3 trumpets - 1, 2, 3; 2 trombones - 1, 2; guitar, and bass. Parts for 2 altos - 1, 3; 2 tenors - 1, 2; guitar; bass. -- from the Duke Ellington Library.

General:

Handwriting and other details have been reported based on the notes of David Berger, Andrew Homzy, Dr. Theodore Hudson, Walter van de Leur, and Dr. Mark Tucker.

Condition: fair. Folder A -- 12p.

Publication:

New York, NY, Mills Music Inc., 1941

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research but the original and master audiovisual materials are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

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.

Copyright restrictions. Consult the Archives Center at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Paul Ellington, executor, is represented by:

Richard J.J. Scarola, Scarola Ellis LLP, 888 Seventh Avenue, 45th Floor, New York, New York 10106. Telephone (212) 757-0007 x 235; Fax (212) 757-0469; email: rjjs@selaw.com; www.selaw.com; www.ourlawfirm.com.

Topic:

Music -- United States -- 20th century  Search this

Genre/Form:

Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century

Conductor scores

Copy scores

Music

Parts (musical)

Piano vocal scores

Published sheet music

Collection Citation:

Duke Ellington Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:

Processing and encoding partially funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

See more items in:

Duke Ellington Collection

Duke Ellington Collection / Series 1: Music Manuscripts / 1.1: Music Manuscripts / 1.1.2: A Titles

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8c6ee2d8a-efe8-4f23-a3bf-38adc53e58ea

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0301-ref37286

Composer:

Calloway, Cab, 1907-1994  Search this

Gaskill, Clarence  Search this

Collection Creator:

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Extent:

13 Items (copy scores, 32 cm.)

Container:

Box 223, Folder 7

Type:

Archival materials

Copy scores

Manuscripts

Music

Parts (musical)

Scope and Contents:

see also OS aka Ho-De-Ho Song

13 parts.

Minnie the moocher is contained in one folder consisting of 13 parts in g minor concert -- in ink -- in unidentified hand (Whaley?).

Parts for 5 reeds - alto 1, alto 3, tenor 1, tenor 2, baritone; 4 trumpets - 1, 2, 3, 4; 3 trombones - 1, 2, 3; bass. -- from the Duke Ellington Library.

Biographical / Historical:

Statement of responsibility taken from Popular Music, 1920-1979, ed. Nat Shapiro.

General:

Handwriting and other details have been reported based on the notes of David Berger, Andrew Homzy, Dr. Theodore Hudson, Walter van de Leur, and Dr. Mark Tucker.

Unsigned Strayhorn composition.

Other Title:

Minnie.

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research but the original and master audiovisual materials are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

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.

Copyright restrictions. Consult the Archives Center at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Paul Ellington, executor, is represented by:

Richard J.J. Scarola, Scarola Ellis LLP, 888 Seventh Avenue, 45th Floor, New York, New York 10106. Telephone (212) 757-0007 x 235; Fax (212) 757-0469; email: rjjs@selaw.com; www.selaw.com; www.ourlawfirm.com.

Topic:

Music -- United States -- 20th century  Search this

Genre/Form:

Copy scores

Manuscripts

Music

Parts (musical)

Collection Citation:

Duke Ellington Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:

Processing and encoding partially funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

See more items in:

Duke Ellington Collection

Duke Ellington Collection / Series 1: Music Manuscripts / 1.1: Music Manuscripts / 1.1.14: M

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep84a16e16b-4143-4337-8385-fe986f44a913

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0301-ref42510

Composer:

Calloway, Cab, 1907-1994  Search this

Wood, Guy  Search this

Palmer, Jack  Search this

Collection Creator:

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (conductor score and/or parts (Published sheet music), 28 cm.)

13 Items (copy scores, 32 cm.)

Container:

Box 252, Folder 4

Type:

Archival materials

Copy scores

Lead sheet

Manuscripts

Music

Parts (musical)

Piano vocal scores

Published sheet music

Date:

1942

Scope and Contents:

13 parts and 1 score.

Ogeechee river lullaby is contained in one folder consisting of 1 published two-page piano vocal score in Eb Major concert, and 1 lead sheet and 12 parts in Db Major concert -- in ink -- in identified hand (Williams) and unidentified hand.

Piano vocal score lyrics begin "The stars are bright tonight on 'Geechee river ...". Lead sheet for unidentified treble instrument. Parts for 3 reeds - alto 1, tenor 1, tenor 2; 4 trumpets - 1, 2, 3, 4; 3 trombones - 1, Tizol, Tricky; bass; guitar. -- from the Duke Ellington Library.

General:

Handwriting and other details have been reported based on the notes of David Berger, Andrew Homzy, Dr. Theodore Hudson, Walter van de Leur, and Dr. Mark Tucker.

Publication:

New York, NY, Rytvoc, Inc., 1942

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research but the original and master audiovisual materials are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

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.

Copyright restrictions. Consult the Archives Center at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Paul Ellington, executor, is represented by:

Richard J.J. Scarola, Scarola Ellis LLP, 888 Seventh Avenue, 45th Floor, New York, New York 10106. Telephone (212) 757-0007 x 235; Fax (212) 757-0469; email: rjjs@selaw.com; www.selaw.com; www.ourlawfirm.com.

Topic:

Music -- United States -- 20th century  Search this

Genre/Form:

Copy scores

Lead sheet

Manuscripts

Music

Parts (musical)

Piano vocal scores

Published sheet music

Collection Citation:

Duke Ellington Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:

Processing and encoding partially funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

See more items in:

Duke Ellington Collection

Duke Ellington Collection / Series 1: Music Manuscripts / 1.1: Music Manuscripts / 1.1.16: O

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8832cc9a9-6ec6-40e8-a661-b0902f98eebf

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0301-ref43283

Interviewee:

Sun Ra  Search this

Gaskin, Leonard, 1920-  Search this

Taylor, Billy  Search this

Sullivan, Maxine, 1911-1987  Search this

Wells, Ronnie  Search this

Whiting, Margaret  Search this

Towers, Jack  Search this

Venuti, Joe, 1903-1978  Search this

Pullen, Don, 1941-  Search this

Roney, Wallace  Search this

Pizzarelli, Bucky, 1926-  Search this

Pizzarelli, John, 1960-  Search this

Shaw, Artie, 1910-2004  Search this

Shepp, Archie, 1937-  Search this

Sanders, Pharaoh  Search this

Grant, Felix, 1918-1993  Search this

Scott, Jimmy  Search this

McPhail, Jimmy  Search this

McPartland, Marian  Search this

McFerrin, Bobby  Search this

Krall, Diana  Search this

O'Connell, Helen  Search this

Mulligan, Gerry  Search this

Metheny, Pat  Search this

McShann, Jay  Search this

Horn, Shirley, 1934-  Search this

Hinton, Milt, 1910-2000  Search this

Hill, Andrew, 1937-  Search this

Hendricks, Jon, 1921-  Search this

Keane, Helen  Search this

Kaminsky, Max, 1908-  Search this

Jordan, Sheila, 1928-  Search this

Humes, Helen, 1913-1981  Search this

Hampton, Lionel  Search this

Harris, Eddie, 1934-  Search this

Heath, Jimmy, 1926-  Search this

Frishberg, Dave  Search this

Ennis, Ethel  Search this

Farmer, Art, 1928-  Search this

Flanagan, Tommy, 1930-  Search this

Hampton, Slide  Search this

D'Rivera, Paquito, 1948-  Search this

Daniels, Billy  Search this

Davison, Bill  Search this

Donegan, Dorothy, 1922-  Search this

Crouch, Stanley, 1945-2020  Search this

Conyers, John, 1929-  Search this

Cruz, Celia, 1924-2003  Search this

Byard, Jaki  Search this

Brown, Ruth  Search this

Carter, Betty, 1930-  Search this

Byron, Don  Search this

Betts, Keter, 1928-  Search this

Bellson, Louis  Search this

Bowie, Lester, 1941-  Search this

Blakey, Art, 1919-1990  Search this

Allen, Steve, 1921-2000  Search this

Adderly, Nat, 1931-2000  Search this

Bailey, Benny, 1925-  Search this

Collector:

Stokes, W. Royal, Dr., 1930-  Search this

Names:

Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971  Search this

Davis, Miles  Search this

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Gillespie, Dizzy, 1917-  Search this

Extent:

10 Cubic feet (39 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Audiotapes

Black-and-white photographic prints

Publicity photographs

Date:

1940s-2005

Summary:

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

Musicians  Search this

Publicity  Search this

Portraits -- Musicians  Search this

Popular music -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Entertainers  Search this

Rock music  Search this

Genre/Form:

Audiotapes

Black-and-white photographic prints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000

Publicity photographs

Citation:

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0766

See more items in:

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b79b5a94-c967-451e-bafb-e62dc2d8ff45

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0766

Creator:

Anderson, William "Cat", 1916-1981 (musician)  Search this

Names:

Cat Anderson Quintet  Search this

Duke Ellington Orchestra  Search this

Lionel Hampton Orchestra  Search this

Mingus Quintet  Search this

Bechet, Sidney (musician)  Search this

Calloway, Cab, 1907-1994  Search this

Carter, Benny, 1907-2003  Search this

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Fitzgerald, Ella, 1917-1996  Search this

Hampton, Lionel  Search this

Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978  Search this

Humphrey, Muriel  Search this

Johnson, Lucy Bird  Search this

Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973  Search this

Tatum, Art, 1909-1956  Search this

Webster, Ben  Search this

Extent:

5 Cubic feet (12 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Manuscripts

Transcripts

Oral histories (document genres)

Oral history

Phonograph records

Photographs

Recordings

Interviews

Clippings

Audiotapes

Awards

Audiocassettes

Articles

Date:

1940-1981

bulk 1963-1977

Scope and Contents note:

Primarily audiotapes, sheet music, and photographic images. Also: correspondence, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, itineraries, awards, and ephemera.,Of particular interest are recordings or photographic images, including the personalities listed below, and President and Mrs. Tubman of Liberia; also, two interviews and three recordings of Cat Anderson as guest with various university and college jazz bands.

Arrangement:

Collection is divided into four series.

Series 1: Music

Series 2: Original tapes and recordings

Series 3: Photographs

Series 4: Miscellaneous

Biographical/Historical note:

Cat Anderson (Sept 12, 1916 - April 29, 1981) was one of the premier trumpet players of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Known for his effortless high notes, he was a strong section leader and a great soloist whose style exhibited humor and precision. He grew up in Jenkins= Orphanage in Charleston, SC, received basic music training there, and participated in many of their famous student ensembles. He formed and played with the Cotton Pickers, a group of orphanage teens while still a young man. Before joining Ellington in 1944, he played in several big bands, including Claude Hopkins and Lionel Hampton. Anderson left the Ellington organization from 1947 through 1949 again to lead his own group. From 1959 to1961 and after 1971 Anderson free lanced, working with the Ellington orchestra intermittently. He died in 1981 after receiving honors from the US Air Force, the Prix du Disque de Jazz, and the City of Los Angeles.

Related Archival Materials:

Related artifacts include: awards, plaques, mutes, trumpet mouth pieces, and the Jon Williams/Cat Anderson simulator in the Division of Cultural and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life). See accession: 1998.3074.

Provenance:

The collection was donated to the National Museum of American History in January 1998, by Dorothy Anderson, Cat Anderson's widow. It was acquired through negotiations with her, her brother, Mr. John Coffey and her nephew, Andrew Brazington. The materials were picked up from Mr. John Coffey of upper N.W. Washington, DC on January 21, 1998.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Master tapes not available to researchers.

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.

Copyright status of items varies. Signed copies of releases on file.

Occupation:

Composers -- 20th century  Search this

Topic:

Music -- 20th century  Search this

Music -- Acoustics and physics  Search this

Musicians -- 20th century  Search this

Piano and synthesizer music  Search this

Inventions -- 1980-2000  Search this

Synthesizer music  Search this

Electric engineering -- 1980-2000  Search this

Band musicians  Search this

African American musicians  Search this

Jazz musicians -- United States  Search this

Inventors -- 20th century  Search this

Genre/Form:

Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century

Transcripts

Oral histories (document genres)

Oral history

Phonograph records

Photographs -- 20th century

Recordings

Interviews

Interviews -- 1950-2000

Clippings -- 20th century

Audiotapes -- 1940-1980

Awards

Audiocassettes

Audiotapes

Articles -- 1940-1980

Citation:

William "Cat" Anderson Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0630

See more items in:

William "Cat" Anderson Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep891a9a0e4-7c4f-4956-b81e-6d65c57e1f29

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0630

Creator:

Armstrong, Lucille  Search this

Bechet, Sidney, 1897-1959  Search this

Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971  Search this

Condon, Eddie, 1905-1973  Search this

Calloway, Cab, 1907-1994  Search this

Commodore Records.  Search this

Feather, Leonard, 1914-1994  Search this

Gabler, Milt  Search this

Davis, Sammy, 1925-  Search this

Decca (recording company).  Search this

Granz, Norman  Search this

Hawkins, Coleman  Search this

Kaempfert, Bert, 1923-1980  Search this

Ives, Burl, 1909-  Search this

Holiday, Billie, 1915-1959  Search this

Norvo, Red, 1908-1999  Search this

Mills Brothers.  Search this

Krupa, Gene, 1909-1973  Search this

Kelly, Peck, 1898-  Search this

Williams, Cootie, 1911-1985  Search this

United Hot Clubs of America.  Search this

Stewart, Rex (William), Jr., 1907-1967 (cornetist)  Search this

Jordan, Louis, 1908-1975  Search this

Goodman, Benny (Benjamin David), 1909-1986  Search this

Names:

Crosby, Bing, 1904-1977  Search this

Goodman, Benny (Benjamin David), 1909-1986  Search this

Extent:

25 Cubic feet (75 boxes )

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Legal records

Magazines (periodicals)

Catalogs

Correspondence

Financial records

Music

Bank statements

Autobiographies

Articles

Tax records

Business records

Newsletters

Photographs

Recordings

Sheet music

Date:

1895-2001

Summary:

The collection documents Gabler's involvement in the recording industry and the evolution of Commodore Records. The documentation begins with the Commodore Radio Shop through its evolution to Commodore Music Shop. The collection also includes the beginnings of the Commodore record label and information detailing Gabler's 30 years as staff producer and later Vice-President in Charge of Artists and Repertoire at Decca Records (1941-1974). There is a small collection of black and white photographs chronicling the early years at the Commodore Music Shop, as well as jam sessions, often held at Jimmy Ryan's on 52nd Street. The collection also includes a vast array of audio recordings (mainly audiodiscs).

Scope and Contents:

Papers documenting Gabler's life and career, including: correspondence with family members, friends and people in the music business such as Sammy Davis, Jr. and Lucille Armstrong (Louis' wife); Gabler's writings, including an autobiography and numerous articles; music manuscripts and sheet music, the lyrics for some of which were written by Gabler, and other compositions written by others, including Red Norvo, Eddie Condon and others; legal and financial records, including royalty statements, tax papers and banking records; business records for Commodore and Decca, including correspondence from persons such as Norman Granz, Burl Ives, and Leonard Feather; Commodore and Decca legal records including licensing and trademark documents; publicity materials; production records, such as production logs and liner notes; printed materials such as catalogs, newsletters, magazines, and periodicals; papers relating to Gabler's affiliation with Bert Kaempfert, including correspondence, sheet music and lyrics, and production records; photographs of Gabler and his family and of numerous others in the music industry, including Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Sammy Davis Jr., Bert Kaempfert, the Mills Brothers, Rex Stewart, Cootie Williams, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Gene Krupa, Louis Jordan, Peck Kelly, Sidney Bechet, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and numerous others, many taken in the studio during recording sessions; and audio recordings.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into twenty-seven series.

Series 1: Personal Correspondence

Series 2: Writings by Milt Gabler

Series 3: Music Manuscripts and Sheet Music

Series 4: Personal Financial and Legal Records

Series 5: Commodore and Decca Correspondence and Gabler Rolodex

Series 6: Commodore and Decca Legal Records

Series 7: Commodore and Decca Financial

Series 8: Publicity

Series 9: Commodore and Decca Projects

Series 10: Production Records

Series 11: Commodore General Correspondence

Series 12: Commodore Financial Records

Series 13: Commodore Legal Records

Series 14: Commodore Production Records

Series 15: Commodore, Various Projects and Topical Files

Series 16: Commodore Publicity Records

Series 17: Business Cards

Series 18: Catalogs

Series 19: Newsletters

Series 20: Serials

Series 21: Monographs

Series 22: Newsclippings, Periodical Articles, and Advertisements

Series 23: Correspondence with Organizations

Series 24: Organization Membership cards

Series 25: Bert Kaempfert

Series 26: Photographs

Series 27: Audio Discs

Biographical / Historical:

Milt Gabler was born in Harlem, New York on May 20, 1911. He began managing his father's radio and small appliance store, the Commodore Radio Shop, while still a teen. Gabler convinced his father to expand the business and sell audio recordings. Soon Gabler pioneered the concept of marketing reissues by leasing discontinued masters from various record companies (mainly Victor, Columbia, Vocalion, and Brunswick). Eventually the Gablers changed the name of the family business to the Commodore Music Shop. By the early 1930's Gabler founded the first mail order record label, United Hot Clubs of America, to reach an even greater audience of jazz enthusiasts. In 1935 Gabler began publicizing the music shop by staging a series of Sunday afternoon jam sessions at several different recording studios along 52nd Street. Later the jam sessions moved to the nearby jazz club, Jimmy Ryan's.

In 1938 Gabler founded the Commodore music label. It was the first American recording label created exclusively for jazz music. A recording session for Eddie Condon's Windy City Seven at Brunswick Studios was the first original Commodore recording. In 1939 Gabler recorded Billie Holiday's controversial "Strange Fruit", which became Commodore's first major commercial success. Other notable Commodore artists include Sidney Bechet, Jonah Jones, Peck Kelley, Red Norvo, Ralph Sutton, and Teddy Wilson. Gabler began as a staff producer at Decca Records in 1941 and worked with artists from many different musical genres: Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Brenda Lee, the Weavers, and Louis Jordan, among others. Gabler also began writing lyrics in collaboration with Decca songwriters/composers. In 1954 Gabler produced the first recordings by Bill Haley and the Comets. In addition, Gabler continued to run the Commodore recording label until 1957. Gabler also managed the Commodore Music Shop until 1958, when he began working full-time at Decca as Vice-President in Charge of Artists and Repertoire. Throughout the 1960's Gabler served as lyricist in a number of collaborations with Bert Kaempfert and Herbert Rehbein. Gabler retained his influential position at Decca until 1974 when the corporation moved to the West Coast. Through the Decca years, Gabler had saved the Commodore masters and in 1974 began to reissue the recordings through Atlantic, Columbia Special Products, and finally United Hot Clubs of America. In 1987 Mosaic Records also began to reissue the entire catalog of Commodore recordings.

In the last decades of his life Gabler remained active in a number of professional organizations, most notably the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which bestowed upon him a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 1991. Gabler died in New York on July 20, 2001.

Provenance:

Collection donated by Milt Gabler estate, through Lee Gabler.

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use. Some materials restricted; but most are available for unrestricted research access on site by appointment.

Several items of personal correspondence contained private medical information about living individuals. The originals were removed and will remain sealed until 2030. Copies with the sensitive information redacted are available for research use in the collection.

Access to audio recordings for which no reference copy exists requires special arrangements with Archives Center staff. Please ask the reference archivist for additional information.

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:

Music publishers  Search this

Jazz musicians -- United States  Search this

Jazz -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Composition (Music)  Search this

Music trade  Search this

Music -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Musicians -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Legal records

Magazines (periodicals) -- 20th century

Catalogs

Correspondence -- 20th century

Financial records

Music -- Manuscripts

Bank statements

Autobiographies

Articles

Tax records

Business records -- 20th century

Newsletters -- 20th century

Photographs -- 20th century

Recordings

Sheet music -- 20th century

Citation:

Milt Gabler Papers, 1927-2001, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0849

See more items in:

Milt Gabler Papers

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep844dc4ee2-1f0b-43c1-9566-5dc6b5b62ee2

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0849

Creator:

Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971  Search this

Extent:

0.3 Cubic feet (1 box)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Manuscripts

Date:

undated

Scope and Contents note:

Conductor's scores for: "Didn't it Rain", "Shadrack", "This Train", "Sometimes", "Jonah", "Down by the Riverside", "Jonah and the Whale", "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen". Condensed scores for: "Shadrack", "Go Down Moses", Ezekiel", "Motherless Child", "Rock My Soul".

Arrangement:

1 series.

Biographical/Historical note:

Jazz vocalist and trumpet player.

Provenance:

Collection purchased at Guernsey's Auction,108 East 73rd Street, New York, New York 10021.

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:

Music -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Jazz -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century

Citation:

Louis Armstrong Music Manuscripts, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0904

See more items in:

Louis Armstrong Music Manuscripts

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b9fc2ae8-1a58-4ff8-918c-a7dd6bbcc746

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0904

Creator:

Fitzgerald, Ella, 1917-1996  Search this

Producer:

Decca (recording company).  Search this

Verve Records (Firm)  Search this

Granz, Norman  Search this

Performer:

Jazz at the Philharmonic (Musical group)  Search this

Musician:

Betts, Keter, 1928-  Search this

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Gillespie, Dizzy, 1917-1993  Search this

Pass, Joe, 1929-1994  Search this

Peterson, Oscar, 1925-  Search this

Names:

Goodman, Benny (Benjamin David), 1909-1986  Search this

Arranger:

Riddle, Nelson  Search this

Extent:

50 Cubic feet (92 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Awards

Videocassettes

Audiotapes

Programs

Sound recordings

Manuscripts

Phonograph records

Photographs

Posters

16mm motion picture film

Clippings

Contracts

Greeting cards

Date:

circa 1935-1996

Summary:

Ella Fitzgerald, often called the "First Lady of Song," was one of the 20th century's most important musical performers. The collection reflects her career and personal life through photographs, audio recordings, and manuscript materials.

Scope and Contents:

The Ella Fitzgerald Papers document the performing and personal life of the "First Lady of Song." The collection contains music manuscripts, sheet music, photographs, scripts, correspondence, clippings, business records, sound recordings and video. The bulk of the materials reflect Fitzgerald's career as a singer and performer. The collection comprises materials found in Ella Fitzgerald's home at the time of her death.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into 10 series.

Series 1: Music Manuscripts and Sheet Music, 1919-1973

Suberies 1.1: Television Shows

Series 2: Photographs, 1939-1990

Subseries 2.1: Ella Fitzgerald Performing Alone

Subseries 2.2: Ella Fitzgerald Performing With Others

Subseries 2.3: Publicity

Subseries 2.4: Ella Fitzgerald With Family, Colleagues, and Friends

Subseries 2.5: Ella Fitzgerald Candid Photographs

Subseries 2.6: Performing Venues

Subseries 2.7: Photographs From Friends and Fans

Series 3: Scripts, 1957-1981

Series 4: Correspondence, circa 1960-1996

Series 5: Business Records, 1954-1990

Series 6: Honorary Degrees and Awards, 1960-1996

Series 7: Concert Programs and Announcements, 1957-1992, undated

Series 8: Clippings, 1949-1997

Subseries 8.1: Magazine Articles, 1949-1997

Subseries 8.2: Newspapers, circa 19650-circa 1990

Series 9: Emphemera, 1950-1996

Subseries 9.1: Album Jackets

Subseries 9.2: Miscellaneous

Series 10: Audiovisual, 1939-1995

Subseries 10.1: Sound Discs: Test Pressings, Transcription Discs, and Performer Copies, 1939-1979

Subseries 10.2: Commercial Sound Recordings, 1956-1961

Subseries 10.3: Demonstration Sound Discs: Other Artists

Subseries 10.4: Sound Tapes, 1938-1996

Subseries 10.5: Videotapes, 1967-1999

Subseries 10.6: Reference Tape Cassettes (for 1/4" open reel originals)

Biographical / Historical:

Born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25th, 1918, Ella Fitzgerald was sent to an orphanage in Yonkers, New York at the age of six. In 1934, she was discovered as a singer in New York's famed Apollo Theater Amateur Contest. This led to a stint with drummer Chick Webb's Band, with whom she recorded her first big hit, "A -tisket A-tasket" in 1938.

After Webb died in 1939, Fitzgerald took over leadership of the band for three years, during which time they were featured on a live radio series. She then embarked upon a solo career, which included recording for Decca Records, and in 1946, she began a pivotal association with producer Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic series, which brought her a large international following.

In 1956, Fitzgerald left Decca Records to join Granz's newly formed Verve label. Among her notable Verve recordings were a series of "songbooks" featuring the work of major American composers such as Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Harold Arlen as well as classic collaborations with Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Fitzgerald's toured and performed extensively and her immense popularity also led to appearances on television, in movies, and in commercials and magazine ads.

Despite increasing health problems, Fitzgerald continued to tour, perform and record into her seventies with musicians such as guitarist Joe Pass, arranger-producer Quincy Jones, and pianist Oscar Peterson. Throughout her life, Fitzgerald was active in charitable work with particular emphasis on the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and the Ella Fitzgerald and Harriette E. Shields Child Care Centers.

Ella Fitzgerald was admired and honored world-wide. In addition to receiving more than a dozen Grammy awards, she was awarded numerous honorary degrees and many states and cities had commemorative Ella Fitzgerald days. Fitzgerald was a Kennedy Center honoree in 1979 and Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Club named her "Woman of the Year" in 1982.

The "First Lady of Song" died on June 17, 1996, of complications from diabetes.

Related Materials:

Materials at the Archives Center

Benny Carter Collection, 1928-2000 (AC0757)

Charismic Productions Records of Dizzy Gillespie, 1940s-1993 (AC0979)

Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program Collection, 1992-2012 (AC0808)

Milt Gabler Papers, 1927-2001 (AC0849)

Tad Hershorn Collection, 1956-1991 (AC0680)

Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, circa 1910- circa 1970 (AC0491)

Separated Materials:

"The National Museum of American History, Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds Ella Fitzgerald artifacts including costumes and clothing.

"

Provenance:

The collection was donated by the Fitzgerald 1989 Trust, Richard Rosman, trustee on April 14, 1997. The Ella Fitzgeral Charitable Foundation is the successor to the Fitzgerald 1989 Trust.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials can be used.

Rights:

The Archives Center can provide reproductions of some materials for research and educational use. Copyright and right to publicity restrictions apply and limit reproduction for other purposes. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Topic:

Jazz  Search this

Genre/Form:

Awards

Videocassettes

Audiotapes

Programs -- 1930-2000

Sound recordings

Sound recordings -- 1930-1990

Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century

Phonograph records

Photographs -- 20th century

Posters -- 20th century

16mm motion picture film

Clippings -- 20th century

Contracts

Greeting cards

Citation:

Ella Fitzgerald Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0584

See more items in:

Ella Fitzgerald Papers

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b30d86b3-2935-49c8-b13c-faf206402d9c

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0584

Composer:

Basie, Count, 1904-1984  Search this

Durham, Ed  Search this

Arranger:

Clayton, Buck  Search this

Collection Creator:

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Extent:

8 Items (conductor score and/or parts (Published sheet music), 27 cm.)

8 Items (manuscripts, 32 cm.)

Container:

Box 113 (Series 1), Folder 8

Type:

Archival materials

Manuscripts

Music

Parts (musical)

Published sheet music

Date:

1938

Scope and Contents:

see also Hyde Park sa Subseries 1.3

16 parts

Every tub is contained in one folder consisting of 8 published parts in Bb Major concert and 8 parts in Eb Major concert -- in ink and pencil -- in unidentified hand (Tizol?).

Published parts in Bb Major for 1 reed - tenor 4; 1 trumpet - 3; 1 trombone - 2; violin; bass; drums; guitar; piano. Parts in Eb Major for 3 reeds - Jonny, Otto, Carney; 2 trumpets - 1, 3; 3 trombones - Tizol, Tricky, Brown. -- from the Duke Ellington Library.

General:

Handwriting and other details have been reported based on the notes of David Berger, Andrew Homzy, Dr. Theodore Hudson, Walter van de Leur, and Dr. Mark Tucker.

Condition: fair, torn.

Publication:

New York, NY, Bregman, Vocco and Conn Inc., 1938

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research but the original and master audiovisual materials are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

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.

Copyright restrictions. Consult the Archives Center at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Paul Ellington, executor, is represented by:

Richard J.J. Scarola, Scarola Ellis LLP, 888 Seventh Avenue, 45th Floor, New York, New York 10106. Telephone (212) 757-0007 x 235; Fax (212) 757-0469; email: rjjs@selaw.com; www.selaw.com; www.ourlawfirm.com.

Topic:

Music -- United States -- 20th century  Search this

Genre/Form:

Manuscripts

Music

Parts (musical)

Published sheet music

Collection Citation:

Duke Ellington Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:

Processing and encoding partially funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

See more items in:

Duke Ellington Collection

Duke Ellington Collection / Series 1: Music Manuscripts / 1.1: Music Manuscripts / 1.1.6: E

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep89fc2f248-225d-4096-9676-a217a13e15a8

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0301-ref39517

Composer:

Basie, Count, 1904-1984  Search this

Arranger:

Hathaway, Charlie  Search this

Collection Creator:

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974  Search this

Extent:

1 Item (conductor score and/or parts (Published sheet music), 27 cm.)

Type:

Archival materials

Music

Parts (musical)

Published sheet music

Manuscripts

Date:

1938

Scope and Contents:

1 part.

Jumpin' at the woodside is contained in one folder consisting of 1 published part in Bb Major concert -- in ink.

Part for 1 violin - 1. -- from the Duke Ellington Library.

General:

Handwriting and other details have been reported based on the notes of David Berger, Andrew Homzy, Dr. Theodore Hudson, Walter van de Leur, and Dr. Mark Tucker.

Publication:

New York, NY, Bregman, Vocco and Conn Inc., 1938

Collection Restrictions:

Collection is open for research but the original and master audiovisual materials are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

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.

Copyright restrictions. Consult the Archives Center at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.

Paul Ellington, executor, is represented by:

Richard J.J. Scarola, Scarola Ellis LLP, 888 Seventh Avenue, 45th Floor, New York, New York 10106. Telephone (212) 757-0007 x 235; Fax (212) 757-0469; email: rjjs@selaw.com; www.selaw.com; www.ourlawfirm.com.

Topic:

Music -- United States -- 20th century  Search this

Genre/Form:

Music

Parts (musical)

Published sheet music

Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century

Collection Citation:

Duke Ellington Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sponsor:

Processing and encoding partially funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

See more items in:

Duke Ellington Collection

Duke Ellington Collection / Series 1: Music Manuscripts / 1.1: Music Manuscripts / 1.1.11: J / Jumpin' At The Woodside

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep82fed25eb-f47c-4bd4-b640-d60043df5800

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-nmah-ac-0301-ref51845

Creator:

Guthrie, Woody, 1912-1967  Search this

Names:

Guthrie, Woody, 1912-1967  Search this

Extent:

2.93 Cubic feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographic prints

Business letters

Drawings

Business records

Date:

1912-1977

bulk 1940-1951

Summary:

Original song text, music, drawings, correspondence, and other writings by Woody Guthrie; news clippings, articles, correspondence, and business records related to Woody Guthrie. Date span: 1927-1985. Bulk dates: Guthrie song text, writings, and drawings, 1940-1948; correspondence by and to Woody Guthrie, 1944-1951; correspondence regarding Woody Guthrie, 1956-1977.

Arrangement note:

Arranged in boxes and map files by type of material. The major groupings are song texts, drawings, correspondence, and clippings.

Biographical/Historical note:

Woodrow (Woody) Wilson Guthrie (1912-1967) was one of the most important folk composers in American history. Born in Okemah, Oklahoma, Guthrie's name is associated with the common people and those displaced by the Great Dust Storms of the 1930's. He was a prolific songwriter, and his song "This Land is Your Land" is considered by many to be his best known. During the height of his short recording career Guthrie recorded with many of the best-known folk singers and players in the New York area. A one time member of the Almanac Singers with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Bess Hawes and others, Woody also frequently performed with Lead Belly, Burl Ives, Cisco Houston and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Guthrie's earliest recordings were done for RCA and came out as a set entitled Dust Bowl Ballads, later reissued by Folkways.

It was Guthrie's association with Moses Asch of Folkways Records which yielded the bulk of Guthrie's recorded legacy. Guthrie was given a stipend by Asch to come by the studio when he felt like recording. A one day session in March 1944, yielded 75 recorded songs alone. His songs were recorded on glass discs which now reside in the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Much of this material was released by Asch on various Asch, Disc and Folkways recordings, including his classic children's material.

Although known for his music, Guthrie was also an artist. Among the materials that came with the Folkways Records Collection are watercolors and pen and ink drawings. He also was a writer of note, his most famous work being the novel "Bound for Glory". Historians have begun to consider Guthrie an important literary figure of the 20th century. The Woody Guthrie Papers, including typed song lyrics, correspondence, drawings, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous items, were left with Moses Asch, and came to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections as part of the Moses and Frances Asch Collection. Guthrie died of Huntington's Chorea in 1967 after a long hospitalization.

Shared Stewardship of Collections:

The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.

Related Archival Materials note:

The Woody Guthrie Archives, Mt. Kisco, NY

Woody Guthrie manuscript collection, Washington, D.C.

This collection is part of the Moses and Frances Asch Collection.

Restrictions:

Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.

Rights:

Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.

Topic:

Music -- 20th century  Search this

Folk music  Search this

Popular music -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Vocal music  Search this

Music -- 18th century  Search this

Folk music -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographic prints

Business letters

Drawings

Business records

Identifier:

CFCH.GUTH

See more items in:

Woody Guthrie papers

Archival Repository:

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/bk5408524f7-8c18-4780-9e2d-3881b07050e2

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-cfch-guth

Creator:

Holman, Bill, 1927-  Search this

Kenton, Stan  Search this

Monk, Thelonious  Search this

Basie, Count, 1904-1984  Search this

Herman, Woody, 1913-1987  Search this

Extent:

12 Cubic feet (68 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Music

Posters

Business records

Scores

Date:

1951-2000

Scope and Contents:

The Bill Holman Collection consists of original music compositions and arrangements, posters, performance contracts and a photograph dating from 1952 to 1999. The collection is organized into two series: Series 1: Music Manuscripts; and Series 2: Photographs and Business Records.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into two series.

Series 1: Music Manuscripts, 1952-1999

Series 2: Photographs and Business Records, 1975-1997

Biographical / Historical:

Born Willis Leonard Holman on May 21 in Olive, California, Bill Holman is considered one of the great jazz composers of the last half of the twentieth century. He is best known as one of the architects of the style of jazz defined as "West Coast" and as the major arranger for the Stan Kenton Orchestra from 1952 - 1955.

Holman began playing clarinet in junior high school and tenor saxophone while in high school eventually leading his own band. After serving in the Navy and studying engineering, he chose a career in music instead and attended Westlake College of Music in California from 1948-1950. While attending Westlake, he studied counterpoint with Russ Garcia and one hallmark of a Holman work continues to be the distinguished use of that compositional element.

While performing as a tenor and baritone saxophonist for Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra in 1951, Holman submitted his first composition for a name band to Woody Herman. Originally titled Prez Conference in honor of Lester Young, the piece - which featured solos for four tenors - was recorded in 1954 with a baritone and trumpet introduction and ending tagged on by Herman and re-titled Mulligantawny Stew.

From 1952 - 1954, Holman performed in the reed section of the Stan Kenton Orchestra and there he received international recognition. Within six months, Kenton encouraged Holman's voice as a composer and arranger and he quickly became a principal. His distinctive swinging approach was always evident resulting in songs still beloved by Kenton fans all over the world such as Stomping At The Savoy and Whats New. Taking advantage of his clout in the industry, Stan Kenton facilitated Holman's first recording as a leader in 1954 (Kenton Presents Jazz B Bill Holman: Bill Holman Octet) as one in a series of Capitol recordings featuring Kenton's sidemen as bandleaders. Unfortunately, this was not released until five years later. After returning to the West Coast in 1955, Holman continued as a Kenton staff arranger until 1956 and contributed compositions and arrangements on an occasional basis until the late 1950s.

Upon his return to Los Angeles, California in 1955, Holman B as an instrumentalist, composer and arranger B helped shape the sound later dubbed West Coast Jazz. At first, Holman worked in small groups for others including Conte Candoli (1955), Shelly Manne (1955), and Art Pepper (1957) but in 1957 Holman longed to Amake a statement@ for himself and formed his own big band. The band eventually recorded three albums that have become collector=s items among jazz aficionados: The Fabulous Bill Holman (1957), Big Band In A Jazz Orbit, (1958) and Bill Holman's Great Big Band. (1960) Holman continued to work in small group settings as well recording Jive For Five with a quintet co-led by Mel Lewis and Jazz Erotica (re-titled in CD release as West Coast Jazz) in an octet featuring Richie Kamuca.

In 1960, Holman entered into a twenty-seven year hiatus from recording. However, he remained active in the business and was continually sought out as a composer and arranger for both jazz and popular music. His arrangements for Gerry Mulligan, Count Basie, Woody Herman, and Shorty Rogers, among others, are considered the pinnacle of jazz composition and orchestration. Holman=s occasional forays into film, television and popular music include Aquarius as recorded by the Fifth Dimension and The Association=s Never My Love and Cherish. A long relationship with the Tonight Show band directed by Doc Severinson (1967 B 1992) developed eventually awarding him with his first Grammy award for an arrangement of Billy Strayhorn=s Take The >A= Train.

Bill McKay, the co-owner of a Los Angeles night club Donte's, encouraged Holman to re-form his band in 1975 leading to his legendary rehearsal band which still meets most weeks at the Hollywood Musician=s Union. However, the Bill Holman Band did not record until the release of World Class: The Bill Holman Big Band in 1987, followed by A View From the Side. (for which Holman earned a Best Instrumental Composition Grammy for the title track) in 1995. Although Holman's arranging style matured, his characteristic use of line writing, unison sections, uneven bar lengths, and reference for rhythm were distilled and refined rather than complicated in the interim.

Beginning in 1980, Holman received regular commissions from the WDR band in Cologne Germany including ones for extended works and special programs featuring noted jazz instrumentalists such as Lee Konitz, Al Cohn and Phil Woods. Since 1990, he has been conducting that renowned Orchestra. In 1997, Holman embarked on what has become an annual European trip B as a composer/conductor for the Netherlands Metropole Orchestra B and in that same year recorded Further Adventures with them. Holman continues to work extensively in Europe and in 2001 will conduct orchestras in Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands.

Continually sought after by contemporary vocalists, Holman supplied the arrangements (with the exception of the title tune) for Natalie Cole=s 1991 Unforgettable B a tribute to her father Nat King Cole. He continues to provide settings for elite jazz vocalists including Tony Bennett and Carmen McRae. Holman remains active. In 1998, he received a composer=s grant from the International Association of Jazz Educators. The Bill Holman Band still rehearses weekly and appears periodically in the Los Angeles area. Brilliant Corners: The Music of Thelonius Monk is a big band and arrangers tour-de-force and garnered Holman his third Grammy award in 1997.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Rights:

The Archives Center does not own the reproduction rights to the music of the Bill Holman Collection. All requests for performance or publication of Mr. Holman's compositions and/or arrangements should be directed to Bill Holman at 323-466-8809.

Occupation:

Composers -- 20th century  Search this

Topic:

Music -- 20th century  Search this

Musical arrangers  Search this

Jazz  Search this

Genre/Form:

Music -- Manuscripts

Posters -- 20th century

Business records -- 1950-2000

Scores

Citation:

Bill Holman Collection, 1951-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0733

See more items in:

Bill Holman Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8ecf71aef-19e8-455b-bfb2-c604e11f2591

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0733

Creator:

Carter, Benny, 1907-2003  Search this

Extent:

67.5 Cubic feet (182 boxes, 3 oversize folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Awards

Clippings

Scrapbooks

Scores

Posters

Photographs

Music

Manuscripts

Date:

1928-2000

Scope and Contents:

The majority of the material in the Benny Carter Collection is dated from the late 1920s through the later half of the 1990s. Donated to the Smithsonian Institution in December, 2000, the bulk of the collection is comprised of original music manuscripts (full scores and parts), band books, and published sheet music from Benny Carter's prolific career as a jazz composer and musician. The collection also contains newspaper clippings, correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, awards, posters, commercial sound recordings, a few jazz related journals and some personal ephemera documenting Benny Carter's personal life and career as a composer, arranger, bandleader, trumpeter and alto saxophonist.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into six series

Series 1: Music Manuscripts, 1928-1990s

Series 2: Newspaper Clippings and Magazine Clippings, 1928-2000

Series 3: Photographs, 1928-1998

Series 4: Awards and Proclamations, 1961-1999

Series 5: Sound Recordings, 1958-1989

Series 6: Ephemera, 1952-2000

Series 7: 2004 Photographs Addenda

Series 8: 2004 Ephemera Addenda

Series 9: 2004 Magazine and Newsclippings Addenda

Series 10: 2004 Awards and Proclamations Addenda

Biography:

Bennett Lester Carter, better known as "Benny," was born on August 8, 1907 in New York City. The Carter's were quite a musical family - - Benny's father played guitar, his mother played piano, and a cousin, Theodore ("Cuban") Bennett, played the trumpet professionally - - so it was no surprise that Benny also became a musician, beginning his musical training at the age of ten. He first played the trumpet and then C-melody saxophone before changing to alto saxophone, which became his chief instrument.

Benny Carter began his professional career around the young age of seventeen, when he joined a local group as an alto saxophonist. He subsequently played with various other groups, including Billy Paige and Louis Deppe, until attending Wilberforce College in Ohio to study seminary in 1925. Finding music more enticing than theology, Carter left college and instead toured with Horace Henderson's Wilberforce Collegians intermittently between 1925 and 1928.

Carter's musical talents began attracting widespread attention in 1930 during a year-long stint with Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, to which he contributed many important arrangements. As word of his talent continued to spread, Carter played with such notables as William "Chick" Webb (1931) and served as musical director of William McKinney's Cotton Pickers (1931-1932) in Detroit. Upon returning to New York in 1932, Carter formed his own highly-respected orchestra. In its two years of existence, the Benny Carter Orchestra included several major pioneers in early swing style, such as Bill Coleman, Dicky Wells, Ben Webster, Chu Berry, Teddy Wilson, and Sid Catlett. Months after playing the inaugural show in New York City at Harlem's Apollo Theater in 1934, Carter disbanded the orchestra and, one year later, sailed to Europe to spread jazz across the globe.

After arriving in Europe, Carter first performed with Willie Lewis in Paris, France, and then, during 1936 -1938, served as staff arranger for the BBC Dance Orchestra in London, England. As he continued to tour throughout his stay in Europe (even leading his own interracial band in the Netherlands in 1937), he met with even greater success than in the United States. By this point, Carter was well-known for his arrangements and for his alto saxophone and clarinet playing. He was also recognized for his talented singing and tenor saxophone, trumpet, and piano playing.

In 1938, Carter sailed back to the United States and formed a new orchestra which regularly played at Harlem's Savoy Theater until 1940. He toured the United States during the next few years, both with small groups and with his big band, finally settling in Los Angeles in 1945. There he continued to lead his band (band members included modern jazz greats such as Miles Davis and J. J. Johnson), but turned increasingly to writing and arranging music for films and television productions. His film scores include Stormy Weather (1943), A Man Called Adam (1966), Red Sky at Morning(1970), and Buck and the Preacher (1972). "Ironside," "Bob Hope Presents," and the Alfred Hitchcock show were among the television programs for which he wrote music.

Carter had stopped performing with a regular orchestra by 1946, but he remained active up through the 1960s both by playing at Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic shows and with Duke Ellington, among others. He also continued to arrange music for various singers, including Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, and Louis Armstrong. During the 1970s he began performing again, touring in Europe, Asia and Australia; in 1976 he toured the Middle East under sponsorship of the U.S. Department of State. Carter also became involved with academia, serving as visiting professor or workshop consultant at universities such as Yale, Cornell, Princeton, and Duke. He remained active in the music business well into the 1990s and still resides in California.

Benny Carter is regarded as "one of the most versatile musicians of his time." As a musician, he made major contributions to several areas of jazz and, as an arranger, he helped to construct the big-band swing style. He has received many awards throughout his career. The more prestigious honors included a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and a 1994 Grammy Award for the album "Elegy in Blue."

Footnotes

[1 ] Biographical note derived from Benny Carter: A Life in American Music, by Monroe and Edward Berger, and James Patrick (New York: Scarecrow Press and the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, 1982).

[2] J. Bradford Robinson, "John Kirby," The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, vol 1, 1986: 653-54.

Provenance:

The Benny Carter Collection was donated by Bennett Carter in December 2000.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Rights:

Reproduction restricted due to copyright.

Topic:

African American musicians  Search this

Jazz -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Awards

Clippings -- 20th century

Scrapbooks -- 20th century

Scores

Posters -- 20th century

Photographs -- 20th century

Music -- Manuscripts

Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century

Citation:

Benny Carter Collection, 1928-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0757

See more items in:

Benny Carter Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep839f63d81-a542-41dc-8929-3f0c7f433f2f

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0757

Performer:

Lincoln, Abbey, 1930 -  Search this

Adderly, Nat, 1931-2000  Search this

Wilson, Nancy, 1937-  Search this

Mbulu, Letta  Search this

Adderley, Cannonball  Search this

Montgomery, Wes, 1925-1968  Search this

Horn, Shirley, 1934-  Search this

Donor:

Levy, Devra Hall  Search this

Creator:

Levy, John, 1912-2012  Search this

Extent:

23.6 Cubic feet (96 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Financial records

Interviews

Press releases

Schedules

Contracts

Correspondence

Itineraries

Articles

Scrapbooks

Business records

Videotapes

Audiotapes

Professional papers

Photographs

Date:

1916-2010, undated

Scope and Contents:

The collection documents Levy's short career as a musician, his longer career as a manager, and the careers of some of his clients. The client most well represented in the collection is Nancy Wilson, with recordings, photographs, correspondence, financial statements, and contracts included. Papers relating to other clients include business records such as ledgers, scheduling information, itineraries, and contracts; publicity materials such as articles, press kits, photographs, and videotapes; personal correspondence; photographs; oral history interviews; scrapbook pages; recordings, some commercial and some non-commercial; and miscellany. The non-commercial recordings feature artists including Nancy Wilson, Cannonball Adderley, Nat Adderly, Abbey Lincoln, Wes Montgomery, Shirley Horn, Letta Mbulu, and others. Also included are some of Wes Montgomery's music manuscripts.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into six series.

Series 1: Personal Papers, 1916-2010, undated

Series 2: Business Records, 1957-2007, undated Series 3: Photographic Materials, 1963-2002, undated

Series 4: Artist Files, 1942-2001-05-12

Series 5: Joe Williams, 1962-2007, undated

Series 6: Nancy Wilson, 1959-2008, undated

Biographical / Historical:

John Levy was a renowned leading representative of jazz musicians and was the first African American to work in the music industry as a personal manager. Born in 1912 in New Orleans, Louisiana his family moved to Chicago when he was six. By the early 1940s he had begun playing bass in jazz bands around town. In 1944, Levy left Chicago with the Stuff Smith Trio to play an extended engagement at the Onyx Club on New York City's 52nd Street. Over the next years, he played and recorded with many jazz notables, including Ben Webster, Buddy Rich, Errol Garner, Rex Stewart, Milt Jackson, and Billy Taylor, as well as with Billie Holiday at her comeback performance at Carnegie Hall in 1948. In 1949, blind pianist George Shearing hired Levy for his own group and as they toured the country, Levy gradually took on the role of road manager. By 1951, Levy stopped performing to become the group's full-time manager, making history as the first African American manager of a major musical group, and establishing the career he would continue for the next fifty years.

Levy's client roster included many major artists, including Nat and Cannonball Adderley, Betty Carter, Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Freddie Hubbard, Ahmad Jamal, Ramsey Lewis, Abbey Lincoln, Herbie Mann, Wes Montgomery, Carol Sloane, Joe Williams, and Nancy Wilson, as well as Arsenio Hall (the only comedian he has managed among some one hundred entertainers). In recognition of his achievements, Levy has received numerous awards, including induction into the International Jazz Hall of Fame (1997), receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Jazz Society (2002), and being named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master (2006). His autobiography, Men, Women, and Girl Singers: My Life as a Musician Turned Talent Manager, written with his wife Devra Hall, was published in 2001 and expanded into a photograph book, Strollin': A Jazz Life through John Levy's Personal Lens, released in 2008 on the occasion of his 96th birthday. Levy died in 2012 at the age of ninety-nine in Altadena, California.

Related Materials:

Bobby Short Papers

Provenance:

Donated to the Archives Center in 2011 by Devra Hall Levy.

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:

Musicians -- United States  Search this

Jazz musicians -- United States  Search this

Music trade -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Music -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Jazz -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

African American musicians  Search this

Sound recordings -- Album covers  Search this

Sound recordings -- Jazz -- 1930-1990 -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Financial records -- 20th century

Interviews

Press releases

Schedules

Contracts

Correspondence -- 20th century

Itineraries

Articles

Scrapbooks

Business records -- 20th century

Videotapes

Audiotapes

Professional papers -- 20th century

Photographs -- 20th century

Citation:

John and Devra Hall Levy Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1221

See more items in:

John and Devra Hall Levy Collection

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep81a6961c7-0d9e-40c9-b6b1-bc87a35c9187

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1221

Creator:

Graciela, 1915-2010  Search this

Extent:

10 Cubic feet (33 boxes, 2 map folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Music

Photographs

Clippings

Videocassettes

45 rpm records

Concert programs

Phonograph records

Posters

Correspondence

Compact discs

Date:

1934-2013

Summary:

Collection documents the personal life and professional career of Graciela Perez-Gutierrez, a well known Afro-Cuban singer. Born in Havana, she performed for over thirty years, first with the all-female Orquesta Anacaona and El Trio Garcia and then with her brother Machito before a solo career.

Scope and Contents:

Collection documents the music career of Graciela and the development of Afro Cuban jazz in the United States. It includes correspondence, music manuscripts, financial records, photographs, posters, flyers, newsclippings, and audiovisual materials. These materials primarily relate to Graciela's professional career but also include her personal papers. There is a substantial amount of material relating to other jazz artists including Machito, Mario Bauza, Celia Cruz, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, and Chico O'Farrill. In addition, the career of Maria R. Torres (Mappy), head of production for the Afro-Cu-Bar Company and manager of Graciela's music career, is also documented. The richest portion of the collection lies in the photographic and performance materials which include social gatherings and many of the performance spaces where Afro Cuban jazz (Danzón or Salsa) developed, including The Palladium and Lincoln Center. Music festival programs related to jazz and Latin rhythms; tribute concerts; song and lyric notes and music manuscripts composed by Bobby Manrique, Lou Perez, and Lillian Gonzalez document the creative process of the music. Finally, researchers interested in Cuban and Caribbean history, immigration, and Latin internet forums for Afro Cuban jazz will find materials of value in this collection.

The collection is arranged into seven series. Series one contains Graciela's personal papers. Series two consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence. Series three has business records. Series four comprises the largest portion of the collection and contains photographic materials. Series five includes materials relating to performances. Series six contains publications and Series seven includes audiovisual materials.

Arrangement:

The collection is divided into eight series:

Series 1: Personal Papers, 1934-2010, undated

Subseries 1.1: Personal Materials, 1934-2010

Subseries 1.2: Latin American Publications, undated

Series 2: Correspondence, 1944-2010, undated

Series 3: Business Records, 1937-2008, undated

Series 4: Photographic Materials, 1938-2009, undated

Subseries 4.1: Albums, 1938-2004, undated Subseries 4.2: Photographs, 1944-2009, undated

Series 5: Performance Materials, 1943-2009, undated Subseries 5.1: Music, 1943-2003, undated

Subseries 5.2: Concerts and Other Events, 1962-2009, undated

Subseries 5.3: Television and Film, 1991-2006, undated

Series 6: Publications, 1960-2009, undated

Series 7: Materials Relating to Other Artists and Friends, 1941-2008, undated

Series 8: Audiovisual Materials, 1974-2013, undated

Subseries 8.1: Interviews, 1985-2007, undated

Subseries 8.2: Performances, 1987-2013, undated Subseries 8.3: Documentaries, 1992-2005, undated Subseries 8.4: Personal, 1985-2008, undated

Subseries 8.5: Sound Discs, 1974-1989

Biographical / Historical:

Recognized as Queen of Boleros, First Lady of the Afro Cuban-Jazz, Graciela Perez Gutierrez was born in La Habana, Cuba, on August 23, 1915 and died in New York, United States on April 7, 2010 at the age of 94 years. Daughter of Marta Gutierrez Izquierdo and Rogelio Perez, Graciela started her professional career in the early 1930's at the age of sixteen with the all-female group "El Septeto Anacaona" at the famous Cuban bar "Tropicana" without the permission of her father. She stayed in the group for ten years and traveled to Puerto Rico, México, Panamá, the United States, Venezuela, Colombia, and France. She performed with the "Trio Garcia" for a year mostly in the Vedado, Cuba. In 1943, she decided to join, with her stepbrother (Frank "Machito" Grillo) and brother in law (Mario Bauza) in the band called "Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra." Graciela became the "First Lady of the Afro Cuban-Jazz" in the 1940's-1950's when mambo and Latin rhythms where at their peak and became accepted by American jazzmen. They performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Mann, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Lester Young, Polito Galindo, and many others. "Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra" stayed together for almost 35 years and their biggest hits were: "! Si, si, No, no! ," "Ay Jose," and "Caso Perdido". At this time Graciela became a famous solo star but she preferred to stay with Machito and Mario and they made almost 70 albums with the orchestra. In 1970, Graciela left Machito's Orchestra and joined "Mario Bauza and the Afro-Cuban Orchestra" as a lead singer for 20 years. Graciela, Machito and Mario recorded many albums including: "¿Dónde estabas tú?" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, 1952), "Esta es Graciela" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, 1963), "Íntimo y sentimiental" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, 1965), "Yo soy así" (1972), "Sí sí no no" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Mike Young, 1999), "Cubop City" (Machito and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Howard McGhee, Brew Moore, Flip Phillips, 2000) and "Inolvidable" (Candido & Graciela, 2004). After Mario Bauzá died (1993), she decided to retire, but she continued recording singles in a very selective way; she recorded with Chico O'Farrill, Steve Turre, and other artist. Graciela was honored by the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2007 for her pioneering career as a Latin and jazz rhythms fusionist.

Related Materials:

Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros Papers (NMAH.AC1430)

Charismic Productions Records of Dizzy Gillespie (NMAH.AC0979)

Chico O'Farrill (NMAH.AC0892)

Tito Puente Papers (NMAH.AC0894)

Paquito D'Rivera Papers (NMAH.0891)

Mongo Santamaria Papers (NMAH.AC0893)

Leonard Gaskin Papers (NMAH.AC.0900)

W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews (NMAH.AC0766)

Separated Materials:

Division of Cultural and Community Life, National Museum of American History

Dress, Accession number: 2018.0078.01

Dress, Accession number: 2018.0078.02

Dress, Accession number: 2018.0078.03.01

Jacket, Accession number: 2018.0078.03.02

Dress, Accession number: 2018.0078.04

Ring, Accession number: 2018.0078.05

Ring, Accession number: 2018.0078.06

Bracelet, Accession number: 2018.0078.07

Painting of Graciela by Erich Padilla, Accession number: 2018.0078.08

Print of Ballerina, owned by Graciela, Accession number: 2018.0078.09

Print of Three Birds, owned by Graciela, Accession number: 2018.0078.10

Latin Grammy awarded to Graciela in 2006, Accession number: 2018.0078.11

50 Years of Cuban Music Plaque, Accession number: 2018.0078.12

Microphone with case, Accession number: 2018.0078.13

Bible, Accession number: 2018.0078.14

Cigar box, Accession number: 2018.0078.15

Eyeglasses, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.01

Fan, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.02

Badges, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.03

Badge from Jazz '92, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.04

Artist Badge, Heimatklange 1992 Carnevale Caribe, Accession number: 2018.0078.15.05

Provenance:

Collection donated by Lisa Sokolov, 2017.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements must be made to view some of the audio-visual materials. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.

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:

Music -- Performance  Search this

Music -- 20th century  Search this

Singers  Search this

Genre/Form:

Music -- Manuscripts

Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints

Clippings

Videocassettes

45 rpm records

Photographs -- Color photoprints

Concert programs -- 20th century

Phonograph records

Posters -- 20th century

Correspondence

Compact discs

Citation:

Graciela Papers, 1934-2013, undated, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Sponsor:

This collection received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1425

See more items in:

Graciela Papers

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8bec91113-d966-41ca-8f7c-8d135672730d

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1425

Creator:

Faulkner, Barry, 1881-1966  Search this

Names:

MacDowell Colony  Search this

Beal, Gifford, 1879-1956  Search this

Brush, George de Forest, 1855-1941  Search this

Bynner, Witter, 1881-1968  Search this

Fraser, James Earle, 1876-1953  Search this

Gibran, Kahlil, 1922-  Search this

Grimes, Frances, 1869-1963  Search this

Gugler, Eric, 1889-1974  Search this

Hosmer, Harriet Goodhue, 1830-1908  Search this

Kent, Rockwell, 1882-1971  Search this

Kroll, Leon, 1884-1974  Search this

Manship, Paul, 1885-1966  Search this

Parrish, Maxfield, 1870-1966  Search this

Platt, Charles A. (Charles Adams), 1861-1933  Search this

Powers, Hiram, 1805-1873  Search this

Redfield, Edward Willis, 1869-1965  Search this

Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 1848-1907  Search this

Saint-Gaudens, Homer, b. 1880  Search this

Smith, Joseph Lindon, 1863-1950  Search this

Sweeney, James Johnson, 1900-  Search this

Thayer, Abbott Handerson, 1849-1921  Search this

Tonetti, Mary Lawrence  Search this

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910  Search this

White, Lawrence Grant  Search this

Young, Mahonri Sharp, 1911-1996  Search this

Extent:

2.82 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sketchbooks

Diaries

Scrapbooks

Sketches

Writings

Photographs

Travel diaries

Photograph albums

Place:

New Hampshire

Date:

circa 1858-1973

Summary:

The papers of muralist, painter, and teacher Barry Faulkner measure 2.82 linear feet and date from circa 1858-1973. Faulkner's career; his relationships with family, friends, and fellow-artists; and his thoughts on art and artists are documented in biographical materials, correspondence, writings, sketchbooks, five diaries, two photograph albums and photographs, and one scrapbook. Correspondents include family members, Witter Bynner, Ann and Eric Gugler, Leon Kroll, Isabel Manship, James Johnson Sweeney, Maxfield Parrish and others. An unprocessed addition to the collection dating 1942 includes a one page letter mounted on board from Maxfield Parrish to Barry Faulkner.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of muralist, painter, and teacher Barry Faulkner measure 2.82 linear feet and date from circa 1858-1973. Faulkner's career; his relationships with family, friends, and fellow-artists; and his thoughts on art and artists are documented in biographical materials, correspondence, writings, sketchbooks, five diaries, photograph albums and photographs, and one scrapbook. An unprocessed addition to the collection dating 1942 includes a one page letter mounted on board from Maxfield Parrish to Barry Faulkner.

Biographical materials include biographical sketches, awards, and records documenting Faulkner's military service. Also found are a list of medications, a list of Faulkner's writings, party guest lists, an address book, a calendar, and materials related to the posthumous publication of Sketches From an Artist's Life. Of special interest are oversized architectural drawings by Eric Gugler for Faulkner's Keene, New Hampshire house.

Correspondence includes letters from Faulkner's friends, family, fellow artists, and art organizations and institutions. Faulkner's correspondence with his parents document his 1900-1901 trip to Italy with the Thayer family. Of special interest is his correspondence with writer Witter Bynner about Faulkner's daily life in New Hampshire, his travels through Europe, his artistic practice and career, Bynner's writings, his opinions on artistic and literary works, and his service in World War One. Many of the letters to Bynner include sketches by Faulkner of Abbott Handerson Thayer, Rockwell Kent, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Homer Saint-Gaudens, George de Forest Brush, Kahlil Gibran, and Mark Twain. Additional correspondents include sculptor Frances Grimes, architect Eric Gugler, painter Leon Kroll, and museum director James Johnson Sweeney.

Faulkner's writings are about art, artists, and the New Hampshire art community. Found are essays on Gifford Beal, George de Forest Brush, James Earle Fraser, Harriet Hosmer, Paul Manship, Charles Adams Platt, Hiram Powers, Edward Willis Redfield, Joseph Lindon Smith, Mary Lawrence Tonetti, Mark Twain, Lawrence Grant White, and Mahonri Young. Other writings discuss Faulkner's mural commissions, various aspects of New Hampshire history, and the history of the Dublin and Cornish art colonies whose inhabitants included George de Forest Brush, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Abbott Handerson Thayer. Of special interest is a manuscript for Faulkner's posthumously published memoir Sketches From an Artist's Life, and an unpublished manuscript titled A Neighborhood of Artists about the history and culture of the Connecticut River Valley.

Four sketchbooks by Faulkner contain drawings of landscapes, city scenes, architecture, people, nature, and studies of artwork by others. Also found are two loose sketches.

Five diaries document Faulkner's 1922-1924 trip through Europe, Africa, and Asia including stops in France, Italy, Egypt, and Turkey. Diaries record Faulkner's thoughts on architecture, tourist sites, and travel amenities. Found is one diary from 1956 that discusses social events, the Saint-Gaudens Memorial, the MacDowell Colony of artists, and various artists including Gifford Beal, Maxfield Parrish, Paul Manship, and Eric Gugler.

The bulk of printed material consists of clippings which document published writings by Faulkner, obituaries and published rememberances of Faulkner, local events in Keene, New Hampshire, and reproductions of Faulkner's artwork. Also found are exhibition catalogs of other artists, an announcement of Faulklner's death from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a publication illustrated with reproductions of Faulkner's murals for the National Archives.

Photographs include formal and informal images of Faulkner throughout his life, and photographs of his family and friends, his studio, and reproductions of his artwork. Also included are two photograph albums, one of which contains photographs of Faulkner during his youth and one that contains photographs primarily from the 1930s of Faulkner's Keene, New Hampshire house, himself, and his friends and family.

The collection also includes a scrapbook prepared for Faulkner's seventieth birthday containing photographs, cards, telegrams, and placecards with hand drawn illustrations which show the "taste and characteristics" of Faulkner.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 8 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1914-1971 (Box 1, 3, RD1; 13 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1900-1973 (Box 1; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings, 1912-1966 (Boxes 1-2; 1.0 linear foot)

Series 4: Sketchbooks and Sketches, circa 1910s-1930s (Boxes 2-3; 8 folders)

Series 5: Diaries, 1922-1956 (Box 2; 6 folders)

Series 6: Printed Materials, circa 1858-1966 (Boxes 2-3; 8 folders)

Series 7: Photographs, 1892-1960s (Boxes 2-3; 15 folders)

Series 8: Scrapbook, 1951 (Box 3; 2 folders)

Biographical Note:

Francis Barrett Faulkner was born on July 12, 1881 in Keene, New Hampshire. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and went on to study at Harvard College. Around this same time, Faulkner began an apprenticeship with his cousin and painter Abbott Handerson Thayer and painter George de Forest Brush. He also met sculptors James Earle Fraser and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, both of whom became Faulkner's lifelong friends.

In 1901, Faulkner traveled to Italy for the first time with Thayer and his family. He returned to New York in 1902 and studied at the Art Students League and Chase School. He also completed illustration work for Century magazine.

In 1907, Faulkner won the Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome. shortly thereafter, he left to study in Italy for three years, studying with George de Forest Brush and befriending sculptor Paul Manship. Upon his return in 1910, he started working on his first mural, commissioned by the wife of railroad executive E.H. Harriman. Having found his niche, Faulkner continued taking mural commissions until his career was interrupted by World War I and his service in the camouflage section of the army. Shortly after the war, he completed a mural for the marine headquarters in Quantico, Virginia.

Between 1923-1924, Faulkner worked in collaboration with Eric Gugler and Paul Manship to create the American Academy in Rome war memorial. Also following the war, Faulkner completed murals for the Eastman School of Music in 1922, the Rockefeller Center in 1932, and the National Archives in 1936. That same year, Faulkner bought and refurbished a house named "The Bounty" in Keene, New Hampshire, and built a studio nearby. In 1930, he was elected as a trustee of the American Academy in Rome.

During the 1940s, Faulkner created murals for numerous public buildings and sites around New Hampshire including the Senate Chambers in Concord, the Elliot Community Hospital, Keene National Bank, and the Cheshire County Savings Bank in Keene. During his final decades, Faulkner wrote an unpublished manuscript on the history of art in the Connecticut River Valley entitled A Neighborhood of Artists, and his posthumously published memoirs, Sketches of an Artist's Life. Faulkner died in 1966, in Keene, New Hampshire.

Related Material:

Found in the Nancy Douglas Bowditch papers at the Archives of American Art is correspondence, photographs, and printed materials related to Barry Faulkner. The Library of Congress, Manuscript Division also holds a small collection of Barry Faulkner's papers. Additional correspondence from Faulkner is found in the papers of Witter Bynner at the University of New Mexico and at Harvard University.

Provenance:

The collection was donated by Francis Faulkner, Barry Faulkner's nephew, in 1974. An addition to the collection was donated by Jocelyn Faulkner Bolle in 2014.

Restrictions:

The bulk of this collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.

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.

Occupation:

Painters -- New Hampshire -- Keene  Search this

Topic:

World War, 1914-1918  Search this

Artist colonies -- New Hampshire -- Peterborough  Search this

Artists' studios in art  Search this

Educators -- New Hampshire  Search this

Artists' studios -- New Hampshire  Search this

Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New Hampshire -- Keene  Search this

Muralists -- New Hampshire -- Keene  Search this

Mural painting and decoration -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Artists -- New Hampshire  Search this

Function:

Artist colonies -- New Hampshire

Genre/Form:

Sketchbooks

Diaries

Scrapbooks

Sketches

Writings

Photographs

Travel diaries

Photograph albums

Citation:

Barry Faulkner papers, circa 1858-1973. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art

Identifier:

AAA.faulbarr

See more items in:

Barry Faulkner papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw99b300c09-9ef0-4fb6-a81d-7d8098df7fc7

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-faulbarr

Creator:

Henderson, Horace, 1904-1988  Search this

Lewis, Barbara  Search this

Lewis, Barry  Search this

Henderson, Fletcher, 1897-1952  Search this

Extent:

22.5 Cubic feet (82 boxes)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Audiocassettes

Audiotapes

Manuscripts

Parts (musical)

Photographs

Date:

1930s-1980s

Scope and Contents:

The Fletcher and Horace Henderson Collection contains original scores and band books, loose sheet music, both original and published, from both Fletcher and Horace's libraries, playlists, lyrics, photographs, personal papers and correspondences, newspaper clippings, jazz publications, an oral history manuscript of an interview with Horace, audio tapes, and other personal memorabilia documenting the lives and careers of the two brothers as pianists, band leaders, and arrangers. The majority of the material dates from the mid 1920s to the early 1980s.

Series 1: Fletcher and Horace Henderson's Music ca. 1930s - 1980s Boxes 1-68. Original band books and scores, lyrics, playlists, loose music, and published music either arranged or used by Fletcher or Horace Henderson during their careers as pianists, band leaders, and arrangers. The series is organized into six subseries: Subseries 1A: Horace's Band Books, Subseries 1B: Loose Music, Subseries 1C: Original Scores, Subseries 1D: Lyrics, Suberies 1E: Playlists, and Suberies 1F: Published Music.

Suberies 1A, ca. 1940s -1980s, boxes 1-21. Horace Henderson Band Books. Each Band Book stands on its own, and is identified by the musician who used it or the location where the music was performed. Some performers include Gail Brochman, Eddie Calhoun, and George Reed. Many of the band books were used for performances at the Trianon Ballroom in Chicago.

Subseries 1B, ca. 1930s - 1980s, boxes 22-58. Music in boxes 22-54 comes from Horace Henderson's band library, and boxes 55-58 from Fletcher Henderson's band library. The music consists of full scores, piano scores, and parts arranged or used by Horace or Fletcher Henderson. Arranged alphabetically by title; FS - Full Score, PS - Piano Score, and P - Parts. * Indicates an overlap between loose music, and music known to have been performed at the Trianon Ballroom in Chicago. **Indicates an overlap between Horace and Fletcher's Libraries. The music is arranged alphabetically by music title.

Subseries 1C, ca. 1930s - 1940s, boxes 59-60. Original scores arranged by Fletcher Henderson, many for Benny Goodman and other bandleaders, including AHoneysuckle Rose@, AKing Porter's Stomp@, and AStealin' Apples@. There is also a complete band book written and arranged by Fletcher. Arranged alphabetically by title.

Subseries 1D, ca. 1940s - 1980s, box 61. Original lyrics used in performances by Horace Henderson's bands. Arranged alphabetically by title where identified.

Subseries 1E, ca. 1940s - 1980s, boxes 62-63. Playlists compiled in preparation for performances by Horace Henderson's orchestras, listing titles played at various performances. Un-arranged.

Subseries 1F, ca. 1920s-1980s, boxes 64-68. Published sheet music and books for piano/vocal parts. Includes art music, method books, popular music, fake books, and music book covers. Folders are arranged by type of publication, and the music is arranged alphabetically by title within each folder.

Series 2: Photographs, ca. 1920s - 1980s Boxes 69-70. Photographs documenting the lives of both Fletcher and Horace Henderson's personal lives and careers. Photographs are arranged by category including Fletcher Henderson Candids with Friends, Horace Henderson Candids, Performance Marquees, and both brothers with their orchestra. Some unique pictures include portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Henderson (Fletcher and Horace's parents), candids of Fletcher with Benny Goodman, and Horace with Lena Horne.

Series 3: Personal Papers and Correspondences, ca. 1920s - 1980s Boxes 71-78. Programs and broadsides, newspaper articles, letters, essays, publications, and other personal documents tracing the lives of Horace and Fletcher, as well as some personal items of their parents. The series is divided into six subseries: Subseries 3A: Programs and Broadsides, Subseries 3B: Newspaper Articles and Clippings, Subseries 3C: Personal Papers and Correspondences, Subseries 3D: Miscellaneous Publishings, Subseries 3E: Transcript of an Oral History Interview, and Subseries 3F: Henderson Family Scrapbook.

Subseries 3A, ca 1930s - 1980s Boxes 71-72. Contains broadsides and ad clippings promoting both Horace and Fletcher's performances, along with programs for various jazz festivals. There are also three sets of Las Vegas Programs, advertising the weekly happenings during the years Horace was performing there, mainly at the Riviera Hotel and Casino (1959-1961). These include; Ken's Spotlight Las Vegas, Fabulous Las Vegas Magazine, On The Go, and other miscellaneous circulations. Arranged by category (Fletcher's broadsides, Horace's broadsides, Programs), and by date within each set of publications or programs.

Subseries 3B, ca. 1950s - 1980s, Boxes 73 & 78. Contains newspapers, articles, and clippings, ranging from 1951 to 1986, documenting the lives of Fletcher, Horace, and some of their contemporaries (ie: Duke Ellington) through the eyes of the media. Arranged by categories; reference to Fletcher, Horace, or Miscellaneous. Box 73 contains the oversized articles.

Subseries 3C, ca. 1920s-1980s, Box 74. Contains letters, contracts, and other personal documents of Fletcher, Horace, and their parents. Also contains a copied photo collection of Horace, a manuscript of AHorace Henderson Presents his Interpretation of Jazz@, and an essay (author unknown) about Fletcher's influence on jazz.

Subseries 3D, ca. 1960s - 1980s, Box 75. Contains miscellaneous publishings collected from the various locations Horace lived and worked. Includes weekly circulations from Denver and the surrounding area where Horace lived from the mid sixties until his death, along with various music magazines that he subscribed to (ADownbeat@, AInternational Musician@). Arranged by date within each category.

Subseries 3E, ca. 1975, box 76. Contains the original transcript of the Oral History Interview of Horace Henderson, for the Smithsonian Institution, performed by Tom MacCluskey on April 9-12, 1975.

Subseries 3F, box 77. Contains a Henderson Family Scrapbook which includes photographs of Fletcher's and Horace's father and mother, and various newspaper clippings commending the careers of Mr. Henderson, Horace, and Fletcher. The scrapbook's original order has been maintained.

Series 4: Audio Tape Recordings ca.1970s - 1980s Boxes 79-80. Contains a collection of recordings of live performances of Horace's orchestra in various Denver area locations such as the Esquire Supper Club and the Petroleum Club. Also includes a sample tape, a brief Atest@ recording by Horace and Angel, a radio tribute to Horace, and a few miscellaneous mix tapes. The tapes are arranged by date when available. Box 79 contains the original copies, and box 80 contains the duplicates.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into four series.

Series 1: Horace and Fletcher Henderson's Music

Series 2: Photographs

Series 3: Personal Papers

Series 4: Horace Henderson Audio Tapes

Biographical / Historical:

Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. (a.k.a. Smack) was born on December 18, 1897 in Cuthbert, Georgia. He was born into a middle class black family, and as a child studied European art music with his mother, a piano teacher. His sister later became the head of the music department at the Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama, and his younger brother, Horace, would eventually follow in his footsteps as a jazz musician, arranger, and band leader. Horace W. Henderson (a.k.a. Little Smack) was born on November 22, 1904. He also studied piano with his mother and sister, and like his brother, began formal music training as a teenager. Fletcher Henderson attended Atlanta University where he earned a degree in chemistry and math in 1919.

In 1920, Fletcher Henderson moved to New York City to find a job as a chemist. Because employment in this field was hard to come by, especially for African Americans, he began working as a song demonstrator for the Pace Hardy Music Company. Shortly after Fletcher Henderson's arrival Harry Pace founded Pace Phonograph Corporation to produce records on the Black Swan label in 1921. Fletcher joined Pace's music team and was responsible for contracting and leading a jazz bands to accompany the label's singers.

In 1924, Fletcher's orchestra, under the direction of Don Redman, began to perform at Club Alabam (sic) on New York City's Broadway Avenue. That same year he and the band was offered a job performing at the Roseland Ballroom, where the band remained for ten years and gained national fame. His band was no different than the hundreds of dance bands, springing up across the country in response to the growing demand for social dance music, such as Count Basie's Orchestra, King Oliver and his Dixie Syncopators, and McKinney's Cotton Pickers. Don Redman left the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in 1927 to direct McKinney's Cotton Pickers. However the music collaboration of Redman and Henderson had by then established what would become the "standard" big band arrangement for several decades, specifically the dynamic interplay between the brass and reed sections of the orchestra that included interspersed solos made famous by such esteemed soloists of the band as Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins. Some of the band's most notable recordings made between 1924 and 1925 include Copenhagen and Sugarfoot Stomp.

By this time Horace Henderson had formed his own college jazz band in 1924, The Wilberforce Collegians, after transferring from Atlanta University to Wilberforce University to pursue a music degree. His older brother sent him arrangements and piano parts used by the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra for performances by the Collegians. Later that year Horace Henderson left the university to travel and perform with his band in New York City. His newly formed band included such notable musicians as Benny Carter and Ben Webster. While in New York he also began playing as a guest musician in his brother's band and learning from such legends of jazz as Coleman Hawkins, Buster Bailey, Louis Armstrong, and Don Redman that were working for the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. During a Smithsonian Institution sponsored oral history interview with Tom MacCluskey, Horace recalled late night jam sessions at Hawkins' (Hawk) apartment where they would play through pieces from "Fletch's" library and analyze each individual's performance. We would "stop and discuss what had transpired during that session, you know, that particular tune. And man, that was a lesson...It was a session that was actually to help everybody, so that they would try things out and take another tune, and use these particular little points that Hawk would tell 'em.'"

Until the 1930s, the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra was the principal model for big jazz bands. However, his management of the band and its finances led to frequent band break-ups. In 1934, severe financial problems forced Fletcher to sell some of his best arrangements to Benny Goodman. Horace Henderson and others suggested Goodman's rapid rise in popularity among swing bands for white audiences was largely due to Fletcher Henderson's innovative band arrangements. Fletcher Henderson continued to lead bands until 1939 when he joined Goodman's orchestra as a full time staff arranger. In 1941 he returned to band leading and arranging, but suffered a severe stroke in 1950. Fletcher was partially paralyzed from the stroke, and died on December 29, 1952.

Horace, also, formed many bands throughout the 1930s and 40s, and became a sideman for leaders such as Don Redman (1931-33) and, most notably, his brother. He was a pianist and arranger for Fletch's band intermittently between 1931 and 1947. During this time, Horace spent a lot of time in Chicago with Fletcher's band at the Grand Terrace, and formed his own band at Swingland. Horace also worked as a freelance arranger for Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, and Earl Hines3. From November 1942 through August 1943, Horace was the leader of the 732nd Military Police Band in Joliet, Illinois. The position was first offered to Louis Armstrong, who turned it down and recommended Horace for the position. After leaving the army, he played with Fletcher's band for two years. Horace began writing for Charlie Barnet in 1944, where he first came across Lena Horne. During a job at the Paramount, Charlie had Called Horace to say that his vocalist had laryngitis, and he needed a new singer. Horace went to the Apollo in Harlem in search of some talent, and they sent him to the Regent where he could find Lena Horne. She joined Charlie's show the next day, and from there went on to fame. Horace joined her for an extended tour as a pianist and arranger, and later worked with Billie Holiday3.

Horace moved to Denver with his wife, Angel, in the late 1960s. The Horace Henderson Combo performed at many nightclubs and resorts in the Denver area, including Estes Park, the Broadmoor Hotel, and the Petroleum Club. He began playing the organ in 1970 because the clubs didn't want to pay for four or five piece bands, and with an organ to replace the piano, a bass player was no longer necessary3. Horace continued to lead bands in the Denver area until his death on August 29, 1988.

Although both brothers had a major impact on the future of jazz, Horace is often thought of merely as a shadow to his more celebrated brother. Fletcher Henderson's career as a pianist, bandleader, and arranger is one of the most important in jazz history. Bands of leaders such as Count Basie, Charlie Barnet, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman all played arrangements, which were either written or influenced by Fletcher Henderson. Fletcher constantly surrounded himself with the most talented musicians of his era, and patterned the basic formula, which were imitated throughout the big band era. However, at least thirty of Fletcher's arrangements, many for Benny Goodman, are accredited as Horace's work. His arrangement Hot and Anxious was based on the traditional riff that later became the basis for Glenn Miller's In the Mood. Christopher Columbus is the most notable example of Horace's potent piano style, which is often noted to be stronger than his brother's. Although the brothers had differences, Horace insists that they did not involve music. Fletcher's style and success had a huge influence on Horace's career, and he was incredibly grateful for all his brother taught him. In an interview in April of 1975, he was quoted as saying, "I idolize his way of thinking because he was successful. You don't fight success, you join it." 3

Sources

1. Biographical information derived from The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, edited by Barry Kernfeld (New York: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1988). 2. The Pace Phonograph corporation was the first African-American-owned recording company in the United States. Historical information derived from The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Black Music; Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians, by Eileen Southern (USA: Greenwood Press, 1982).

3. Interview with Horace Henderson, April 2-12, 1975, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

Provenance:

The Fletcher and Horace Henderson collection was acquired by the museum in December of 2001, donated by Barbara and Barry Lewis.

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:

Music -- 20th century -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Audiocassettes

Audiotapes

Manuscripts -- Music -- 20th century

Parts (musical)

Photographs -- 20th century

Citation:

Fletcher and Horace Henderson Music and Photographs, 1930s-1980s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0797

See more items in:

Fletcher and Horace Henderson Music and Photographs

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b519292b-04b8-413a-a057-0c9c19f26b75

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0797

Musician:

Shaw, Artie, 1910-2004  Search this

Arranger:

Gray, Jerry, 1915-1976  Search this

Former owner:

Hardy, Bruce Allen  Search this

Scaffidi, Ralph P.  Search this

Extent:

0.15 Cubic feet (1 box )

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Manuscripts

Date:

1938

Summary:

Collection consists of a whole manuscript and clarinet solo part for Artie Shaw's "Begin the Beguine."

Arrangement:

Collection is unarranged.

Provenance:

Collection donated by Bruce Allen Hardy and Ralph P. Scaffidi in July 2021.

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:

Big band music  Search this

Clarinetists -- 20th century  Search this

Genre/Form:

Manuscripts -- Music -- 1930-1940

Citation:

Artie Shaw "Begin the Beguine" Music Manuscripts, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.1381

See more items in:

Artie Shaw "Begin the Beguine" Music Manuscripts

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep86ca48ef4-497e-49ed-9f80-c81323828f54

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-1381

Creator:

Fried, Frederick, 1909-1994  Search this

National Carousel Association.  Search this

Fried, Mary Hill  Search this

Extent:

36 Cubic feet (89 boxes, 10 map-folders)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Advertisements

Clippings

Blueprints

Books

Auction catalogs

Design drawings

Date:

circa 1662-1999, undated

Scope and Contents:

Collection primarily documents American folk art collected by Frederick Fried (1908-1994) and his wife Mary McKensie Hill Fried (1914-1988). It includes photographic materials, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, research files, lecture notes, unpublished manuscripts, brochures, drawings, printed advertisements, blueprints, books, patents, correspondence, trade literature, sheet music, auction catalogs, oral history interviews, and commercially recorded music. Of particular interest is the material relating to carousels. There is a substantial amount of material relating to New York architecture, wood carvings, show figures, weathervanes, mechanical and coin operated machines, amusement parks, the circus, tattoos and lesser-known folk arts. The collection is arranged by subject or genre in the order maintained by Frederick and Mary Fried.

Arrangement:

Series 1, Professional Materials, 1930-1995, undated

Subseries 1.1, Lectures, 1968-1989, undated

Subseries 1.2, Research Notes, 1962-1975, undated

Subseries 1.3, Published and Unpublished Materials, 1960-1990, undated

Subseries 1.4, Exhibitions, 1966-1985, undated

Subseries 1.5, Correspondence, 1945-1995, undated

Subseries 1.6, Office Files, 1930-1991, undated

Series 2, Sculptors and Ship Carvers, 1855-1987, undated

Series 3, Ship Carving Reference Files, 1875-1990, undated

Series 4, Show Figures, 1847-1989, undated

Subseries 4.1, Carvers, 1847-1987, undated

Subseries 4.2, Reference Files, 1864-1989, undated

Series 5: Carousels, 1851-1999, undated

Subseries 5.1, Reference Files, 1851-1990, undated

Subseries 5.2, Manufacturerst, 1854-1999, undated

Subseries 5.3, Carvers, undated

Subseries 5.4, Foreign, 1902, undated

Subseries 5.5, Organizations, 1974-1991, undated

Subseries 5.6, Museum Collections, 1959-1989, undated

Series 5.7, Sites, 1962-1991, undated

Series 6, Charles W. Parker Company, 1904-1905; 1922-1924, undated

Subseries 6.1, Glass Plate Negatives, 6x8, 1904-1905, undated

Subseries 6.2, Glass Plate Negatives, 8x10, 1922-1924, undated

Series 7, Amusements Parks, 1917-1992, undated

Series 8, Amusement Industry, 1662-1994, undated

Subseries 8.1, Companies, 1903, undated

Subseries 8.2, Reference Files, 1662-1994, undated

Series 9, Circus, 1902-1992, undated

Series 10, Architectural Ornaments, 1832-1988, undated

Subseries 10.1, Residential Architecture, 1899-1985, undated

Subseries 10.2, New York City Municipal Parks, 1968-1988, undated

Subseries 10.3, South Street Seaport, 1965-1970, undated

Subseries 10.4, New York Civic Sculpture, 1832-1977, undated

Subseries 10.5, Architectural Ornamentation, 1873-1985, undated

Series 11, Weathervanes, 1854-1981, undated

Series 12, Automatic, Coin Operated, and Vending Machines, 1960-1980, undated

Series 13, Banner Paintings and Painters, 1892-1999, undated

Series 14, Folk Arts, 1783-1999, undated

Subseries 14.1, Reference Files, 1831-1988, undated

Subseries 14.2, Clocks and Watches, 1869-1876; 1976, undated

Subseries 14.3, Eagles, 1843-1989, undated

Subseries 14.4, Musical Instruments, 1963-1999, undated

Subseries 14.5, Painters and Paintings, 1950-1990, undated

Subseries 14.6, Signs and Symbols, 1974, 1976, undated

Subseries 14.7, Other Materials, 1872-1988, undated

Subseries 14.8, Miscellaneous, 1783-1954, undated

Series 15: Photographic Materials, 1832-1988, undated

Subseries 15.1, Photographs and Contact Sheets, 1940-1984, undated

Subseries 15.1.1, America's Forgotten Arts, undated

Subseries 15.1.2, Artists in Wood, undated

Subseries 15.1.3, General, 1940-1984, undated

Subseries 15.2, Slides, 1832-1987, undated

Subseries 15.3, Negatives, undated

Subseries 15.4, Glass Plate Negatives, undated

Subseries 15.5, Snapshots, 1964-1988, undated

Subseries 15.5.1, Artists, Manufacturers, and Dealers, undated

Subseries 15.5.2, Museum Collections, 1964, undated

Subseries 15.5.3, Parks or Other Locations, undated

Subseries 15.5.4, Private Collections, 1987-1988, undated

Subseries 15.5.5, General, 1983-1988, undated

Series 16, Audiovisual Materials, 1940-1991, undated

Subseries 16.1, Audiocassette Tapes, 1971-1988, undated

Subseries 16.1.1, Lectures, 1974-1986, undated

Subseries 16.1.2, Interviews, 1971-1984, undated

Subseries 16.1.3, Music, 1972-1988, undated

Subseries 16.2, Audiotapes, 1940-1977, undated

Subseries 16.2.1, Lectures and Performances, 1969-1973, undated

Subseries 16.2.2, Interviews, 1940-1976, undated

Subseries 16.2.3, Conferences and Meetings, 1973-1977

Subseries 16.2.4, Music, 1956, undated

Subseries 16.2.5, Other, undated

Subseries 16.3, Videotapes, 1982-1991, undated

Biographical / Historical:

Frederick P. Fried was born December 11, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn where his father owned a clock business across the street from Charles Carmel, a carousel carver. Fried acquired a fine-arts education in the 1930s with an emphasis on sculpture. He served with the Air Force during the Second World War. After a successful military career, Fried worked as art director in several fashion agencies. He met Mary McKenzie Hill, an academically trained artist in one of the studios.

Mary McKenzie Hill was born in 1914 in Baltimore, Maryland. She graduated from the Maryland Institute of Fine Arts. After graduation, she spent a year abroad studying before she returned to the United States to work as a fashion illustrator in Baltimore and New York. During World War Two Hill was a draftsman for a firm of architects.

Fried and Mary Hill married in 1949. The couple had two children Robert Hazen and Rachel. Around 1953 Fried began to collect architectural ornaments in New York. Fried served as the art director for Bonwit Teller in New York City from 1955-1962. He left the fashion world in 1962 to pursue his passion for collecting and writing full time. Fried published his first book, Pictorial History of Carousels in 1964. In 1967, Fred and Mary Fried purchased a forty-acre farm in Bristol, Vermont where the family spent their summers.

In 1968, Fried led a national campaign to preserve the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse (Seamen's Church Institute at South Street). He also became active in politics and served as the campaign manager for a New York State senator. His interest in Indian cigar store figures resulted in his publication Artists in Wood: American Carvers of Cigar Store Indians, Show Figures and Circus published in 1970. The focus of the book was Samuel Anderson Robb a New York wood carver. Fried co-founded the National Carousel Association in 1973. In 1978, Fried wrote America's Forgotten Folk Art with his wife Mary. This publication covered subjects such as carousels, banner painting, scarecrows, beach sand sculpture, tattoos, cast iron toys, amusement park architecture and trade signs.

Fried's collecting goal was to first preserve artifacts and to then make them available through his writings and exhibitions. His most treasured relics were the items he salvaged from the ruins of Coney Island. Fried referred to such artifacts as the uncelebrated arts. He became one of the founders of the Anonymous Arts Recovery Society a group of individuals who saved architectural ornaments from the wreckers' balls. In addition, he was one of the founders of the National Carousel Round Table which was created to preserve hand-carved merry-go-rounds. As a result of his collecting, research and writing Fried became recognized as the authority on carousels, coin-operated machines, and cigar store figures. He served as a consultant to many Museums; in particular as chief consultant on American Folk Art for the Smithsonian Institution.

Frederick and Mary Hill worked together in many ways to document, collect, preserve and increase the awareness about primarily the folk arts. Mary McKenzie Hill Fried passed away in 1988 at the age of seventy-four. Frederick P. Fried died July 1994 at the age of eighty-six.

Related Materials:

Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History

E. Howard Clock Company Records (NMAH.AC.00776)

M. Francis Misklea Carousel Collection (NMAH.AC.0665)

Archives Center Carousel Collection (NMAH.AC.0675)

Messmore and Damon, Incorporated Company Records (NMAH.AC.0846)

Anthony W. Pendergast Collection (NMAH.AC.0882)

Frank Paulin Photoprints (NMAH.AC.1373)

Wurlitzer Company Records (NMAH.AC.0469)

Industry on Parade (NMAH.AC.0507)

Reel #191, Craftsmen of the Carousel, 1954. Manufacturing merry-go-rounds for amusement reports. Arrow Development Co., Mountain View, California.

Provenance:

Collection a bequest of the Frederick Fried Estate.

Rights:

Reproduction restricted due to copyright or trademark. Fees for commercial reproduction.

Occupation:

Wood-carvers  Search this

Topic:

Periodicals  Search this

Merry-go-round art  Search this

Signs and signboards  Search this

Weather vanes  Search this

Coin-operated machines  Search this

Architecture -- Details  Search this

Amusement ride equipment industry  Search this

Amusement rides  Search this

Folk art  Search this

Merry-go-round  Search this

Figure sculpture -- United States  Search this

Genre/Form:

Photographs -- 20th century

Advertisements

Clippings

Blueprints -- 20th century

Books

Auction catalogs

Design drawings

Citation:

Frederick and Mary Hill Fried Folk Art Archives, circa 1662-1999, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Identifier:

NMAH.AC.0528

See more items in:

Frederick and Mary Hill Fried Folk Art Archives

Archival Repository:

Archives Center, National Museum of American History

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep86ee1b419-6b88-4312-8172-ee9f05d72195

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0528