Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Sykes, Charles E.
- Abstract:
- Research on the Motown Record Corp., including photographs, Motown-related videos and television programs, and audio and video interviews with vocalists, instrumentalists, arrangers, songwriters, producers, technical staff, management, and consumers. Interviews include Thomas "Beans" Bowles (saxophonist and first road manager of the Motor Town Revue), Maxwell Powell (image specialist at Motown's Division of Artist Development), Bobby Rogers and Ronald White (vocalists with the Miracles), Sylvia Moy (songwriter), and Michael McLean (audio technician).
- Extent:
- 1 document case (0.42 linear feet), 10 Audiocassettes, 32 Videocassettes (VHS), 3 Videocassettes (MDV), 9 Audio Discs (LP), and 1 Audio Disc (CDR)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
Charles E. Sykes Motown Collection, SC 58, Archives of African American Music and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Background
- Biographical / Historical:
Charles E. Sykes, D.M.E., is executive director of the African American Arts Institute (AAAI), a performing arts program that operates under the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs at Indiana University. Under his leadership the AAAI schedules and produces approximately 30 annual performances presented by its three academic credit-bearing ensembles: African American Choral Ensemble, African American Dance Company, and IU Soul Revue. These ensembles have performed concerts throughout much of the United States and internationally, and have appeared as opening acts with major artists, including Ray Charles, James Brown, the Temptations, and Bootsy Collins.
An experienced arts administrator, performer, teacher, and scholar, Sykes also is an adjunct professor in the Departments of African American and African Diaspora Studies and Folklore and Ethnomusicology, and research associate with the Archives of African American Music and Culture. His research focuses on African American popular music, with emphasis on Motown. He has served on a consultant panel for the Motown Historical Museum, as co-contributor of text for the study guide and souvenir program for Motown the Musical, and developed the first noted course on the history of Motown, which he teaches at IU. He has presented and lectured extensively and internationally on popular music, as well as on music transcription and analysis.
His recent published works include the "Motown" chapter in the first edition of African American Music: An Introduction, "The Black Forum Label: Motown Joins the Revolution" in the Association for Recorded Sound Collections journal, and "The Motown Legacy: Homegrown Sound, Mass Appeal" in Issues in African American Music: Power, Gender, Race, Representation. He holds a doctorate in Music Education from the IU Jacobs School of Music.
[Bio sourced from https://aaai.indiana.edu/profiles/sykes_profile.html]
- Scope and Content:
Series one contains clippings and other printed research materials related to the Motown Record Corp. ans a selection of its performing artists and staff. Series two contains materials from Sykes' Motown Course at Indiana University. Series three through six contain audio, video, and other multimedia of interviews, commercial, and non-commerical media related to the Motown Record Corp. collected by Sykes during his research.
- Acquisition information:
- Donated to the AAAMC by Charles Sykes in June 1996.
- Arrangement:
Arranged in six series:
- Series 1: Subject files
- Series 2: Motown course materials
- Series 3: Interviews and lectures
- Series 4: Commercial audio
- Series 5: Miscellaneous video
- Series 6: Miscellaneous multimedia
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed Terms
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:
-
Charles E. Sykes Motown Collection, SC 58, Archives of African American Music and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington.
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
-
Smith Research Center, Rooms 180-1812805 East 10th StreetBloomington, Indiana 47408-2601, United States
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- CONTACT:
-
812-855-8547aaamc@indiana.edu