Object Details
Summary
Collection compiled over several decades by Floyd Levin, Los Angeles textile manufacturer, who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian consisting of materials relating to jazz artists, festivals, and organizations.
Scope and Contents
Research materials relating to jazz artists, festivals, and organizations compiled by Levin over several decades. The richest portion of the collection is the biographical files on jazz artists, with emphasis on lesser known but influential people, and includes obituaries, memorial programs, press releases, concert programs, and newsletters. Photographs are also widely found in the collection, many of them inscribed to, or taken with Levin and his wife Lucille, as well as posters, sound recordings, interviews, letters and other correspondence, awards and plaques, Levin's writings, business cards, newspaper articles, advertisements, and ephemera. Artists who are strongly represented include one-time Ellington Orchestra clarinetist "Barney" (Albany Leon) Bigard, who was a close personal friend of the Levins and whose personal papers are in the collection; Louis Armstrong; "Jelly Roll" (Ferdinand Lemott) Morton; "Wild" Bill Davison; "Duke" (Edward Kennedy) Ellington; Joe Darensbourg; Edward Bertram "Montudie" Garland; "Kid" (Edward) Ory; "Eubie" (James Herbert) Blake; and "Rosy" (James) McHargue.
While Levin's collection is remarkable in that it documents lesser-known jazz artists, particularly in and around California, it suffers from a significant lack of information on female jazz musicians. Materials on such influential artists as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and Bessie Smith, among others, are much more limited.
The collection is arranged in ten series: Series 1, Personal Papers; Series 2, Correspondence; Series 3, Research Materials; Series 4, Writings; Series 5, Artists Files; Series 6, Subject Files; Series 7, General Materials; Series 8, Jazz Organizations and Publications; Series 9, Photographic Materials; and Series 10, Audiovisual Materials.
sova.nmah.ac.1222
Creator
Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971
Blake, Eubie (James Herbert), 1883-1983
Darensbourg, Joe, 1906-1985
Davison, Bill
Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974
Garland, Ed
Collector
Levin, Floyd, 1922-2007
Donor
Levin, Lucille
Creator
Morton, Jelly Roll, 1890-1941
Wilson, Buster
Topic
African American music -- 20th century
Jazz
Jazz musicians
Popular music -- African American influences
Provenance
Donated to the Archives Center in 2011 by Floyd Levin's widow, Lucille Levin.
Creator
Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971
Blake, Eubie (James Herbert), 1883-1983
Darensbourg, Joe, 1906-1985
Davison, Bill
Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974
Garland, Ed
Collector
Levin, Floyd, 1922-2007
Donor
Levin, Lucille
Creator
Morton, Jelly Roll, 1890-1941
Wilson, Buster
Culture
African American musicians
See more items in
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection
Sponsor
Processing and encoding funded by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
Biographical / Historical
Floyd Bertram Levin a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian was born on September 24, 1922, in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota to Samuel William Levin (March 4, 1901-March 1986) and Florence Herman (March 22, 1901-August 3, 1981). His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians (University of California Press, 2000), which like his articles - chronicled his first-hand encounters with countless jazz musicians. In 1949, he co-founded the Southern California Hot Jazz Society, the second-oldest jazz appreciation club in the country. Levin led the drive to create the Louis Armstrong Park and statue in New Orleans in the 1970s. During his career, he conducted scores of oral history interviews with jazz musicians, which he donated to the National Museum of American History's Archives Center and to Tulane University's jazz archive. He received several awards for his work, including the Leonard Feather Communicator Award, given annually by the Los Angeles Jazz Society. Levin died on January 29, 2007, at the age of eighty-five in Studio City, Los Angeles, California.
Extent
42.5 Cubic feet (110 boxes, 12 oversize folders)
Date
1880-2010, undated
Archival Repository
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier
NMAH.AC.1222
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Advertisements
Audiocassettes
Audiotapes
Awards
Biography files
Black-and-white photographs
Black-and-white photographic prints
Business cards
Clippings
Concert programs
Correspondence
Ephemera
Festivals
Interviews
Journals (periodicals)
Newsletters
Obituaries
Personal papers
Posters
Photographs
Signatures (names)
Writings
Sound recordings
African american dance
Citation
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, 1880-2010, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Arrangement
Collection is arranged in ten series.
Series 1, Personal Papers, 1920-2010, undated
Series 2, Correspondence, 1948-2006, undated
Series 3, Research Materials, 1914-2006, undated
Series 4, Writings, 1949-2006, undated
Series 5, Artists Files, 1880-2010, undated
Subseries 5.1, General Materials, 1880-2010, undated
Subseries 5.2, Obituaries, 1941-2004
Subseries 5.3, Interviews, 1969-2001
Series 6, Subject Files, 1916-2004, undated
Series 7, General Materials, 1908-2006, undated
Series 8, Jazz Organizations and Publications, 1943-2010, undated
Series 9, Photographic Materials, 1939-2001, undated
Series 10, Audiovisual Materials, 1964-1997, undated
Subseries 10.1, Audio Cassette Tapes, 1970-1997, undated
Subseries 10.2, Compact Discs, 1966-1994, undated
Subseries 10.3, Audio Reel-to-Reel Tapes, 1964-1973, undated
Processing Information
Collection processed by Rebekah Keel, intern, 2016; Elizabeth Livesey, intern, 2016; Justine Thomas, intern, 2016; Cooby Greenway, volunteer, 2016; Marian Tatum-Webb, volunteer, 2016; Ramona Williamson, volunteer, 2016; and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2016.
Rights
Reproduction restricted due to copyright or trademark. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Genre/Form
Advertisements -- 20th century
Audiocassettes
Audiotapes
Awards
Biography files
Black-and-white photographs
Black-and-white photographic prints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000
Business cards
Clippings
Concert programs -- 20th century
Correspondence -- 20th century
Ephemera -- 20th century
Festivals
Interviews
Journals (periodicals) -- 20th century
Newsletters -- 20th century
Obituaries
Personal papers -- 20th century
Posters -- 20th century
Photographs -- 20th century
Signatures (names)
Writings
Sound recordings
African American dance -- History -- 20th cenury
Restrictions
The collection is open for research. Only reference copies of audiovisual materials may be used.
NMAH.AC.1222
Large EAD
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8cff04d70-8d1e-4159-93fb-10a7bca49f70
NMAH.AC.1222
ACAH
Record ID
ebl-1562715276631-1562715279921-0