Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Guide to the W. Royal Stokes Collection of Music Photoprints and Interviews

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0766
Creators:
Sun Ra
Gaskin, Leonard, 1920-
Taylor, Billy
Stokes, W. Royal, Dr., 1930-
Sullivan, Maxine, 1911-1987
Wells, Ronnie
Whiting, Margaret
Towers, Jack
Venuti, Joe, 1903-1978
Pullen, Don, 1941-
Roney, Wallace
Pizzarelli, Bucky, 1926-
Pizzarelli, John, 1960-
Shaw, Artie, 1910-2004
Shepp, Archie, 1937-
Sanders, Pharaoh
Grant, Felix, 1918-1993
Scott, Jimmy
McPhail, Jimmy
McPartland, Marian
McFerrin, Bobby
Krall, Diana
O'Connell, Helen
Mulligan, Gerry
Metheny, Pat
McShann, Jay
Horn, Shirley, 1934-
Hinton, Milt, 1910-2000
Hill, Andrew, 1937-
Hendricks, Jon, 1921-
Keane, Helen
Kaminsky, Max, 1908-
Jordan, Sheila, 1928-
Humes, Helen, 1913-1981
Hampton, Lionel
Harris, Eddie, 1934-
Heath, Jimmy, 1926-
Frishberg, Dave
Ennis, Ethel
Farmer, Art, 1928-
Flanagan, Tommy, 1930-
Hampton, Slide
D'Rivera, Paquito, 1948-
Daniels, Billy
Davison, Bill
Donegan, Dorothy, 1922-
Crouch, Stanley, 1945-2020
Conyers, John, 1929-
Cruz, Celia, 1924-2003
Byard, Jaki
Brown, Ruth
Carter, Betty, 1930-
Byron, Don
Betts, Keter, 1928-
Bellson, Louis
Bowie, Lester, 1941-
Blakey, Art, 1919-1990
Allen, Steve, 1921-2000
Adderly, Nat, 1931-2000
Bailey, Benny, 1925-
Dates:
1940s-2005
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
10 Cubic feet
39 boxes
Repository:
Publicity photographs of musicians and entertainers, mostly jazz musicians, such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and Dizzy Gillespie, but including many rock and even a few classical performers. The collection also contains tape recorded radio interviews conducted between 1970 and 2003. In addition there are posters relating to musical performances.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection was formed by W. Royal Stokes in the course of his professional work as a music and arts critic. It is composed primarily of publicity portraits of musical performers, both single acts and groups. The emphasis is on jazz musicians and singers, although many rock stars and groups, and other popular musical performers are included. Even a few classical musicians are represented. The pictures are primarily mass-produced black and white publicity photographs distributed to newspapers, writers, etc., by agents for entertainment personalities. Some prints were made from the original negatives, while others clearly were made from copy negatives after typography was stripped together with a print and re-photographed. However, there are some rarer original photographs included in the collection, such as personal color snapshots, higher quality prints by art photographers, etc. Nearly all the prints are unmounted, and are 8 x 10 inches or smaller in size. The bulk of the photographs date from circa 1970 to 2000, however, a number of the earlier photographs are included as well as slightly later examples.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is divided into nine series.
Series 1, Photographs of Musicians and Ensembles, circa 1970-2000; undated
Subseries 1.1, Musicians and Ensembles
Subseries 1.2, Recording Company Photographs
Subseries 1.3, Unidentified Musicians
Series 2, Photographs of Performances, 1987-2002; undated
Subseries 2.1, Music Festivals, 1987-2002; undated
Subseries 2.2, Concerts, Music Clubs and Other Venues, 1920s-1940s and circa 1980s-1990s; undated
Series 3, Formal and Informal Groups, circa 1980s-2000; undated
Series 4, Photographs of Musicians in Films, Radio, Television and Theater, 1940s-2000; undated Series 5, Photographs of Subjects and Products related to Musicians and Music, 1970-2000; undated
Series 6, Photographs of Non-Musicians, circa 1980s-2000; undated
Series 7, Interviews with Musicians, 1970-2003
Series 8, Audiovisual Materials, 1970-2003
Subseries 8.1, Audio Recordings - Audiocassettes
Subseries 8.2, Audio Recordings-Audiotapes
Series 9, Posters, 1976-1990; undated

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Born in Washington, D.C., W. Royal Stokes served in the Army and then embarked on an academic career, teaching at the University of Pittsburgh, Tufts University, Brock University and the University of Colorado. He left the academic profession in 1969 and become a writer, broadcaster and lecturer, journalist, and critic and authority on jazz music. A follower of jazz since his teens in the 1940s, Stokes has written about music for such publications as
Down Beat
,
Jazz Times
, and the
Washington Post
, and hosted the public radio shows "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say . . ." and "Since Minton's". Today he is the editor of the quarterly
Jazz Notes
, and is the author of The Jazz Scene: An Informal History From New Orleans to 1990 and Swing Era New York: The Jazz Photographs of Charles Peterson.. He is also the author of
Living the Jazz Life: Conversations with Forty Musicians about Their Careers in Jazz
(Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). Dr. Stokes lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Administration

Author
Vanessa Broussard Simmons
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by W. Royal Stokes to the Archives Center in 2001.
Accruals
Interview tapes, transcripts and additional photographs were donated by Mr. Stokes to the Archives Center in 2007 and 2008.
Processing Information
Processed by David Haberstich archivist, April 2002, Vanessa Broussard Simmons archivist, November 2011, Anne Jones, (volunteer), July 2012 and Ramona Williamson (volunteer), July 2012; supervised by Vanessa Broussard Simmons, archivist.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
W. Royal Stokes Collection of Jazz Musicians' Photographs, ca. 1970-2000, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of Ameican History

Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of Ameican History
Duke Ellington Collection, 1928-1988 (AC0301)
Herman Leonard Photoprints, 1948-1993
Frank Driggs Collection of Duke Ellington Photographic Reference Prints [copyprints], 1923-1972
Jazz Oral History Collection, 1988-1990
Ernie Smith Jazz Film Collection, 1910s-1970s (mostly 1930s-1960s)
Jeffrey Kliman Photographs
Stephanie Myers Jazz Photographs, 1984-1987, 2005
Chico O'Farrill Papers
Paquito D'Rivera Papers, 1989-2000.
Louis Armstrong Music Manuscripts, undated
Tito Puente Papers, 1962-1965.
Audrey Wells "Women in Jazz Radio Series, 1981-1982
Mongo Santamaria Papers, 1965-2001
Ramsey Lewis Collection, 1950-2007
Earl Newman Collection of Monterey Jazz Festival Posters, 1963-2009
James Arkatov Collection of Jazz Photographs, 1995-2003
Francis Wolff Jazz Photoprints, 1953-1966
Floyd Levin Jazz Reference Collection, circa 1920s-2006
Jazz Oral History Program Collection, 1992-2009
Leslie Schinella Collection of Gene Krupa Materials

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Audiotapes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Black-and-white photographic prints -- Silver gelatin -- 1950-2000 Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jazz musicians -- 1950-2000 -- United States Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Publicity photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Musicians Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Publicity Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Portraits -- Musicians Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Popular music -- 20th century -- United States Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Entertainers Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rock music Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gillespie, Dizzy, 1917- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Davis, Miles Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives Center, National Museum of American History
P.O. Box 37012
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