The Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC) is a repository for materials covering a wide range of African American musical idioms and cultural expressions from the post-World War II era. Highlights include interviews, researcher documentation, and publicity materials featuring Black performers, artists, radio personalities, and music industry executives.
The collection consists primarily of contracts and correspondence between Arizona Dranes and the Consolidated Music Publishing House (owner of the Chicago OKeh Records franchise) from 1926-1929. Contracts for Nov. 15, 1926, include one song not commercially released (and possibly not recorded), "He's Got Better Things for You." Also included are articles about Dranes and this collection by the donor, Malcolm Shaw, and gospel historian Dr. Daniel E. Walker.
Production materials documenting Smithsonian's thirteen-part program on the role of radio in transforming the African American community in the twentieth century. The program was produced in 1996 by Jacquie Gales Webb for Smithsonian Productions, with assistance from the AAAMC. The collection contains over 400 hours of interviews and historical aircheck tapes in addition to articles, research files, program scripts, and transcripts. The audio interviews feature conversations with over 150 well-known disc jockeys, radio professionals, record company executives, journalists, and scholars. The historical airchecks include station identifications and jingles, radio interviews with prominent Black figures, coverage of historical events, and programs highlighting or influenced by the contributions of Black performers, disc jockeys, and other important persons in radio.
This collection consists of gospel song books and sheet music, song texts, photographs, and other ephemeral material related to Blondell Hill's participation with choirs in Richmond, Indiana, Petoskey, Michigan, and Harbor Springs, Michigan.
A collection of 13 photos copied from the personal collection of David "Panama" Francis for use by Portia K. Maultsby and the Smithsonian Institution for the 1986 symposium and accompanying booklet and exhibition, Rhythm and Blues, 1945-1955. Francis participated as a panelist. The original photographs may now be in the possession of the Smithsonian Institution.
The papers of Gertrude Rivers Robinson contain music manuscripts and sketches, correspondence, press clippings, class notes and coursework, lecture materials, audio recordings, photographs, slides, films and videos documenting her life and career as a composer, ethnomusicologist and pedagogue, including her research on the Balinese gamelan tradition.
Jack "The Rapper" Gibson was a pioneer in Black radio, as well as an innovator, a leader, and a mentor to many in the radio and music industries. His work as a Black radio deejay spanned the early days of Black radio in the 1940s through the Civil Rights Movement, and included stints at WERD-Atlanta, WLOU-Louisville, WMBM-Miami, WCIN-Cincinnati, and WABQ-Cleveland. After retiring from radio in 1961, he became a successful music industry executive working for Motown, Decca, and Stax Records. In 1976, he launched the industry magazine Jack the Rapper, the oldest Black trade publication targeted to radio, and for the next twenty years organized the annual "Jack the Rapper's Family Affair," a Black music convention drawing generations of performers and music industry executives. His professionalism, continuous fight for racial equality and justice, and endearing human qualities made him a legend in the industry. This collection documents his long career in radio and music through personal correspondence, clippings, memorabilia, photographs, publicity materials, airchecks, interviews, lecture materials, and over 500 issues of his trade magazine "Jack the Rapper's Mello Yello."
Collection consists primarily of interview transcripts, program transcripts, and artist publicity materials used in the production of the Westwood One Radio programs Special Edition, That's Country Music, Rock Chronicles, My Top Ten, and History of Rock 'n Roll. It also contains materials from various specials including programs on Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, and the Rolling Stones.
The collection of music industry professional Logan H. Westbrooks contains professional and personal papers, photographs, sound recordings, video recordings, digital files, posters, books, memorabilia, artifacts and other material documenting his life and work from the 1930s through the 2010s. Professional papers pertain to his employment at Capitol Records, Mercury Records, CBS Records, CBS International, Soul Train Records, Source Records, and his management firm Ascent Music Inc. Personal papers pertain to his upbringing in Memphis, TN, the Church of God in Christ, lectures at California State University and Indiana University, philanthropic activities, and civic service. Topics include African American music industry executives; record labels; recording industry in United States, Africa, and Jamaica; African American musicians; black churches; rhythm and blues, soul, jazz, and funk music; radio and African American disc jockeys.
The collection consists of materials related to Smithsonian Institution programs, including the Duke Ellington Youth Project, in addition to gospel sheet music and related research materials from George's personal collection.
The collection includes Burnim's dissertation research on African American religious music conducted primarily in Indiana between 1976-1979 with an emphasis on gospel music performance and practice; and post-dissertation research on African and African American religious music conducted between 1980-1996 in the U.S., Cuba, Liberia, and Malawi. Also included is documentation of the 1984 Smithsonian American Folklife Festival and gospel sheet music. The collection was primarily recorded on analog audio formats and includes audiocassettes, open reel tapes, videocassettes, open reel video, slides, sheet music, song texts, and additional documentation.
A collection of 26 photos copied from the personal collection of Michael Graham for use by Portia K. Maultsby and the Smithsonian Institution for the 1986 symposium and accompanying booklet and exhibition, Rhythm and Blues, 1945-1955.
Research on the Black gospel quartet tradition including recorded interviews, transcripts, programs, sheet music, hymnals, subject files, sound recordings and videos.
This collection documents the activities of Dr. Winona Fletcher as Producing Director of the Indiana University Afro-American Arts Institute's 1986 revival of the Federal Theatre Project's 1939 production Prelude to Swing, entitled Prelude to Swing +50.