Jazz club photographs by noted Jazz photographer Herman Leonard.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of 110 black-and-white photographic prints depicting musicians performing at various American and European jazz clubs between 1948 and 1991. The collection contains mounted and unmounted 11" x 14" and 16" x 20" prints made by Leonard. Artists represented among these photographs are Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Lester Young, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk. The photographs are organized into three series: Series 1: 11"x 14" prints, Series 2: 16" x 20" prints, and Series 3: Addenda. The series are arranged alphabetically by performer's last name. Unmatted 16" x 20" prints can be found in box 2 but are listed alphabetically by performer.
Biographical / Historical:
Herman Leonard (1923‑2010) was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and served as a military photographer in Burma during World War II. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in photography from Ohio University and began working with Yousuf Karsh, a Canadian portraitist. Settling in New York in 1949, Leonard began photographing jazz musicians at various jazz clubs on Broadway and Fifty‑Second Streets, and in Harlem for such publications as Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Life, Look, Playboy, and Time. He later to Paris to begin a fashion and advertising business. He also continued photographing jazz musicians. In 1988 Leonard presented his first exhibition, "Images of Jazz," in London. This show established his reputation as a leading photographer of jazz and sparked further shows and publications.
Provenance:
The Herman Leonard Photographs were donated to the National Museum of American History by Mr. Leonard on December 17, 1991 and in 2006.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
The Archives Center does not own the rights to the Leonard photographs. All requests for permission to use these photographs for non‑museum purposes must be addressed to: Herman Leonard Photography, LLC, 530 South Lake Avenue #503, Pasadena, CA 91101 (818) 509-8987.
The printed materials consist of a small number of early twentieth-century publications and news clippings either written by Joseph K. Dixon or written about his work with the Indigenous peoples of North America. Some of these materials include Dixon's celebration of Native involvement on the part of the U.S. military in World War, as well as an exhibition of Dixon's photography at the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair.
Please note that the language and terminology used in this collection reflects the context and culture of the time of its creation, and may include culturally sensitive information. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 3:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Some photographs in this collection are restricted due to cultural sensitivity.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Joseph K. Dixon lantern slide collection, NMAI.AC.419; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
