Collection ID: SC 162
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Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Hairston, Teresa
Abstract:
This collection documents Dr. Teresa Hairston's work in the gospel music industry from the late 1980s into the early twenty-first century and consists of materials related to the publication of her gospel music magazines Score, Gospel Today, and Gospel Industry Today as well as events and television programs produced by Dr. Hairston. Included are publicity materials, photographs, press kits, magazines, correspondence, business records, and time-based media in both published and unpublished audio and video formats.
Extent:
39 document cases (21.6 linear feet), 5 records cartons (5 linear feet), 689 Videocassettes (VHS, DVCAM, DigiBeta, DVCPRO, miniDV, Betacam, BetacamSP, Umatic), 2969 sound discs (CD, CD-R, LP), 123 Videodiscs (DVD, DVD-R), 479 Audiocassettes (audiocassette, microcassette), and 9 Audiotape Reels
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

Teresa Hairston Collection, SC 162, Archives of African American Music and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Background

Biographical / Historical:

Dr. Teresa Hairston has been a leader and entrepreneur in the gospel music industry for over three decades. Born in 1957 in Cleveland, Ohio, she began cultivating her love for gospel music at a young age as a church musician. During her childhood and teen years, Hairston continued to develop as a pianist, playing for the local high school choir as well as for churches and community ensembles. After graduating high school, Hairston attended Bowling Green State University where she served as the director of the campus gospel choir while earning a Bachelor's in Music Education. She went on to earn a Master's in Music Education at Southern Illinois University before moving to New York where her career in the gospel music industry was launched.

Hairston began working for Reverend Milton Biggham at Savoy Records in 1987 and started The Savoy Record newsletter to promote the label's gospel artists, including Reverend James Cleveland and Albertina Walker. After moving to Nashville to work for Benson Records, she started Score magazine and Scoreboard, an industry-oriented newsletter that contained the first gospel radio charts, and shortly thereafter she became a full time publishing entrepreneur. Hairston and her small staff of writers used recordings and interviews by artists like Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Take 6, Richard Smallwood, and Bishop Jeff Banks & the Revival Temple Mass Choir to craft articles as well as album reviews that appeared in these magazines.

In 1994, Hairston changed the focus of the magazines to include gospel music as well as Black Christian culture, renaming the publications Gospel Today and Gospel Industry Today. During this second phase of publication, Hairston amassed press releases and photographs for hundreds of gospel artists and groups, as well as biographical and publicity materials for African American preachers, radio personalities, secular artists and celebrities.

Alongside these publications, Hairston produced the television series Gospel Today and established the Gospel Heritage Foundation, which hosted the Gospel Heritage Festival and International Worship Summit. Through these many endeavors, Hairston has chronicled the growth and the evolution of the gospel music industry from the 1980s through the early 2000s, highlighting the many people in both music and ministry that have made gospel what it is today.

Scope and Content:

The Teresa Hairston Collection documents contemporary gospel music's expansion from the late 20th into the early 21st century through print magazines, publishing company files, photographs, video footage, interviews, and commercial recordings.

The collection is arranged in twelve series: Publicity Files, Subject Files, Press Kits, Photographs, Magazines (Published by Hairston), Other Publications and Ephemera, Business Records, Audio (Commercial Recordings), Audio (Non-Commercial Recordings), Videos (Commercial/Published), Videos (Non-commercial), and Born-digital.

The first four series consist primarily of material collected to produce editorial content for Hairston's magazines and include photographs, press releases, and biographies of both gospel and secular recording artists as well as pastors, celebrities and public figures. Also included are research files on the gospel music industry and many photographs of events, ranging from Hairston's Gospel Heritage Festival to the Gospel Music Workshop of America and Stellar Awards.

Series 5-7 include an incomplete set of magazines published by Hairston including Score, Gospel Today, and Gospel Industry Today, in addition to related business records, correspondence and other magazines and articles collected for research purposes.

Series 8-9 include published commercial recordings on LP, CD, and audiocassettes submitted for review, as well as unpublished audio recordings featuring interviews, radio spots, and performances.

Series 10-11 include commercial VHS and DVDs featuring gospel artists, sermons, and conferences, as well as unpublished videos in multiple formats featuring interviews, performances from the Gospel Heritage Festival, Gospel Today television series, and many other events.

Acquisition information:
Donated by Teresa Hairston in 2016.
Arrangement:

Arranged in twelve series:

Series 1: Publicity Files (includes press releases, bios, articles, photographs)
--- SubSeries 1.1: Gospel Recording Artists
--- SubSeries 1.2: Secular Recording Artists
--- SubSeries 1.3: Celebrities
--- SubSeries 1.4: Pastors and Church Leaders
Series 2: Subject Files
--- Subseries 2.1: Gospel Industry
--- Subseries 2.2: Ministries and Christian Organizations
--- Subseries 2.3: Concepts
Series 3: Press Kits (oversize items separated from Series 1 and 2)
Series 4: Photographs
--- Subseries 4.1: Preachers, Pastors
--- Subseries 4.2: Gospel Personalities
--- Subseries 4.3: Score and Gospel Today (staff, events)
--- Subseries 4.4: Events (Gospel Heritage Festival, Gospel Music Workshop of America, Stellar Awards)
--- Subseries 4.5: Photograph Albums
Series 5: Magazines (Published by Hairston)
--- Subseries 5.1: Score: America's leading Gospel music magazine (1990-1994, incomplete)
--- Subseries 5.2: Gospel Today (1995-2010, incomplete)
--- Subseries 5.3: Scoreboard/Gospel Industry Today (1995-2004, incomplete)
Series 6: Other Publications and Ephemera
Series 7: Business Records (Hairston publications, events, foundation)
Series 8: Audio (Commercial/Published Recordings) Includes over 3000 albums released from 1991–2010 by major and lesser known gospel artists. (shelved and cataloged separately)
--- Subseries 8.1: LPs
--- Subseries 8.2: Compact Discs
--- Subseries 8.3: Audiocassettes
Series 9: Audio (Non-Commercial Recordings) - shelved separately
--- Subseries 9.1: Compact Disc (recordable)
--- Subseries 9.2: Audiocassettes
--- Subseries 9.3: Microcassettes
--- Subseries 9.4: Digital Audio Tapes
--- Subseries 9.5: Open Reel Audiotapes
Series 10: Videos (Commercial/Published) - shelved and cataloged separately
--- Subseries 10.1: VHS (Gospel artists, Sermons, Conferences, Lectures)
--- Subseries 10.2: DVD
Series 11: Videos (Non-commercial) - shelved separately
--- Subseries 11.1: VHS
--- Subseries 11.2: DVDR
--- Subseries 11.3: Betacam
--- Subseries 11.4: BetacamSP
--- Subseries 11.5: Digibeta
--- Subseries 11.6: Umatic
--- Subseries 11.7: DCVPro
--- Subseries 11.8: DVcam
--- Subseries 11.9: MiniDV
Series 12: Born-digital
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

Use of time-based media materials (audio and video) may require production of listening or viewing copies.

Access to streaming audio, moving image, and full resolution digital image materials may currently be restricted to researchers who can authenticate with an IU account or who are physically present on campus. Remote streaming to individual researchers may be allowed with the completion of applicable forms.

For further information about access to online audiovisual materials, contact AAAMC staff at aaamc@indiana.edu.

TERMS OF ACCESS:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, including but not limited to the Indiana Public Records Act (5-14-3-2 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which Indiana University assumes no responsibility.

Copyright is retained by the creators/authors of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. All requests for copying and publishing materials must be submitted in writing to the Archives of African American Music and Culture, and may require the written permission of the creator(s)/author(s) or donor(s).

PREFERRED CITATION:

Teresa Hairston Collection, SC 162, Archives of African American Music and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington.

CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
Smith Research Center, Rooms 180-181
2805 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47408-2601, United States
CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
CONTACT:
812-855-8547
aaamc@indiana.edu